New here...also, just got my Taylor K-2006 kit

[Kberte]

Hi all! Long time lurker, and you've helped me a bunch without even knowing! Thanks, and thanks for having me.

I just wanted to say that I too finally broke down and bought a Taylor K-2006, and wow, what a difference. I was never sure if I was getting a good color reading on ph and alkalinity from the strips. I should have went with my gut instinct a lonnnng time ago. Using the Taylor kit my ph tested out pretty good (7.6) but my alkalinity is 260! Reds and greens on the strips so maybe I'm color blind, lol?

All readings:

FC - 5.2
CC - .6
PH - 7.6
ALK - 260
CH - 290
CYA - 30

Earlier in the summer, I questioned my pool store on the low CYA reading and they told me not to add any stabilizer because I was using the pucks with stabilizer in them and it's such a problem if you get to much in the water. I've since switched to regular bleach. Do you guys think I should add stabilizer now?


All I can say to anyone contemplating buying a "real" test kit...just do it!!!

Now I have to go find my muriatic acid.

 

[woodyp]

I would only add more cya if you're losing more than 3 ppm FC daily. Test and see! Welcome...........(we thought that was you lurking.)

 

[kimkats]

So are you telling me that not only do you have a test kit but you know how to use it AND know what to do to lower your TA??? WOW! I am impressed!

Kim

 

[Kberte]

Dang! Busted lurking!

Yep! Owned a pool for about the last 12 years so I'm not really a newbie in that regard. I went to pool school recently and obviously learned something.

I've really never had a serious problem (that I was aware of) until about 2 years ago when I started to get metal staining. What a nightmare. I think I've finally got it under control (thanks to everything I've read here) but that prompted me to get serious about my chemical levels. My heat pump is about 7 years old and my guess is the metal is probably coming through there even though the pool store people tell me Hayward hp's don't usually have that problem because of the titanium coating. To make a long story short, I'm just trying to get another year or two out of the heat pump but the metal has been a real issue this year. Obviously, my alkalinity has probably been way out of kilter for who knows how long and I didn't know it because I was using strips. Adding stabilizer always makes me nervous - yikes! I thought I'd get some second opinions.

 

[Richard320]

If you have any pucks left, use 'em until you get CYA to 50ish. They'll lower pH and TA for you while they raise CYA and add FC. Plug your numbers into poolmath and then scroll down to effects of adding chemicals and you'll see how much each ounce or pound of trichlor adds to your pool, and you can work backwards from that. Not the pH drop will not be instant... it will be over the life if the pucks, and your high TA will tend to push pH back up. Unfortunately, effects of adding chemicals will not calculate the TA drop from the acidity of the trichlor.