For thirty more get better accuracy. Leaning that way
Well this is what we went with. A little on the pricey side but as long at it holds up it will be well worth the investment and the probe in replaceable. If not, a refund will definitely be in the works lol
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Good choice. Like @neofirebird said, it is accurate down to a hundredth of pH. Also the more expensive one you chose offers probe replacement, which adds to its longevity by quite a bit.
The backlighting, configuration, and temperature meter are all added bonuses.
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I use Apera Instruments for my pens. Not the cheapest but worth every penny 
I use Bluelab PH monitors in my RDWC control reservoir (when running RDWC which I don’t do often).
Hope this helps… PH creep sucks ass…
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Great Pen 
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That’s a good one
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Went to bed was on fence; ordering mine today. Lesson learned buy cheap twice or right once. 
Haven’t we all learned that then re learned it - that’s life do the best you can at the time.
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Better than spending hundreds, if not thousands, on crappy lights
It was just a $50 pen…
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True that! Fortunately I only bought good lighting once - after cheap ones at first 
like many here I’m sure
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New pen arrived today! Unfortunately it arrived right before I was leaving for work so I was unable to calibrate it, but I’ll definitely be trying it out once I get back home.
Update on the girls. Bucket 2 looks like she’s improving after doing a water change because of some bleached tips. I wasn’t sure if it was because of pH drift or nutrient burn. She’s showing some new growth that looks pretty healthy in my opinion. I noticed the ppms were rising slightly and pH is actually sitting pretty stable. Lowered ppms by around 100. Pulled out 1 gallon of water and replaced with fresh pH water. I thought she would be exploding with growth by now but she’s still growing nonetheless 
Bucket 1 I’m not really sure what’s going on with her. She’s put a little more growth on but her roots are starting to look very thin and I’m suspecting possible root rot. My res temps stay between 67-71 degrees. The ppms in this bucket were also rising with pH rising slowly but never exceeding 6.5
I also started a new seed that is germinating to get a fresh start and see if we can get that one started on the right foot!
The first two pictures are “bucket 2” and the following pictures are “bucket 1”
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Can you post what your nutrient mix is, amounts, and in what order?
Also what lights do you have, what strength are they set at if they have that capability, and how far away are they from your plants distance wise?
@OhHeyThere
Nutrients are added and mixed in the following order.
Armor Si
CALiMAGic
Micro
Grow
Bloom
Diamond Nectar
Hydroguard
I don’t have the exact measurements as I am at work and they are logged at home. I will get those to you as soon as I can. I do however remember the starting ppms
Bucket 1 started at 400ppms
Bucket 2 started at 300 ppms
I wanted to try different strengths. I should also note that these plants were sitting in a solution of 160 and 170 ppms on November 13th. Those ppms were dropping as they should but I was having a huge pH swing within hours going up to 6.7 and higher. I also saw some yellowing and thought I was having a deficiency which led me to changing the entire res and giving a stronger nutrient solution which resulted in a stable pH but the plants weren’t up taking nutrients. I think my problem was not being patient enough which resulted in too strong of a nutrient solution to start off with and not adjusting my pH fast enough. Which is hard to do when you work 12-13 hour shifts.
My light is a Mars Hydro TSW2000 at 100% strength. I wanted to turn it down slightly for my seedlings but I don’t have a watt meter right now and I purchased mine right before they added the new dimming feature
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What is your starting water like? Out of the tap or are you using Reverse osmosis water?
I think you have a couple issues, but your biggest and most concerning issue is the fluctuation of pH levels in the short amount of time. You already know this, so not trying to be a jerk about that. 
Easiest answer is telling you to get an RO system for $50ish and start with water at 0 ppms.
If you’re using tap water, make sure you put water in a bucket/container in the room it will be in and let it sit for 24-48 hours. As tap water rises in temperature it will go through a natural process of absorbing natural C02 from the atmosphere. pH levels begin to rise as carbonic acid turns into C02. The reverse of this can happen, which can make some experience a drop in pH. AKA C02 in water Vs C02 in atmosphere — this is a chemical reaction can cause pH to go up or go down depending on each individual situation.
In relation to you’re light, how far up is it from your plants? If it is low, say 18” at 100% I would say it might be stressing your plants out — I noticed a couple edges of leaves turning up. This seems like too much light or heat or both.
You’re almost off to a sprint, just a couple things to figure out and fix.
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I am currently using tap water. It comes out at 50ppm but I have been debating on getting the RO system as I’ve heard it will make life easier plus it will get rid of the chlorine in my water. I will admit I have NOT been letting my tap water sit for 24/48 hours before mixing nutrients and that might be affecting things.
My light is sitting approximately 30 inches away at 100% strength. My tent temperature during lights on stays between 72-77 degrees. My water temps range from 67-72 but have not gotten any higher than that to my knowledge since I have a portable AC keeping the room temperature that my tent is in down.
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Looks good. What are your ppms at?
They are at 600 ppm
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That’s not bad tap water, but you never know what’s in it unless you test it. One thing you could do once you get your new pH pen is get some tap water, log the pH and let it sit for 48 hours in the room/tent, and then log the pH. See how much it changes.
I don’t see a major red flags. Hopefully once you get the new pH pen you’ll discover it was reading like a yo-yo.
In relation to you’re light, I’m pretty noob there. 30” seems reasonable but I’d probably get an app on you’re phone and do some testing/research. Korona app on Apple store seems good, but there might be something better out there.
Keep us posted after you get your new pH pen. I’ll be anxious to learn from your situation and the fluctuating pH levels.
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Nice. What strain? Sorry for all the questions. Best of luck with your grow, hope you get a good yield