HANNA PH PEN is weird

[pimpnitjc]

Whenever I put some distilled water in a cup and use my ph pen..it starts out at 8.75 and then slowly goes to like 6.5..it takes like 3-5 mins for the numbers to stop moving...is this normal..IT seem like the longer I leave the pen in the water ..the number slowly decreases by .01 and .02..IS this normal?? I have had in in there for 5 mins and in the past min it has weent from 6.5 to 6.46..now it looks like it finally stoped

 

[flipsidesw]

My Milwaukee sm100 does the exact same thing!!! Also if i agitate in the water the

ph changes. Takes for ever it seems and i dont feel confident in the final reading. I

read my instructions too and all it say it wait until the reading stablizes and then

take measurement. So that what ive been doing. And my plants are showing ph

issues. Anyone think it wierd for ph tester to take 5-10 min to stablize?

 

[pimpnitjc]

That is exactly what mine is doing..But when I put it in the 4.0 calibration solution, it pretty much goes to 4.0 or 3.98. and stops. So it does not make sense.

 

[BigBudBalls]

How old are they? The probe might be wearing out. pH sensors don't last but a year or 2 max.

Also how are you storing them? Dried probes aren't a good thing.

 

[JohnnyPotSeed1969]

Adjusting Ph is not an instant thing. Depending on the size of your reservoir, it can take several minutes for the Ph in the reservoir to reach its "final" level. If you don't feel like you can trust your initial reading, come back about an hour or so later, and take your reading again. If it is off, adjust the Ph once more and you should be set.

 

[pimpnitjc]

How are u supposed to store them?

 

[JohnnyPotSeed1969]

There is a storage solution designed for such a purpose. It can be had at most hydro stores, even online stores and E Bay carry it.

 

[BigBudBalls]

There is a storage solution designed for such a purpose. It can be had at most hydro stores, even online stores and E Bay carry it.

Earl did an AMAZING post on pH meters and water here.
I gotta go hunt it down myself.

 

[flipsidesw]

Id be interested in that!! Hope you find it.

 

[Torturedzen]

How old are they? The probe might be wearing out. pH sensors don't last but a year or 2 max.

Also how are you storing them? Dried probes aren't a good thing.

This was my thought also. It sounds like the probe needs replacing.

 

[flipsidesw]

New probe here......

 

[pimpnitjc]

Mine is supposably a new PH pen. I bought it off ebay. NOw I am wondering if the guy screwed me, But I don't know. I guess after I get off work, I am going to go and buy one of those cheap PH kits with the color strips. Do yall think since when I put the probe in the 7.0 and it reads 6.86 and the when I put int in the 4.0 solution and it reads 4.0 that when I put the probe in my plain water, that when the number finally settles and finally stops, that that is the correct PH?

 

[flipsidesw]

Well i would think u would be off slightly since you didnt calibrate to 7.0. Dont u have a knob or something that you can adjust?

 

[pimpnitjc]

I just put the prob in the 7.01 solution and it was almost right on it. WHen I put it in the water from the 2.5 gallon drinking water bottle from walmart, it started doing the same thing again..starting at like8.74 and the slowly going down to around 6.6 over a 4-5 min span.
So guess when it finally stops decreasing after that time, that it is the right ph at 6.6 for soil.

 

[k1llabyte]

old thread but I thought I would add that my PH is slow to adjust when there is no particles in the water...

I've also read somewhere that it's wise to add a cal-mag supplement to distilled or RO water...so add that and then take PH, you'll get to your level faster.

Stirring the meter around also gets things moving

 

[rzza]

i returned my hannah the next day and i bought more liquid test lol

i like it better. however i would prefer to use a digital pen for the accuracy but it just didnt work well. i would check my solution and it would say 6.0 for example, then a minute later it would read 6.5. wtf