New TF 100 kit - a couple of questions

Jump to latest Follow Reply
pakrh8r

pakrh8r

0
May 15, 2013
51
Chicago, Illinois
Pool Size
5500
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
I tried seareching before posting but couldn't really find an answer, though I'm sure it's buried in here somewhere. I received my TF 100 test kit this evening. When I am doing the CH test, should I look for a specific color of blue or just for no more change in color like in the video on their website? I ask because my test seemed more purple than blue and didn't seem to change any more past 20 drops. I was going to try to post a picture but it was hard to get one clear enough to post. I didn't know if I should keep adding and possibly waste the product so I stopped at about 28 drops. The second question I have is if I should perform the FAS-DPD test everyday. The OTO test that is yellow is more difficult for me to interpret than the Taylor DPD test that was pink/purple. I had a very hard time telling if my chlorine level was 2, 3, or 5 with the OTO test. If I'm not even supposed to record the result what is the purpose of it? If you follow BBB shouldn't you already know that you have chorine in the water? My results from the first round of tests are below.
FC 3.5
CC 0.5
TC 4
pH 7.2
TA 130
CH 200?
CYA 65

Note - my TA per the Taylor test on 5/18 was 100 with essentially the same test

Thanks.
 
The OTO test is just a quick check. I used the FAS-DPD test exclusively for most of the first year. Then I started using the OTO along with it to test my ability to differentiate the shades. After 3 years, I can tell if I'm above 7 or below 3! (7 is schoolbus yellow, off the scale).

The CH test will turn sky blue. Almost the shade of the little box the OTO test came in, but less intense. It takes a long, long time to do. Try it using the 10 ml sample, and only ten drops of R-0010, then each drop of R-0012 counts as 25. It's close enough for you, since your pool is vinyl. It will go pinkish to purple to indigo and eventually to sky blue. It takes a lot of swirling between drops. Did I mention a lot? The speedstir really helps on that test.

In time, you'll learn your pool's appetite and be able to guess pretty good what you'll be reading. That's when the OTO test comes in. If you're expecting 5ish and it's suddenly pale, you know something is up and can switch to the good test and see what's up. But otherwise, you'll just shrug and pour in the usual amount of bleach. Probably by the end of summer.
 
Thanks for the advice. I will try the test again tomorrow with only 10 ml and 10 drops and look for that sky blue color. Thanks for the FAS-DPD info as well. Hopefully I'll be an old pro at this soon.
 
The big advantage the OTO test has over the Taylor DPD test is that OTO does not bleach out at high chlorine levels, the DPD color test will bleach out at high FC levels and it will look like there is no FC in the pool. Therefore OTO makes a good double check for the presence of Chlorine, even if it is not great at telling you exactly how much you have.
 
If I'm not even supposed to record the result what is the purpose of it?
Click to expand...
from the kit instructions..
.Do not record....this is simply a frequent "reassurance" test
Click to expand...
In other words, IF you prefer not to do the precise FAS/DPD test daily (which you can certainly do if you want and many do) it reassures you that you have adeqaute chlorine in your pool but it is not intended to be precise.
__________________

On the color CHANGE tests (FC, TA and CH), it DOESN'T matter what the colors look like to you, really....so long as you have colors that change. It matters when the color stops changing.

For example, performing the CH test you add the first two reagents and the solution becomes red. You then starting counting the R-0012 drops until your last drop results in no further color change. Once the last drop makes no change to the color whatsoever, you subtract that last drop and the result is your CH reading.
 
I'm still having issues with the CH test. I tried Richard320"s method but that didn't seem to help. Am I still supposed to add 5 drops of R-0011L to the 10ml of water and 10 drops of R-0010 with that method? I did that tonight and after 30 drops of R-0012 the water was still purple. It never came close to turning blue. If my math and understanding is correct that would equal 750 drops, which I know is not correct. I'll be out of town for the weekend and will try again on Monday using the normal directions and only look for the color to stop changing no matter what that color is, as Duraleigh and the TF Test videos suggest. Why are the printed directions (turn blue)and the video directions (stop changing color) different in that respect? They should standardize that to help eliminate confusion.
Also, I did the CYA test 5 times with 5 different results. Any tips on that one?
Thanks.
 
pakrh8r said:
I'm still having issues with the CH test. I tried Richard320"s method but that didn't seem to help. Am I still supposed to add 5 drops of R-0011L to the 10ml of water and 10 drops of R-0010 with that method? I did that tonight and after 30 drops of R-0012 the water was still purple. It never came close to turning blue. If my math and understanding is correct that would equal 750 drops, which I know is not correct. I'll be out of town for the weekend and will try again on Monday using the normal directions and only look for the color to stop changing no matter what that color is, as Duraleigh and the TF Test videos suggest. Why are the printed directions (turn blue)and the video directions (stop changing color) different in that respect? They should standardize that to help eliminate confusion.
Also, I did the CYA test 5 times with 5 different results. Any tips on that one?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
When it stalls at purple, it usually takes me a couple more cycles of the speedstir to get it to turn to blue, and if not, I resume the drops. By hand, that's probably, oh, ten minutes of swirling. Not kidding - my CH reading went down when i started using the speedstire. Mixing is that important. Also, 750 or above is easy to do if you live in a hard water area, your plaster is fairly new, or someone's been "shocking" with Cal-hypo.

The CYA test just takes a lot of practice. If you take ten readings and get three that are pretty much the same, I'd use that number.
 
is my math incorrect? Would that 750 be the level or 750 drops * 10 = 7500? If I have to keep stirring that long than I don't know if I have it in me to do this test. After dropping $80 on the test I don't think I can talk my wife into letting me purchase the stirrer. She already thinks I'm crazy for spending so much time on the pool lately :). I live in Chicago and we have soft water and I have an above ground pool with a vinyl liner. I did put some cal hypo shock in it before Getting my kit off of a recommendation from the store I bought the pool from a coupe of years ago. They told me to shock 1x a week. I did not use the whole bag like he said to, only about 7 oz. I did put a bag in when I opened though. Can my CH really be that high from that? My pool has only been opened for a couple of weeks so I haven't really done that much to it yet. Do I need to worry about this with the AG Viny lined pool?
 
I am trying to follow how you got from an apparent test result of 200 ppm (which sounds normal) to thinking you may need 750 drops for a CH result of 7500. I can't follow you.

When you return on Monday, PM me your phone number and I will walk you through the test (s)...it's not that hard.

If you are still unhappy, we'll help you return the kit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply