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What you have on top matters more (probably a lot more) than what's in the sides. A nice hefty cover supported by the rim is a must. Bonus points for adding bubble wrap or closed-cell foam floating directly on the water. --paulr

If you meant test strips, yes. I think Bowlin was referring to a view tube where you pour in the whole mixture, and the black dot is on a slider that you move up and down. I've not used one of those but offhand I'd guess they work about as well as the kind where you add mixture until the dot...

It's hard to tell, but I think I get a bluer endpoint on the CH test. You could try doing the interference thing (start with 10 drops R-0012 before doing the R-0010 and R-0011, and those first 10 drops count in your total). --paulr

I leave my cover on pretty much all the time, although it doesn't cover 100% of the pool surface. I don't have any real problem with CC buildup. --paulr

A cover on 75% of the pool should reduce evaporation 75%. Like bk406 I got a bigger cover and cut to fit in two pieces, and individually these are easier to manage than one big cover. --paulr

The idea here is that adding a known amount of a chemical will have a predictable effect on your test measurements. For example, if you add 1 gallon of 5.5% bleach to a 10,000 gallon pool, your FC will increase by 5.5ppm (until it gets eaten by sunlight or algae). Assuming you have a clean...

I don't really have answers for your questions, because most of them are personal preferences. My main suggestion would be to visit a few dealers and be ready to wet-test different tubs to get an idea of what you like and don't like. In general I'd expect a SWG to work fine in a hot tub. I...

A number of people on the forum talk about cleaning their carts once a year, need it or not. Brag, brag... --paulr

Wow, monster spa, awesome! The Pool Calculator suggests that the 182oz was worth 20ppm and 64oz was worth about 7ppm, assuming 6% bleach. Was it 6%, or something stronger? because that all adds up to 31ppm, and after a day in the sun it should've dropped some. March sun isn't exactly the...

Well, hm, poolspaforum.com having more troubles apparently... I can't even get the home page. Anybody know what's going on, or is it just me? --paulr

I measured mine once for grins; CH and TA color-changed on the first drop, and pH was below the range where phenol red will work. I suppose if I had base-demand reagent I could have worked up a guess from that, if I got some practice with it at normal pH ranges first. I'd expect rainwater...

googling "reverse osmosis texas pool" turned up www.aquatiquepoolcare.com with an address in Lakeview TX. Now you know as much as I do about them. :-) --paulr

Where I am, HD "carries" it but only the 15% not the 30%. And it's not half the price, either. --paulr

Just for completeness: 1/2 tsp 6% bleach in 4 gallons* unchlorinated water should read as 10ppm. (That's approx 6000:1 dilution. Measuring the 1/2 tsp precisely is the hardest part.) --paulr * U.S. not Imperial, not that I think anyone really still uses Imperial gallons, I'm just showing off

Map of annual evaporation rates (in inches): http://www.grow.arizona.edu/images/water/panevap.gif You'd expect the bulk of it to be in the summer, of course. You could try poking around that website and see if they have data broken down by month, or something. --paulr

There are maybe 4 different little hoses inside the unit; I've had one pop off or split probably 3 times in 2 years, with predictable loss of oomph. My local shop has a free-labor policy if you bring it in, so it has always been cheap to get it fixed. --paulr

Well, I wouldn't put the backup unit 10' from the Polaris. My manual has a diagram suggesting the backup unit is somewhere within the first 10' section, and I have about 1' of hose from the backup unit to the polaris itself. --paulr

Note that in many parts of the bay area, you must drain to the sewer, not the yard/street. So run your garden hose to your sewer cleanout. --paulr

I have had that same thought about my mother... but, it has been only 34 years, still time for the memories to be fresh. --paulr

CSI is a measure of long-term risk more than a knife-edge death-or-glory metric. It's about the last thing to worry about chemistry-wise, and like duraleigh, some people don't worry about it at all. Given that this is a relatively new pool and the plaster is still doing its new-pool thing, I'm...

I'm replying mainly to bump this... first thing is to call your builder and see what they say. I know enough to say that colder temps will increase the pH all by itself, as well as probably slow down the plaster curing process; I don't know what practical effect that will have on the plaster...

Early on, I was advised that every 2-3 months (e.g. every water change, if that's how often you do it) to unzip the covers and let the foam air out overnight. Not that I actually do that, because I haven't had the cover-too-heavy problem. --paulr

This is a change from what you wrote here in March, "add the R-0003 reagent before you add the FAS-DPD titrating drops." Please confirm one way or the other... thanks! (I've been cruising for bromine info lately or I probably wouldn't have noticed this difference.) --paulr

Something like this happened to me a while back. Channel-lock pliers did the trick. --paulr

But as long as you have the R-7065, you can use it to double-check your testing technique...

I put 50ppm borates in my tub, it makes the pH vastly more stable. It has been 2+ months since my last water change and in that time pH has crept up from 7.5 to 7.7. TA runs in the 50-60 range. --paulr

The numbers all look reasonable. CYA is not present in tap water; either somebody added it, or somebody used dichlor or trichlor as the initial chlorine source prior to the SWG getting cranked up. Dichlor and trichlor both contain CYA. --paulr

"Wrong" in what way? There are variations in the instructions that you'll find in different places. Some variations aren't worth getting snippy about. The Extended Test Kit Directions for CYA says to shake 30 seconds, then read. This matches Taylor's description. The Water Testing...

A brand new plaster pool will have rapidly rising pH at first; the good news is this slows down over time, the less-good news is it can take a year to really settle down. A SWG will also tend to contribute to rising pH. High TA will also tend to contribute to rising pH. Pool School doesn't...

I asked about this at the pool shop where I get my 12.5%. What the guy told me is, they use it in their own pool service business, and get two deliveries a week. He also said the plant is relatively nearby, it's probably only 1-2 days old when they get it. I have 90F+ days routinely where I...