Search results

  1. M

    pH test a washed out purple

    It looks like I have the wrong Phenol Red. Tftestkits are sorting it. My bad for not checking the label sooner. And it was my error when placing the order. Mike
  2. M

    pH test a washed out purple

    I added 2 drops and it went almost clear, 3 and completely clear. I can only get a matching color if I add 8 or 9 drops of R-0014 Phenol Red on a normal test. Doing this, I get about 7.8, so as a test I added enough acid to bring it down to 7.2, which should be an obvious color change. Adding 5...
  3. M

    pH test a washed out purple

    The pH Plus (Suncoast brand) was about 2 years old but always kept in the dark, and it is probably just Borax anyway. The Phenol Red was brand new from TFTestkits - - - Updated - - - I'll try that tonight - thanks
  4. M

    pH test a washed out purple

    I'm getting a 'light', looks diluted colored purple on the pH test for almost 2 weeks now, making it difficult to read. If I add a few more drops it does shift to reddish, but this must be a false read. I know high FC can cause this, but that's not the case. I rarely have an FC above 7, and I...
  5. M

    Losing water through skimmer

    Haven't posted for a while, 2 years of owning the house and using TFP with no algae or balance issues. TS Hermine filled the pool, and after draining a couple of times, I let it overflow into the French drains as the yard is totally saturated. I noticed I started losing water when the rain...
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  8. M

    Smoked Beer Can Chicken

    Haven't posted for a while, but here's a couple of pics of my Sunday smoking and grilling extravaganza. Smoked beer can chicken, smoked jacket potatoes, grilled veg.
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  11. M

    TFPC pool care service?

    Nope. I see the cornerstone of TFP as knowing what you are doing to your pool, and knowing your pool. Many on here do not test daily, including me, as we know our pools and how they react and behave to chemical need/addition. I test once every 2 to 3 days in summer, once a week in the relatively...
  12. M

    DE alternative.

    The beauty and variety of diatoms in their natural state was one of the reasons I got interested enough to take Microbiology as a degree. Their cell walls are made of silicon dioxide, very resistant to breakdown and perfect for fossilization. Pool DE is probably harvested from deposits that have...
  13. M

    New Pool in Orlando, Builder Shopping

    Nothing to do with the pool, but I noticed on the plans there is an area of lanai that will be re-painted to match the new screen. I don't know if it's already been painted, but be careful on how this is done as it may not last with the FL sunshine & humidity. The previous owner of our house had...
  14. M

    DE alternative.

    Ditto to what Richard says. Pressure slowly climbs from clean to backwash pressure then boom! I think the cellulose starts degrading and really clumps up. I do a full clean on the filter each time. Unfortunately for me it's every 6-8 weeks. What brand cellulose do you use? I have a screened...
  15. M

    Is there a reason NOT to have an eyeball on a return?

    I have 2 returns and no eyeballs. Everything seems to be good with circulation luckily, as it looks like when the pool was re-plastered (don't know when exactly), the plaster went a little into the returns and they didn't bother to clean it out. So no eyeballs for me as I'm not going to attempt...
  16. M

    Smartphone app?

    +1 on pool pal too, though I haven't seen any updates for more than a year. It does give slightly different results than Pool Math, but close enough. I guess PoolMath has been refined in the equations used over time, but not pool pal.
  17. M

    Melamine - Cyanuric Acid reaction

    Really, really appreciate the reply. There should be a better badge than TFP Expert, may be The Enlightening One! :-)
  18. M

    Melamine - Cyanuric Acid reaction

    Mmm, thanks for that. I was having a wacky idea about if it was possible to develop a modified TA test to measure the difference in TA caused by the cyanurate ions being taken out of the equation in affecting TA. At pH 8 the correction factor is .36 caused by CYA, so at high CYA's I thought it...
  19. M

    Melamine - Cyanuric Acid reaction

    Just curious and my chemistry is limited - one probably for Chemgeek. Does all the CYA get converted to melamine cyanurate in the precipitation test, and does that crystal formation 100% remove free cyanurate ions in solution?
  20. M

    Broken link

    http://www.troublefreepool.com/ta-what-is-it-really-t4979.html#p74089
  21. M

    Broken link

    Just reporting .... 404 Not Found
  22. M

    The biggest problem with this TFP method!

    I miss the challenge of cleaning up the green water! Exactly one year on since buying the house, using TFP from day 1 and going from this .... to this ... Yawn .. almost tempted not to put chlorine in for a few days!!
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  25. M

    Lowering cya with ammonia then shock

    I assume it can't otherwise somebody would have done it, but can't CYA be reduced/oxidised to ammonia or nitrates with a safe chemical reaction rather than biochemical (as in bacterial degradation), and then the amount of ammonia measured using currently available color change testing...
  26. M

    Anyone Own a Dog That Loves to Swim?

    +1 for skimmer socks. I also have a vortex leaf catcher on my cleaner which catches all the hair that's sunk to the bottom. First pic - Branston my chocolate lab active in our previous pool (rented house) And a more leisurely swim out to the steps at our current (own) house. He's going blind...
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  29. M

    508 Errors yesterday, still super slow today

    Is there any problem with image upload? I tried a few minutes ago and was getting 'not valid image file' errors. These were small <100k jpegs, with .jpg extension. Also tried renaming to jpeg. Never had any problem before.
  30. M

    Interesting ad from a pool store

    I wonder if their employees tell customers the same things? Although this is the first time I've heard that stabilizer causes stains!