How to use a pH meter

Using a pH meter to keep your tank plating solutions working efficiently

A pH meter will help you keep your tank plating solutions working at their highest efficiency. It's a good idea to monitor the pH balance of some our tank plating solutions but our Palladium Tank Plating Solution in particular needs to have regular pH readings taken, to ensure the right amount of Palladium pH Adjuster is added.
Before you use a pH meter, it is good practice to check it against a known pH using a buffer solution. This process is known as calibration. We will show you how to perform a single-point callibration of a pH meter at pH 7. Once calibrated, the pH meter can then be used to test the pH of our Palladium Tank Plating Solution. It is advisable to calibrate the pH meter on regular basis. This guide is therefor presented in two stages; the first demonstrating how to calibrate you meter the pH meter second showing how to take a pH reading of our Palladium Tank Plating Solution.
Other plating solutions may have different operating pH ranges and it's advisable that you calibrate your pH meter within these ranges. You can purchase buffers of varying pH ranges online from a number of outlets.
Please note that although we do not sell the pH meter shown and is only used as example as many pH meters function in a similar way.

1. Calibrating a pH Meter

a) Turn on your pH Meter

Turn on the pH meter.

b) Removing the Cap

Remove any protective cap.

Pouring-buffer-into-beakerc) Pouring out the pH 7 Buffer

Pour out enough pH 7 Buffer into the small beaker to cover the end of the meter probe.

e) Leave the Meter

Leave the Meter in the pH 7 Buffer solution until the pH reading has stabilised.

f) Adjuster the Meter

Adjust the readout on the screen so that it reads 7. In the case of the pH meter in the photo, the pH adjustment screw is located on the top of the instrument and we’re adusting it with a screwdriver.

2. Taking a pH Meter reading of our Palladium Tank Plating Solution

a) Rinsing the probe of Buffer

Remove the meter from the buffer and rinse thoroughly with deionised water.

b) Testing the Palladium Tank Plating Solution

Place the meter probe into the Palladium Tank Plating Solution. Leave until the pH reading has stabilised then note the pH. You can enter in this reading into the Palladium Tank Plating Calculator to find out how much Palladium pH Adjuster you will need to add. The optimum pH range for Palladium Tank Plating Solution is 0.7 – 0.8

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