Our new pool was finished a few weeks ago and started up about 1.5 weeks ago by the PB. I have been measuring the levels and finally got my TF100 kit in to test. I also took my water into Leslies to see what their test results would be. Below are my results and some questions for each level.
Pool + Spa is about 16150 gallons in the AZ sun. Pebble Plus finish.
Basic Test kit
Cl - 3 (The TF100 basic test kit is useless for finding your actual Cl level. They all look pretty much the same)
pH - 7.8 (Added 24 oz acid last night. Tested this morning and it was still at 7.8. Might be because I added CYA a few hours later last night as well, though)
TF100
CYA - 20-30 (Added 1 gallon of liquid last night. Tested again this morning and it was between 40 and 50. Should I add another gallon?)
TA - 120 (tested again this morning and it was 110)
CH - 380 (this was more like a violet color that seemed like lots of little violet dots in clear water. Should it be a completely solid color as opposed to floating particles of color?)
Salt - 2500 per the aquacheck test strips. Salt Cell reports 3000 and is making chlorine ok.
Leslies (using an electronic disk on some of the tests)
FAC - 3.17
TAC - 3.24
Salt - 3000 (same as my cell)
CH - 422 (seems to jive with my test being high and hard to do)
CYA - 34
TA - 84 (much lower than my test)
pH - 7.9
Copper - 0
Iron - .4 - They seemed concerned with this, but I didn't take any of their advice on it until I could check here. They said they normally see .1. Is this something I should do something about?
Phosphates - 100 - they said this was OK. But I know they want to sell you the stuff to lower it. I know better from reading here.
Questions:
On the CYA test, are you adding liquid until you can't see the dot at all? I have pretty good vision, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't over doing it on adding the liquid. When I stopped adding the liquid, I couldn't see the bottom at all, even the dot. Just wanted to make sure I was doing it correctly. Should I add another gallon of the liquid CYA?
My pH seems to always hover at 7.8. Will this stabilize later on or will I be adding acid every day?
The test strips are reporting about 500ppm lower on the salt level than the cell. Do I count only lines where the line is a solid white or can I count lines that are tapering up like a pyramid towards the line? The cell seems to be happy and is making chlorine just fine. Should I add more salt? If so, why? What's the benefit for adding salt and what's the concern for leaving it at the current level?
Pool + Spa is about 16150 gallons in the AZ sun. Pebble Plus finish.
Basic Test kit
Cl - 3 (The TF100 basic test kit is useless for finding your actual Cl level. They all look pretty much the same)
pH - 7.8 (Added 24 oz acid last night. Tested this morning and it was still at 7.8. Might be because I added CYA a few hours later last night as well, though)
TF100
CYA - 20-30 (Added 1 gallon of liquid last night. Tested again this morning and it was between 40 and 50. Should I add another gallon?)
TA - 120 (tested again this morning and it was 110)
CH - 380 (this was more like a violet color that seemed like lots of little violet dots in clear water. Should it be a completely solid color as opposed to floating particles of color?)
Salt - 2500 per the aquacheck test strips. Salt Cell reports 3000 and is making chlorine ok.
Leslies (using an electronic disk on some of the tests)
FAC - 3.17
TAC - 3.24
Salt - 3000 (same as my cell)
CH - 422 (seems to jive with my test being high and hard to do)
CYA - 34
TA - 84 (much lower than my test)
pH - 7.9
Copper - 0
Iron - .4 - They seemed concerned with this, but I didn't take any of their advice on it until I could check here. They said they normally see .1. Is this something I should do something about?
Phosphates - 100 - they said this was OK. But I know they want to sell you the stuff to lower it. I know better from reading here.
Questions:
On the CYA test, are you adding liquid until you can't see the dot at all? I have pretty good vision, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't over doing it on adding the liquid. When I stopped adding the liquid, I couldn't see the bottom at all, even the dot. Just wanted to make sure I was doing it correctly. Should I add another gallon of the liquid CYA?
My pH seems to always hover at 7.8. Will this stabilize later on or will I be adding acid every day?
The test strips are reporting about 500ppm lower on the salt level than the cell. Do I count only lines where the line is a solid white or can I count lines that are tapering up like a pyramid towards the line? The cell seems to be happy and is making chlorine just fine. Should I add more salt? If so, why? What's the benefit for adding salt and what's the concern for leaving it at the current level?