Can anyone link me to a good, affordable ph and ppm meters? Im expecting my hydro kit to be in this week and hopefully the beans i ordered as well. Is it ok to use distilled water in the kit without knowing the ph just for a week or so? Im planning on germing the seeds and puttin them in the hydro right away.

yes it is. Meters are an investment. If you are growing hydro get the Bluelab Truncheon, about $135.00, you will only buy one. You can always use the ph kit to test your water until you can get a good ph meter. VV

how important is a ppm meter?

agood meter is just as important as lights, air and water i think. in hydroponics you must keep a very vigilant eye over you ph and ppms every day.

Milwaukee SM802 3in1 pH/EC/TDS tester or aquarium test - (eBay item 330150128430 end time Oct-22-07 18:26:37 PDT)

This is the meter i have and it works great. if your ph is all outta wack your plants cant uptake the nutrients that they can at optimum ph. plus if you dont know what your ppm is, how do you know how much nutes your giving them. i filled my new hydro system with has a 55 gallon drum for the first time the other day. i just went by the directions on the back of my nutes and when i tested after i poured i was at 2500+ ppm. that would of killed my plants for sure, or at least burnt the fuck out of em. anyways. meters are crucial.

I use a Hanna model HI 9813-6 and it works very well. billybob88 is right - regardless what meter you get - get one - they are indeed crucial.

You can get a great TDS meter on ebay for 18.95. Thats what I use. I never have a problem. I dropped mine in my res. once and it still worked I just had to calibrate it and you can buy the calibration solution on ebay also.

use that link billybob gave you, that is very cheap, i got one like that for 200, its a ppm/ph meter and it works great. But i got me another one which reads faster then that which is the hanna.

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Waffles.

yeah i heard hanna was the best, but i went with milwaukee cause i heard they were about as good. yeah that meter i have runs for 220 at the hydro shop. i picked mine up for 120 on ebay.

CONTROL WIZARD 24-7 NUTRIENT METER PPM pH TEMP FREESHIP - (eBay item 130129198801 end time Oct-25-07 10:49:10 PDT)

Check this one out..It is a copy cat of the Nutra Dip...This guy gives free shipping and is a good guy..

i thought about purchasing one of those types. but the thing is, what if you have more than one res to test? like i have a flowering res and a seperate veg system. youd have to disconnect everything out of ur res and move it over to the next one just to test, kinda a hassel. for the same price u can get that milwaukee one that is portable and is a trusted name brand. i also really never have to use solution to calibrate mine, if i wanna know its on mark i just put it in some reg water and make sure it goes to the right ph, ppm etc. the only thing is it doesnt have a temp guage. but u can use any thermometer for that.