Ok, so I usually never check water parameters and only recently did it as I put up some lots for auction. My pH readings came back at 8.3 which sounds high? Having said that, there are no signs of stress on my tank inhabitants. The cherries are breeding like crazy and so are the endlers. My natives are doing fine too. I'm not using any mineral powders atm but do have a bunch of those mineral balls in the tank. Water is brisbane tap water straight into the tank.

Should I stick to old school chemical based test kits?

Control substance as part of the calibration:

In tank:

id say you reading are correct if you calibrated it correct, ive got the same ph tester and normal drop test kit and they both read the same reading, but if i was you, check with a drop test kit to confirm

I also have one of these PH testers.

I found it very frustrating to you because once you put it in the PH will take ages to settle. I found that when I put it in it might be 7.4 ph but then it will slowly go down. I am not sure if the ph is the amount you first put it in or the amount it settles at cause the instructions are in another language.

I plan to invest in some better well known equipment but as Perps has mentioned if you have calibrated it should be accurate.

Nogi, you want to calibrate at a couple of points along the pH scale or at least closer to what the test subject reading is. If you did a pH4.0 single-point calibration it's unlikely to still be accurate up at 8.3. 

I think everyone should have liquid pH tests! Cheap EC meters work but cheap pH meters are unreliable. If you're going to use one then get a decent one, like a HM. A bottle of Bromothymol Blue is a cheap way to verify pH meter readings even if you are using a good meter. Granted bromo blue won't work at 8.5 and so perhaps not relevant to NoGi here, but relevant to most of us most of the time. 

When I used to test water for customers at a large Melbourne LFS, we always used standard liquid pH kits. You spend more time calibrating digital meters than using them and the liquid test is done in 5 seconds. People get so hung up on accurate measurements but a .05-0.1pH difference is really irrelevant for aquarium purposes. What I'm saying is that a colour chart is normally accurate enough. 

 

yeah, I also did the other end as well, just didn't take a photo. 8-) Had 2 x 250ml distilled water with 2 different callibration solutions.

I also have one of these PH testers.

I found it very frustrating to you because once you put it in the PH will take ages to settle. I found that when I put it in it might be 7.4 ph but then it will slowly go down. I am not sure if the ph is the amount you first put it in or the amount it settles at cause the instructions are in another language.

I plan to invest in some better well known equipment but as Perps has mentioned if you have calibrated it should be accurate.

take the reading once it settles down, i leave mine in water while i test the other WP 5-10 mins

take the reading once it settles down, i leave mine in water while i test the other WP 5-10 mins

Thanks mate