what happened to your water...where did it go

Lol! I know, it looks like it's empty!

I have the K-2006 so I don't have an OTO kit. If I wanted to buy one for routine every day testing, is there one that reads FC higher than 5? My CYA is 50 so I've been keeping the FC at 6. Or should I be shooting for CYA of 40?

Thanks!

OTO range is only up to 5 ppm TC (total chlorine).

Oh, I see. Perhaps I should think about a CYA of 40 then. More draining. Oy!

I wouldn't bother with draining to go from 50 to 40. Just get the FAS-DPD test on its own.
http://tftestkits.net/FAS-DPD-Chlorine- ... t-p47.html

I wouldn't lower it down to 40...50 ppm is just right for many people. Plugging 50 ppm cya into the poolcalculator.com gives me a normal range of 4-8 ppm for FC. Many people use the OTO kit daily to show they still have chlorine (and in your case you would want it to read at least 4 ppm at all time) and then use the FAS-DPD maybe 2X/week for the accuracy and to fine tune there chlorination process. You may find that as you are learning the pool you will use the FAS-DPD test more often, but once you understand the "character" of your pool, you will be able to back off.

Bottom line, don't have the tool determine what level you should be running at.

Just a personal comment. If you have been using the FAS-DPD (which is what you have with the 2006) and have gotten used to the accuracy, you will be disappointed in the OTO test. The shades of yellow are very similar and I find it highly subjective. I can certainly tell that I have chlorine present, and maybe that it is 2 or above, but I really can't discern much between 2, 3, and 5 (or above 5). The choices are either .5, 1, 2, 3, or 5. It takes me longer with this test because I can't make up my mind on which yellow it matches so I spend several moments spinning around to change the sun or what is in the background.

I use it occasionally now when I want to just stick the kit on the ladder, float around a bit and then check only the chlorine and pH. if it fell off the ladder and got damaged, I wouldn't care. pH part of it is the only thing worth anything to me.

In my opinion, it won't save you any time. Save you money and buy a refill of the powder and first reagent used in the FAS-DPD test. That is what I wish I had done.

The 2006 kit has the FAS-DPD kit in it.

I'd suggest just buying the powder and reagent refills instead.
http://tftestkits.net/R-0870-DPD-Powder-for-TF-100-and-K-2006-p43.html
http://tftestkits.net/R-0871-75-oz-FAS-DPD-Titrating-Reagent-for-K-2006-p19.html
Total: $14.25

If you are convinced you want the OTO kit, here is a link;
http://tftestkits.net/Basic-OTO-Test-Kit-p69.html
Total: $9.95

Oh, ok. Glad I asked first. Thanks, all!

Sorry, didn't realize you already had the FAS-DPD, just need refills!

Yeah, i have it and I even have extra refills already. I thought the OTO kit would save me some time but I'll keep everything as is. Thanks!

So, just checking in after a month of BBB and have a quick question.

This morning's results:

FC 5.5
CC 0
PH 7.4
TA 90
CH 230
CYA 45

Last month I did the Aeration Method to lower my TA which was at 140. Once I got it down to 80 the PH would bounce around from 7.3 to 7.4. I added some Borax to get the PH up a little because I had a feeling that my pool "wanted" its TA to be a little higher. This brought the TA to 90. Since then my PH is consistently 7.4. Can I assume that this is my pool's "sweet spot"? The reason I ask is because the Recommended Levels in Pool School says PH should be 7.5 - 7.8 for a vinyl pool.

The water has been super sparkly and clear, thanks to the great advice I received here, and I'm probably nitpicking, but I LOVE the idea of having my pool balanced precisely, so I thought I'd ask about the PH.

Thanks!

pH is fine at 7.4. You did the right thing by finding it's sweet spot rather than trying to fight it to maintain some number. As long as you're not having issues maintaining it leave it alone!

That's what I thought you would say. Thanks so much.

FC 7.0
CC 0
PH 7.4
TA 100
CH 230
CYA 50
Borates 50

Been battling an itchy rash for two seasons now. It shows up 12 - 24 hours after swimming and usually happens when I've been in the pool for an hour or more. Went to the doctor who said that it was a contact rash and definitely not from chlorine. I'm not even sure it's pool related because I've gotten it after swimming in the ocean and the lake.

I've done some patch tests:

Taped a cotton ball soaked in pool water to my arm for 6 hours....no reaction.

There were a few times I swam with a T shirt over my swimsuit and didn't get the rash so I fastened a 1/2 inch wide piece of sewing elastic to my arm with a rubber band and sat in the sun for an hour, thinking maybe the latex was reacting with the sunlight....no reaction.

Did the elastic/rubber thing again, this time soaking the elastic in pool water first.....no reaction.

It's not a sunscreen allergy because I get the rash only under the top part of my suit and not where the sunscreen is applied.

I am stumped. Has anyone had a similar experience?

My dad used to have a reaction to certain types of washing detergents. Mom always had to be careful of what she used on his clothes. It only happened when he'd get wet.

Have you tried changing detergents?

Have you tried applying sunscreen over most of your chest before you put on your swimsuit. Wondering if the sun or uv rays are coming through your wet suit to unprotected, sensitive area.

The detergent was the next thing I was going to say.

I've ruled out the detergent sensitivity because this only happens when I wear swimsuits and I never wash them with detergent.

Allison, I've thought about the UV rays coming through but the rash also shows up below my underarms where it's not exposed to the sun. In fact, one day when it was really bad the rash was the shape of the bra part of my suit, but only in the front and on the top/front part of the shoulders. It doesn't look like sun burn at all either. It looks more like eczema patches with some satellite outbreaks.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm trying to rule out everything in hopes of figuring this out. My current experiment: I'm wearing a dry swim suit around the house and staying out of the water to see if there's any reaction. It's the suit I suspect may be the biggest culprit as the rash matches the outline of it pretty closely. If there's no reaction tomorrow I'll try wearing it in the sun while keeping it dry.

Itch itch, scratch scratch.

It sounds like it's some material in the suit. Do you have a different make suit you could try? You could also try wearing a tee shirt or sport shirt (i. e. Under Armor) under the suit to see if you still had an outbreak.