Good evening Pool Experts,
Long time listener, first time caller! Ok, so not really that long, but a casual reader of your site for a short while. We bought a used above ground pool and set it up the 2nd year of COVID, so that'd be 2021. Inherited a pile of pool chemicals from the former owner, and purchased whatever the pool store recommended - yeah, I was a newbie - it was a jug of stabilizer, a couple pails of pucks, some algecide stuff, probably other things...
I started doing some research on the web after getting started and found your site and ended up buying a Taylor 2006 (very hard to find these things in Canada) off Amazon - crazy expensive at around $150, but happy with it. I did all the tests, but pretty much just focused on managing chlorine levels and taking an occasional CYA reading last year. pH seemed to wander, but always stayed somewhat close to target and the water was clear so I left it alone. Overall, it went alright, as our pool is not near trees so stuff doesn't fall in often and the kids were in it almost every day.
I'm now creating a pool book and trying to summarize info from your site and get better at managing the pool and understanding the numbers. I recently created an account here and thought I would post today's results. I opened the pool mid-May this year, but didn't have easy access to liquid chlorine (no pool store in town), so I had just used pucks in stock so far. I found liquid chlorine this week (first store was out, found it at a second, not sure if there are shortages or why), so now I have 2x10L jugs. I'm told it runs 10-12%, depending on age.
Based on my tests today, it may be on the high side and CYA is also bit high. We had some really hot/sunny days last week and I had added a few pucks to the skimmer basket and overshot it - they take a few days to dissolve. At this point, I'll stop using the pucks and just use the liquid so CYA doesn't get higher. For the other readings, TA, CH, pH, should I be doing things or adding stuff? We're on a well, so I tested the water from the garden hose that I use to fill the pool to share that here as well. It's hard water. We use a softener in the house, but not on the outdoor faucet.
For test kits - here's what I have:
Test strips - what the pool store sold me. And they're terrible. I use them only for super quick, how's my chlorine readings - the other indicators hardly match anything on the bottle and I'll never buy them again.
Taylor K-1001 DPD - reasonably priced at $25, and it seems to be a good quick test. I find the pH readings easier to discern with this test than the big kit.
Taylor K-2006 FAS-DPD - as mentioned, purchased this due to this site's strong recommendation - the fancy US only kits are not available here and neither was the 2006C, so I ordered this one.
And yes, it ran out of FAS-DPD stuff quickly and R-0013 extremely quickly, so I had to find refills of those. $40 for the R-0870 and R-0871 in Canada, surprisingly expensive. Any suggestions?
If/when I travel to the US, I may try to find it there.
And lastly, based on some reading online I found a cheap chinese OTO test on Amazon and ordered that. Seems mostly useless, the yellow shades look very similar to each other. But it's in my collection now.
I saw this list of requested tests in another post, so I just pulled these results a half hour ago with the K-2006 mostly (and K-1001 to confirm pH against the K-2006 just to be sure)
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Pool Results:
FC - 9.5
CC - 0
ph - 7.2
TA - 100 or 110 - it turned light pink at 10 drops and darker pink at 11 drops
CH - 150 or 175 - hard to tell, tons of floaters in it
CYA - 50 or 60 - dot very faint (or imaginary?) at 60, and definitely gone at 50
Temp - 78
CSA - what's this? Is it the Taylor Water Balance thing? It scored a -0.4
And the well water:
ph - 7.2 (it was slightly darker than the pool, perhaps 7.3?)
TA - 210 or 220 - same light but steady pink vs darker pink - do I take readings at the first pink or the darker one?
CH - 250 or 275 - tons of floaters
Long time listener, first time caller! Ok, so not really that long, but a casual reader of your site for a short while. We bought a used above ground pool and set it up the 2nd year of COVID, so that'd be 2021. Inherited a pile of pool chemicals from the former owner, and purchased whatever the pool store recommended - yeah, I was a newbie - it was a jug of stabilizer, a couple pails of pucks, some algecide stuff, probably other things...
I started doing some research on the web after getting started and found your site and ended up buying a Taylor 2006 (very hard to find these things in Canada) off Amazon - crazy expensive at around $150, but happy with it. I did all the tests, but pretty much just focused on managing chlorine levels and taking an occasional CYA reading last year. pH seemed to wander, but always stayed somewhat close to target and the water was clear so I left it alone. Overall, it went alright, as our pool is not near trees so stuff doesn't fall in often and the kids were in it almost every day.
I'm now creating a pool book and trying to summarize info from your site and get better at managing the pool and understanding the numbers. I recently created an account here and thought I would post today's results. I opened the pool mid-May this year, but didn't have easy access to liquid chlorine (no pool store in town), so I had just used pucks in stock so far. I found liquid chlorine this week (first store was out, found it at a second, not sure if there are shortages or why), so now I have 2x10L jugs. I'm told it runs 10-12%, depending on age.
Based on my tests today, it may be on the high side and CYA is also bit high. We had some really hot/sunny days last week and I had added a few pucks to the skimmer basket and overshot it - they take a few days to dissolve. At this point, I'll stop using the pucks and just use the liquid so CYA doesn't get higher. For the other readings, TA, CH, pH, should I be doing things or adding stuff? We're on a well, so I tested the water from the garden hose that I use to fill the pool to share that here as well. It's hard water. We use a softener in the house, but not on the outdoor faucet.
For test kits - here's what I have:
Test strips - what the pool store sold me. And they're terrible. I use them only for super quick, how's my chlorine readings - the other indicators hardly match anything on the bottle and I'll never buy them again.
Taylor K-1001 DPD - reasonably priced at $25, and it seems to be a good quick test. I find the pH readings easier to discern with this test than the big kit.
Taylor K-2006 FAS-DPD - as mentioned, purchased this due to this site's strong recommendation - the fancy US only kits are not available here and neither was the 2006C, so I ordered this one.
And yes, it ran out of FAS-DPD stuff quickly and R-0013 extremely quickly, so I had to find refills of those. $40 for the R-0870 and R-0871 in Canada, surprisingly expensive. Any suggestions?
If/when I travel to the US, I may try to find it there.
And lastly, based on some reading online I found a cheap chinese OTO test on Amazon and ordered that. Seems mostly useless, the yellow shades look very similar to each other. But it's in my collection now.
I saw this list of requested tests in another post, so I just pulled these results a half hour ago with the K-2006 mostly (and K-1001 to confirm pH against the K-2006 just to be sure)
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Pool Results:
FC - 9.5
CC - 0
ph - 7.2
TA - 100 or 110 - it turned light pink at 10 drops and darker pink at 11 drops
CH - 150 or 175 - hard to tell, tons of floaters in it
CYA - 50 or 60 - dot very faint (or imaginary?) at 60, and definitely gone at 50
Temp - 78
CSA - what's this? Is it the Taylor Water Balance thing? It scored a -0.4
And the well water:
ph - 7.2 (it was slightly darker than the pool, perhaps 7.3?)
TA - 210 or 220 - same light but steady pink vs darker pink - do I take readings at the first pink or the darker one?
CH - 250 or 275 - tons of floaters
Last edited:
