Bluelab Makes It Easy to Control Your Grow’s pH!

Bluelab
All growers know the pain of miscalculating their pH adjustment by a couple of drops… after all, pH up and down solutions are designed to be incredibly precise.
If you don’t have a way to control and monitor your pH settings… your growing experience can quickly turn into a big headache!

Fortunately, the people over at Bluelab have designed an effective and reliable product for your pH woes – the Bluelab pH Controller!

The Bluelab pH Controller: Creating Balance to Maximise Your Grow Yields

As we alluded to in our opening, it doesn’t really matter whether you’re a hobbyist grower, or a full-time hydroponic horticulturalist – either way, the management of the pH inside your nutrient reservoir can prove to be a constant source of concern.

Even in the ‘best case’ scenarios, fluctuations in the pH of your precious plant environment will impact their nutrient absorption, affecting final yield. At worst, poorly managed pH can result in a total crop failure.

Previous experiences with managing pH have been haphazard for me, at best. Firstly, pH up and down solutions are generally very concentrated. In smaller reservoirs – I run with about 50 Litres at a time – this can easily lead to over-adjustments… adding to the natural swing of pH, which can further impede the plant’s efforts at nutrient absorption.

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After adding pH up or down, I would need to wait for the solution to circulate through the tank. To ensure that the change was sufficient, I would then re-test and re-adjust if necessary. This whole process was imprecise, impractical and inconvenient.

Enter the Bluelab pH Controller. Exit my daily pH anxieties.

Bluelab Says NO to Reservoir-Induced Headaches!

Bluelab has been based ‘across the Tasman’ in New Zealand for over 30 years; all of their products are made in ‘the land of the long white cloud’.

I have been using another Bluelab product for some time – the Bluelab Truncheon EC Meter – to monitor the nutrient levels of my reservoir. I have found this product to be very reliable, and simple to use!

The Bluelab pH Controller is one of the more expensive pieces of kit in my garden – but I was comfortable in spending the money, knowing that I’m covered with a 2 year warranty (only 6 months on the pH probe), from one of the biggest and best names in hydroponics.

The Bluelab Unboxing Experience

Bluelab pH Controller box

Upon opening the box, you are greeted with the sight of a water-resistant main display/control unit, pH and temperature probes, an AC power adaptor, pH 4.0 and 7.0 calibration solutions, and acid/alkali resistant tubing for dosing.

The box also contains screws for wall-mounting the display unit. As someone who grows in a tent, this is personally my only issue with the Bluelab pH Controller. At the moment, I have some zip ties and heavy-duty tape holding my precious device to a tent pole… far from ideal.

The box that I received does have a ‘wall mount’ image (in small print), and the Bluelab website does speak of “flexible mounting options for walls, posts and racks”; however, I didn’t get a choice in my style of mount, when ordering through a third party web store.

Stops pH-Related Reservoir Fluctuations in Their Tracks!

The main feature of the Bluelab pH Controller is (of course) its ability to automatically dose pH management solutions.

It does this via a medical grade peristaltic pump. As with all the other parts, it is easily replaceable… so with basic care, this device can be a part of your garden for a long time.

Setup and Operations of the Bluelab pH Controller

Bluelab pH Controller directions

Setup was very simple.

First, I attached the power supply and the temperature/pH probes. It was important that the pH probe remained wet – as with all pH probes – so I placed the probes into my reservoir with the included suction cup. I connected my pH down solution to the pump via the included tubing, and then a line from the pump to my reservoir.

On first use, it is recommended that you calibrate the pH probe. This is a quick and straightforward process of following the on-screen prompts. The Bluelab pH Controller also features a prompt to indicate if re-calibration is required. This is a useful reminder, as there’s nothing worse than assuming your pH is correct, only to learn that you have been over by 0.5, since your tools have been ‘out of whack’.

Attaching the included temperature probe allows the unit to do what Bluelab refers to as Automatic Temperature Compensation. pH values fluctuate away from their true value depending on temperature. ATC measures and compensates for those fluctuations. It also enables something called ‘Earthlink’, which removes/reduces any ‘mains-earth loop’ issues that are affecting the stability of pH values.

Bluelab: Helping You to Retain an Ecological Balance

If there’s one feature that makes this unit worthwhile…

…it’s the incredible degree of precision and control that you, the grower, possesses over how pH up/down can be dosed into your tank. The Bluelab pH Controller is capable of adjusting up OR down at any time, and changing from pH up to pH down solution only takes a few minutes.

When setting up your pH Controller, you need to input an ‘on’ time and an ‘off’ time. The ‘on’ time is the duration (in seconds) that the unit will dispense pH up/downwhile the ‘off’ time is the minimum period (in minutes) that the unit will wait between doses.

This feature can take a bit of tinkering to dial in. The pH Controller can manage systems up to 760 litres… so it may take some observation and adjustment to get it working optimally for your own setup.

Bluelab suggests that the ideal dosing would require three individual doses of pH up/down to impact pH readings by 0.1. However, the exact amount required is going to vary depending on how many litres your system is.

Using Your pH Controller for Cannabis Plants

For cannabis plants, you will mostly find that downward pH adjustments are required in vegetation, with pH adjusted upwards during flowering.

Changes to the desired pH direction are easily managed within the Bluelab pH Controller’s ‘control unit’.

When managing the ‘off’ time, take into account the duration of your solution flowing through your entire system. To determine the settings for your grow, begin with a long ‘off’ time; working your way down, as you learn how quickly pH adjustments flow through your setup.

This further reduces the overall margin for error during adjustments. Again: be sure to start small, and go from there.

Other Fantastic Features of the Bluelab pH Controller

The Bluelab pH Controller also includes optional high/low alarms, and a ‘dosing lockout’ feature.

Bluelab pH ControllerIf measured pH crosses the set minimum or maximum values, the pH value and alarm symbol will flash on-screen, and all dosing will stop.

The screen features adjustable brightness and contrast. Additionally, the plant-safe ‘green light’ will prevent the screen from interrupting the day/night cycle.

As an indoor gardener, I live and die according to my power supply. Blackouts give me goosebumps… and I can’t help but check and re-check my equipment when the power comes back on. The Bluelab pH Controller makes things easy, with automatic dose resume on restart after power loss.

At the moment, I disconnect the pH Controller when doing my weekly nutrient swap-out, and plug it back it when I’m done – no loss to settings. This may seem like a simple feature, but it’s also a very handy one!

Boost Your Growing Potential With Bluelab!

If you’re looking to take your hydroponic growing to the next level, you’ll need to appreciate the importance of fine-tuning environmental conditions and variables with great accuracy.

Why mess about with questionable pH readings and shoddy dosing, in the first place? Bluelab says: Give up on “just a little bit more…”, and get it right the first time!

With the commercial grade precision embedded into the Bluelab pH Controller, you can more easily control and manage the environmental conditions of your plant life – which gives you the ability to achieve optimal results.

It is an incredibly handy tool – both for pH measurement, pH management, and dosage of pH solutions. with Bluelab, you can spend more quality time with your plants… while spending less time with the daily chore of pH management.

That’s why we give the Bluelab pH Controller an 8.4 out of 10, overall!

At $1000 for a new unit, it may be expensive – but that doesn’t prevent it from being an excellent product… and a must-have, for certain growers!

We recommend this product to everyone out there who is struggling with pH management… especially those of you who are attempting a hydroponic setup!

Andy
Author: Andy

Bluelab Makes Controlling Your pH EASY! $989
  • 6.5/10
    Affordability - 6.5/10
  • 10/10
    pH Monitoring and Dosing - 10/10
  • 10/10
    pH Adjustment and Analysis - 10/10
  • 7.1/10
    Accessories - 7.1/10
8.4/10

A Summary of Bluelab's pH Controller

With the commercial grade precision embedded into the Bluelab pH Controller, you can more easily control and manage the environmental conditions of your plant life – which gives you the ability to achieve optimal results.

It is an incredibly handy tool – both for pH measurement, pH management, and dosage of pH solutions. with Bluelab, you can spend more quality time with your plants… while spending less time with the daily chore of pH adjustment.

At $1000 for a new unit, it may be expensive – but that doesn’t prevent it from being an excellent product… and a must-have, for certain growers!

We recommend this product to everyone out there who is struggling with pH management… especially those of you who are attempting a hydroponic setup!

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