Recent content by triptyx

Just to wade in as someone that deals with fill water in the 225-250 range, you can certainly maintain your pool at that CH level. As you said, you'll want to get your TA down, and keep your pH 7.2 to 7.4. 7.2 is perfectly ok, just don't go below that. Watch the CSI as the water warms - it...

I may get corrected, but they're mostly the same (I'm assuming here that you're mainly only worried about calcium buildup - salt or some other contaminant won't show up on that test). Someone is feeding you a line. If you really want to make sure, you should be able to get a water quality...

The pump only needs to be run long enough to ensure enough filtering to keep it looking clean and clear, AND, since you have a SWG, long enough to adequately chlorinate the pool. Even with 105+ degree temps here in AZ and a lot of dust and dirt blowing around, I still only run about 5 hours in...

How did the OCLT go?

.5 is less accurate, yes, but more than enough for our needs, and you won't have to buy reagents all the time. :) Metals are always possible, do you have access to your local water company's water quality report? That said, metals do not consume chlorine at a high rate. Performing an OCLT...

First of all, welcome to TFP! We're really glad to have you with us. To clarify Stargate's response, you can save a lot of reagents in the free chlorine and combined chlorine tests by using a 10ml water sample, a heaping scoop of powder, and then dividing the number of drops to make it totally...

Definitely! You've got it dialed in - also, hello from the Northeast Tucson area. :)

From the CYA of 95, I'll guess that is a result from a pool store test or guess strip? A good test kit is essential to keeping your pool in good shape. Nobody is going to care to test it as well as you do, and if you're not giving the people at the pool store an opportunity to sell you...

Test strips give you ranges, they're also usually very poorly quality controlled and their numbers are extremely inaccurate. We call them "guess strips" since they're really just a guess. There's a good article here on test kits that list the various types that we recommend. It's very...

Waiting on a replacement solar blanket, but we were so tired of the house and with the temps in the 80's, I kicked on the heater on Sunday to bring the pool up from 69 to around 84 and had a great swim with the fam. The previous weekend, I replaced the autofill float and adjusted the water...

Keep on going! It will take some time to get all of the cloudiness filtered out. What kind of filter do you have?

I'd think granular has less potential to get blown about as you're trying to deploy it, reducing the risk of exposure too.

:) It's never a problem to guesstimate....until it's a problem. If you're doing weekly detailed tests, and you're doing a daily test and not recording it, you should be mostly ok. Most BIG problems don't happen overnight, they're usually a result of ignoring things for a little while. If...

Welcome to TFP! Nitrates, phosphates, and TDS isn't incredibly relevant to a clean and clear pool. Yes, algae like phosphates, but if there is a banquet in a room, and you're hungry, but the room's air supply is full of chlorine that will kill you, that banquet won't do you any good. ;) TDS is...

Welcome to TFP! Keep a careful watch on your chlorine, using daily testing and additions of a non-stabilized plain bleach or liquid chlorine, or if you're using tablets ensure you're adjusting your free chlorine upwards as the CYA rises over time. Other than that, enjoy your pool and keep an...