Hi, I ordered a swg but it hasn't come yet and we want to swim in the pool so the water started turning swamp green and we shocked it and that helped tremendously. The water is just a little cloudy now but not green. We got a test kit at the pool store and it is the only one they had forgot to take water there to have it tested(duh) but the tester says that the PH 6.8, BR 3.4 and CL 1.5 and that is the only things it tests for and the young boy at the pool store (that didn't want to be bothered) said that's all I need to test (no help whatsoever)!!!! So do you think I could just add some borax and be good while I wait for the swg???
HELP, I don't have a clue
- Thread starter trixiecook
- Start date
I am pretty new here as well so I am not going to say too much but there are 3 things that they are going to recommend right off the bat. You need to order a good test kit, you need to raise your ph to somewhere between 7.4-7.6, and you need to read the pool school (top right button) to learn more about your pool. In the pool school section under testing you will find links to the recommended test kits.
PH @ 6.8 = burning eyes. Get to 7.2 at least. Maintain FC between 2 and 3 until you can get some CYA (stabilizer) in there. Take CYA to 30 or so to start. READ pool school! That and one of the 2 test kits recommended here are your best friends. Besides all us of course!, Welcome. Take a sample and post us a full set of numbers please.
None of the pool stores around here have the tf100 test kits, but i Just called another pool store because the pool store I already went to today only tested for the ph, br and cl and I bought that and so I guess I should go to the other pool store and get the test kit that tests I think she said five things, but can I add some borax and bring the ph levels up
Is is very unusual to find a pool store that stocks one of the kits we recommend. I suggest purchasing over the Internet. If you need something right away, you can get the six way drop test kit from WalMart, or a simple OTO/PH test kit.
Hi, welcome to TFP! You need to raise the pH to 7.2-7.5. You can raise pH with either washing soda or borax. Borax will add borates to the water, which can be a good thing, but you need to decide if you want borates in the water since the only way to remove borates is to drain and refill the pool. You can read more about borates here.
Ignore the BR reading. Unless you have added bromine to the pool that number is useless. You need to get some CYA (also known as conditioner or stabilizer) so your chlorine will hold long enough to do the job. Add enough to reach 30 ppm. After your SWG comes you can add more to raise it to 60-70 ppm.
You can use plain, unscented 6% bleach as your chlorine source until the SWG is ready to take over. You will usually want to continue to add bleach a day or two after the SWG is up and running. It is much easier on the SWG to maintain a FC level than to build up a level from 0.
A good, high quality test kit is an investment in your pool. We recommend the TF 100, or the Taylor k2006. The TF 100 is only available online. Sometimes you can find a Taylor k2006 in stores but usually it is ordered online as well. There are many different Taylor kits out there so don't let a pool store tell you it is the same as a k2006. The TF 100 is a better value overall. The shipping is fast and you will get larger bottles of testing supplies than the Taylor kit.
You can use The Pool Calculator to determine how much of any chemical you need to dose the pool correctly.
Good luck with the new pool!
Ignore the BR reading. Unless you have added bromine to the pool that number is useless. You need to get some CYA (also known as conditioner or stabilizer) so your chlorine will hold long enough to do the job. Add enough to reach 30 ppm. After your SWG comes you can add more to raise it to 60-70 ppm.
You can use plain, unscented 6% bleach as your chlorine source until the SWG is ready to take over. You will usually want to continue to add bleach a day or two after the SWG is up and running. It is much easier on the SWG to maintain a FC level than to build up a level from 0.
A good, high quality test kit is an investment in your pool. We recommend the TF 100, or the Taylor k2006. The TF 100 is only available online. Sometimes you can find a Taylor k2006 in stores but usually it is ordered online as well. There are many different Taylor kits out there so don't let a pool store tell you it is the same as a k2006. The TF 100 is a better value overall. The shipping is fast and you will get larger bottles of testing supplies than the Taylor kit.
You can use The Pool Calculator to determine how much of any chemical you need to dose the pool correctly.
Good luck with the new pool!
@jason, I was lucky to be able to purchase shock at Walmart, they had nothing, for example I wanted to get a cleaning net and broom pole and all they had was one broom and a couple of nets and i Have already posted the ph, br and cl
@Mod Squad, I found an old test kit i had used a couple of years ago and did the testing with it and the testing for hardness was 250 and the test for alkalinity was 30ppm and the same as above for the ph,br and cl. Also in the test kit for stabilizer it had a chemical called ortho tolidin and i added it to the pool water in the test tube and you had to add it to the other tube until you couldn't see the black dot anymore and I could see the black dot the entire time, even at the top of the tube. Do you recommend an online store to buy the test kits that you suggest. How much of a box of borax should I add to the pool
If you Google k-2006 you will come up with several places to get the test kit. Here is one place.
http://store.poolcenter.com/taylor-comp ... 4b32303036
http://store.poolcenter.com/taylor-comp ... 4b32303036
You really need to raise both the PH and TA right away.
If you did it correctly, the black dot test means your CYA level is really low, and that needs to come up as well.
If you did it correctly, the black dot test means your CYA level is really low, and that needs to come up as well.