So I had to make a quick trip to the pool store to buy a few bottles of metal sequestrant. Having heard all of the horror stories here, I thought I'd take a water sample with me out of curiosity to see what they tried to sell me. Before I left, I took a set of results with the TF-100. They were as follows:
FC 5
CC 0
Ph 7.4
TA 80
CH 250 (measured yesterday)
CYA 40 (measured yesterday)
Salt: 3100 (measured yesterday)
By all accounts, this is a well-balanced pool. So here begins the fun:
The woman tested my water. Her first remark, "Well, it's not bad, but not great. We can make it better." "Let me go grab a few things for ya that will make your water perfect." I ask her if I can see the results and she says, "Of course, let me just take this with me now so I'll know what to grab." Off she goes up and down the aisles with basket in hand. She returns a few minutes later with the following:
1. 100 Ct. Trichlor pucks
2. 2 bottles of what she describes as algae preventative
3. A bottle of who-knows-what that I "need" to put in my skimmer so that it will prevent build up on my heater.
4. A water thermometer (!?!)
5. Conditioner (CYA)
6. Foam down
7. Ph Up
8. Ph down
When she came back with all of these items I opened my eyes really big and said, "OMG! I had no idea my water was in such bad shape!" She said, "That's why we're here. Lots of people don't understand what is necessary to have really good pool water." It thought to myself: Yeah lady, and you're one of them!
I told her I really appreciated her help but only got enough cash out to pay for the metal sequestrant and that I would think about coming back for the rest of the items. She said she would hold the basket for me at the counter for a couple of hours in case I changed my mind. I'd guess there were about $300+ worth of stuff she was trying to sell me, when all I needed was $40 worth.
Thank goodness for TFP!! She was so convincing that if I didn't know any better, I may have bought everything she tried to sell me!!
So, my curiosity satisfied, I can now rest assured that I will never set foot in a pool store again.
FC 5
CC 0
Ph 7.4
TA 80
CH 250 (measured yesterday)
CYA 40 (measured yesterday)
Salt: 3100 (measured yesterday)
By all accounts, this is a well-balanced pool. So here begins the fun:
The woman tested my water. Her first remark, "Well, it's not bad, but not great. We can make it better." "Let me go grab a few things for ya that will make your water perfect." I ask her if I can see the results and she says, "Of course, let me just take this with me now so I'll know what to grab." Off she goes up and down the aisles with basket in hand. She returns a few minutes later with the following:
1. 100 Ct. Trichlor pucks
2. 2 bottles of what she describes as algae preventative
3. A bottle of who-knows-what that I "need" to put in my skimmer so that it will prevent build up on my heater.
4. A water thermometer (!?!)
5. Conditioner (CYA)
6. Foam down
7. Ph Up
8. Ph down
When she came back with all of these items I opened my eyes really big and said, "OMG! I had no idea my water was in such bad shape!" She said, "That's why we're here. Lots of people don't understand what is necessary to have really good pool water." It thought to myself: Yeah lady, and you're one of them!
I told her I really appreciated her help but only got enough cash out to pay for the metal sequestrant and that I would think about coming back for the rest of the items. She said she would hold the basket for me at the counter for a couple of hours in case I changed my mind. I'd guess there were about $300+ worth of stuff she was trying to sell me, when all I needed was $40 worth.
Thank goodness for TFP!! She was so convincing that if I didn't know any better, I may have bought everything she tried to sell me!!
So, my curiosity satisfied, I can now rest assured that I will never set foot in a pool store again.
