The pH of vinegar itself should be around 2-3. Mixing 50/50 with water would obviously raise that number a little. I really don’t think it would have any adverse affects on your probes.
In fact if any bacteria has found a home on your probes it would take care of them.
However I’m not an expert so please chime in if I’m wrong.
@Cornholio,
On our cleaning day, we hung up the sensors both up in the Flush water that came from the Grobo… Like this…
Do those probes need to be kept wet? I emptied and dried out my Grobo today, so they have been dry a couple of hours now.
The pH probe does indeed need to be kept wet. The EC one should be fine it came in a dry tube to protect it.
Get your pH probe wet ASAP.
Thanks so much for the heads up! I don’t know which is which, so I’ve got both probes soaking in distilled water now.
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Nov 16, '18 4:40 AM
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(Also Remember When You Do Your [Drain/Fills] Your Grobo Bubbler Will Not Bubble, Untill You Finish With Your Task):
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@Stephane. My PH probe has unfortunately not been in water for a couple days. It is now in distilled water. Am I official screwed?
Hey Pete you’re fine. If you have calibration solution 7.0, let her soak in that otherwise you should be fine soaking in tap water even.
Hey @Pete,
Get it out of the distilled water ASAP! Here is the official way to rehydrate your probe.
If you don’t have the solution that came in the cap (and honestly, who kept that around?), you can rehydrate in tap water.
You will need to calibrate it after it has been soaking for 24 hours, so please contact support@grobo.ca and we will get you setup.
Stephen
Good to know @Stephen. So it’s fine for our pH probe to stay wet in the grobo water but not good to rehydrate if it went dry?
What about the cheap amazon probes. I have one of those and trust me I don’t expect it to be accurate like the bluelabs probe but should I store it in a little cup with the above mention solution?.
@Stephen. so I have officially started to soak my probes in tap water. I will contact the support team in a couple days. I actually did save the solution that came in the cap but it has evaporated. HaHa. where would I get that Bluelab ph Probe KCL storage Solution so that I will have it on hand in the future. Thank you so much for your advice. I feel stupid.
Bluelab STSOL100 pH Probe KCI Storage Solution, 100ml https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00CJIDH7Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_z7CBCb17AT85Y
If you have a local hydro store, they’ll have it too most likely
Hey @Stephane,
Yep, the pH probe is fine in the Grobo, as we dose the water soon after the distilled or RO water is added. (Even in the germination stage) However, if you are caught needing to re-hydrate your probe due to it drying out, don’t use RO or distilled. Think of it kinda like this…
You are in a large room with carpet, furniture, people and pets. The sound from your voice is absorbed by the room and at a nice understandable level when you speak. Remove everything from the room, and suddenly there are echoes and understanding you becomes much more difficult, eventually leading to madness. That’s kinda what happens with your probes rehydrating in ‘empty’ water. The probes lose their reference point due to changed chemistry in the probe itself.
Hope that makes some sort of sense…
Stephen
Thank you for the explanation @Stephen. I’ll take my cheapo probe and put it in KCI solution until I need it and I’ll do a quick calibration prior to using it.
I bought it to pH my water for my outdoor grow I’m planning this summer.
Awesome @Pete,
You should be fine. You will need a calibration kit for this project that can be found here.
Good luck!
Stephen
Now you are really thinking @Pete! In short, no.
During the flush stage, the system maintains the pH balance required, while the EC is drastically reduced. This does cause strain on the probe, and contributes to it’s needing to be replaced eventually. If you take the probe out and ‘soak it’ in tap or other water for the flush, your pH will not maintain balance and your plant will suffer. It’s a bit of a trade off to be honest, but I’m going on 1.5 years in the lab with the same probe with no issues, so one I’m willing to do.
Great question.
Stephen
Could you possibly make a cleaning step by step video?
