Test strips --- stupid question?

[samanthamartin777]

I've read through pool school and a large chunk of the articles and forum posts. I understand the number one requirement is a good test kit. And I've gathered the opinion that test strips are evil. I'm just wondering .... how evil? Are the ones that test for FC really THAT OFF? I noticed that Taylor makes a 6-way test strip that also measures CYA.

We are renting a house with an above ground pool while we are building a new house. This is literally the only season we will be using this pool, so I'm having a hard time justifying the extra cash for a test kit. Especially since the landlord left us a bucket of Trichlor tabs. I might be pushing some high CYA by the end of the summer .... Just wondering what you guys think.

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Here's the information I've found on the Taylor test strips....

http://www.taylortechnologies.com/product_fliers/sureTRACK-Strips-4way-and-6way.pdf

 

[jblizzle]

Even a basic OTO and pH drop test would be better than the test strips.

If you think you can avoid needing to SLAM, the HTH 6-way kit from Walmart may get you buy (although I think it is nearly half the cost of the K-2006).

Who is responsible for the pool maintenance? If you, you may end up having to spend more money clearing up a swamp if things go bad than you would have with the proper tool in the first place.

 

[Isaac-1]

Just look at those ranges for CYA on the typical strip test, they are usually 0 = yellow-orange, 30-50 = orange, 100 = red orange 250=red and 400=purple, given we teach anything at over 100 is usually an algae bloom waiting to happen those top 3 ranges just tell you that you need to drain and replace a lot of water, or a whole lot of water, and trying to distinguish exactly where you are between yellow-orange and red-orange on the 0-100 range is an exercise in futility when you consider the precision needed for using the Chlorine/CYA chart in pool school.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock