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FLPoolDIY

FLPoolDIY

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Aug 29, 2016
104
Rose Hill, KS
I have been viewing the forum for months as a guest and truly saw the benefit of joining. I recently move to a home with a 15,000 gal Salt water pool with the Intellichlor 20 and the ecostar VSP. I have never had a pool or really done much research on care of a pool until now.
Using the local pool store to test my water has proven to be a good way for them to push many products and in one case I was given very wrong directions causing issues with my water quality (not good in summer when kids want to swim).
I currently use the color Q tester twice a week and upload my data to the pool dr app for chemical corrections. Typically I'm adding about 20-30 oz of acid each week to drop my ph. Other than that my chemical levels are almost spot on.
 
Welcome to TFP!!:handwave:

I'll just post a couple of comments -

First, we are strong proponents of drop based testing. It is accurate and repeatable. Unfortunately, from previous reports the ColorQ may or may not be. Please do not confuse the specificity of the results the ColorQ gives with accuracy. We have had members attempt to use the ColorQ to follow our methods and almost all have abandoned its use due to inaccuracies and inconsistencies. We even had one member test the same sample of water three times in a row and ended up with three different sets of results. Here is an example of a ColorQ post: ColorQ vs TF100

Second, we recommend that folks use the Pool Math calculator on our site if they are going to follow our guidelines. I'm not sure what Pool Dr. uses for recommended levels, but we tend to be a little different form the "industry". As an example, you say you are adding about 20-30 oz of acid each week to control pH. What target pH are you shooting for and what is your TA level? I'm willing to bet that if you drop your TA (the industry recommends 90 - 120 while we say you can go as low as 50 - 60) and raise your pH target just a little (7.7/7.8 rather than 7.4/7.5) you can drop the acid consumption.

You have already found out about the pool stores (not all, but many) who are there to sell you stuff, even if you don't need it.
 
Hi,

Just wanted to welcome you to TFP.. A great place to be... :lovetfp:

I also wanted to congratulate you on taking the first step in the TFP process, which is testing your own pool water and not having to rely on the Pool Store.

I suggest you look into an Android app called "Pool Pal", which does use the chemical values recommended by TFP.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Unfortunately, we are a non android house.
It would be nice if a member had the ability to put together an Apple App with the pool math formulas and also the ability to graph the data. I like to see my trends to help understand the pool chemistry better.
 
Thank you for the welcome...
I received my TF-100 kit today (Color Q going on eBay) I waited to reply until my kit arrived.
The following are my results:
FC- 7.5
PH- 7.8
CH- 225
TA- 90
CYA- 90
Salt - 3500

I do have a question about the color change to red when doing the TA test. Am I looking for a red red or a change to more of a pink?

Regarding the Pool Dr. app:
You are able to set you min and max values for all test. You input your results and it calculates what you need to add to your pool based on your profile. It does not trend your data, but the app developer has another app that will trend the data. I didn't like the way it was setup and it had very few user options to change.
 
Welcome! I use the ColorQ and am very happy with it and happy with the published accuracy ranges for the device.

You will learn a lot here at TFP. I was lucky to find after only 1 visit to pool store. I have a lot of stuff that I bought from store before I found TFP, which I will never use now, but small price. Went from cloudy to crystal in no time.
 
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