Checking pH

Hey guys I hope you all have had a great week! This is Sam and Ally again with the MSU Green team. Today we are going to share with you how to check your system's pH. Checking the pH of your system regularly is vital for the health of your plants.
The optimum pH for plants is anywhere between 5.5 and 6.5, this is where most of the nutrients needed by the plants is readily available for uptake. For our hydroponic system however we are trying to maintain it between 5.8 and 6.2. Checking the pH of your system is pretty simple and all it requires is a pH pen and a couple of extra minutes. To start you can take a sample of your solution and stick in a cup so it is more accessible for you to test. Once you have done this you can remove the cap off the end of the pen and swirl it around for couple of seconds and then let it sit in the solution. Once it has sat in the solution for 2 to 3 minutes you should have an accurate reading! So then you just dump your sample back into the system and replace the cap on the pen. If you are ever worried that you are not getting an accurate reading, there are calibration solutions that are available for you to check and calibrate your pen with.
Just like any others tools you might have, your pH pen does need to be treated with care. If you are to look at the bottom of your pen you will see a little bulb at the end, this needs to constantly be moist. If this were to dry out your pen is a gone and you just replace it. To make sure this doesn't happen to you, after each use you can place a couple of drops on it and you should be good to go!
Today we checked the pH of our system and it was at 5.6, a little lower than we would like to have it. To raise it we just had a few inches of tap water into our system. We let it run through the system to equalize itself and checked it again after about an hour. Upon the second checking it read 5.8, which we were ok with. This is the first check we have done on our system and are going to start doing it every other day just to make sure things are running smoothly. If your pH is ever too basic, there are solutions made to lower it. This solution can be found at any store that has hydroponic supplies. This solution is an acid so be careful when using it.
I hope you guys have found this information beneficial. If you have any questions please post them in the comments below!

Sam and Ally