Beware when purchasing Electronic PH tester

[Colin Fisher]

4 months ago  I bought a electronic ph tester & was informed that it is calibrated by the factory.This tester cost in the region of $150 & is a well known make  coming from down under.

To my fellow AP if you intend to purchase any electronic equipment    test it first against something else  to make sure that its calibration is 100% in working order.If you dont do this the following might happen to as it did to me .

100 koi fish dead,.Plants  with stunted growth & not to mention the waste of ph+/-.

but more important you start second guessing yourself as to  trying to solve the problem.

[nyfloristics]

This is an unfortunate story but at the end of the day it your fault not the pH probe. All electronic probes need to be calibrated at least monthly. I hate to assume but I am willing to bet you didn't read the directions for the probe. If you did read the directions and there was no information about calibration etc then I apologize. If the later is the case, please share the retailer and the brand of the meter.

[Colin Fisher]

The PH tester was calibrated at the factory/manufacture & you can make /check the adjustment  on a daily basis if necessary which I did with regular monotony.Just as well you didn't have a bet on ti as you would have lost a small fortune
nyfloristics said:

This is an unfortunate story but at the end of the day it your fault not the pH probe. All electronic probes need to be calibrated at least monthly. I hate to assume but I am willing to bet you didn't read the directions for the probe. If you did read the directions and there was no information about calibration etc then I apologize. If the later is the case, please share the retailer and the brand of the meter.

[RupertofOZ]

Sad to hear about the loose of you fish...

 

What makes you think the pH meter was faulty???

 

I'm sorry... but even if the pH meter was faulty.... your water parameters, and/or pH must have already been way out of "whack" anyway.. to kill Koi...

 

Purchase an API Freshwater Master Test Kit... they not only measure pH, but ammonia, nitrites and nitrates... and are pretty reliable... and cheap...

[nyfloristics]

4 months is way to long for an electronic probe to go without being calibrated (whether it was calibrated at the factory or not).  All electronic probes, not just pH probes, need to be calibrated regularly.  You said you were checking/adjusting the probe often.  What were you checking the probe against?  How were you adjusting it?  Electronic pH probes need to be checked with a known pH solution, usually a factory prepared solution of pH4.0-7.0-10.0.  If the probe is reading these solutions within a reasonable deviation, then the probe is accurate.  If it cannot accurately read the factory solutions then you need to calibrate it, or adjust it, using a known factory made pH calibration solution typically pH4.0-7.0-10.0. 

[Colin Fisher]

I do have a API Freshwater Master Test Kit + kh/gh test kit+ ec meter.I have all the instruments necessary .What Im doing is not new to me   .Ive been a organic farmer for more than 40 yrs all what I said was before purchasing a electronic tester  is to compare it against other testers in one way or another so that you don't have to spend weeks on trying to figure out that is the problem.

Just out of Interest I will be the first farmer in Israel to build a commercial  AP   system of more than 8000sq meters.

RupertofOZ said:

Sad to hear about the loose of you fish...

 

What makes you think the pH meter was faulty???

 

I'm sorry... but even if the pH meter was faulty.... your water parameters, and/or pH must have already been way out of "whack" anyway.. to kill Koi...

 

Purchase an API Freshwater Master Test Kit... they not only measure pH, but ammonia, nitrites and nitrates... and are pretty reliable... and cheap...

[Francois Lemmer]

Colin Fisher said:

Just out of Interest I will be the first farmer in Israel to build a commercial  AP   system of more than 8000sq meters

good for you

lead the way.