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The seal on my "new" bottles is often eaten away. It makes opening them a pain. I started keeping them where they get fresh air after rusting some stuff. While it is dangerous to store MA and chlorine together, you don't want to anyway. Since a cool dark place is unlikely to be well...

With a CYA of 41, your minimum for SLAM is 16. Your target should be high enough so that you never fall below your minimum.

I've been using both for the last month or so. I'm outside the real range for OTO (CYA is 90), but it still gives me a pretty good idea. I've been practicing guessing how many drops FAS-DPD will take based on the OTO color. I'm getting better.

Wow. When the test results didn't make any sense, he just doubled down. Ignore the phosphates and get a proper chlorine to CYA ratio and you'll do fine. While I wouldn't trust their results, what are your stats? Especially that CYA/stabilizer? It would be good to get your generator going...

As someone with allergies, that seems an odd statement to me, so I checked. The cities I looked at in New Jersey all had high levels of grass pollen. I've no idea if that is an issue for a pool. High for people might not be high for pools.

Since no one pointed it out, this is seasonal. While it depends on your pool, especially how much sun it gets, daily additions are probably only needed during the summer. And even now, I sometimes skip a day, but only if my test says the clouds protected my chlorine. I might skip testing and...

The Na+ does nothing, but there is an increase in OH- which keeps the ions balanced. That increase in OH- is why people with salt water generators see a raising Ph and need to add acid. You could think of it as the salt turning into sodium hydroxide, but that's usually not the best way to...

Because our pool stores don't sell bleach that way.

I kill ants in the house with boric acid. I mix my own, but you can buy it premixed. If you know what you are doing (ant leave trails, use them), it's very effective and doesn't leave any residual poisons like other methods. I've heard borax works just as well. The concentration used in...

Re: CYA debate The TFP method has saved me lots of money and my water looks so much better vs my pool guy. I was paying $135 per month and as the CYA levels started getting out of hand, so did the algae and the green water. I was getting sick and tired of having to call him and listening to...

DE for pools and DE for gardens are not interchangeable. "Swimming pool DE is heat-treated (calcined), partially melted, and chemically treated."

My Polaris 380 is pretty old now (decade?). It's been repaired many times. Myself, I've replaced the filter bag, tail and feed hose. I even rotated the tires. I'll probably do a rebuild kit in another year or two. It cleans my pool in about an hour, by that point there might be a leaf or...

That can't be good for the pool equipment!

It could certainly be less. Walmart sells Top Job which is very diluted. I found an MSDS for Fibre Sure bleach. The supplier name is LAVO Inc, so I'm pretty sure it's the same product. That sheet says 1% to 4.9%, which isn't good for that price and you'd be hauling lots of water even if it was.

I thought mine said that if it was reading wrong, remove the plug, let the pressure equalize and reinstall the plug. I didn't cut anything and it works great.

If it is cloudy during the day, you'll lose less chlorine to the sun while SLAMing, so I'd say rain is good.

I haven't had any trouble with KemTek, except they're purchased the rights to Clorox and raise prices. Yesterday I couldn't find KemTek muriatic acid at Lowe's, only Clorox. The new more expensive bottle even has the same "123 easy" steps stuff. It claims to be 31% and certainly fumes like...

If you are going to use tri-chlor floaters while on vacation, then don't add the acid, because tri-chlor is acidic.

Salt can provide a nucleating site for dissolved gases. Cold water dissolves gases than warm water, so a warming pool might be saturated (or super saturated), then adding anything with sharp edges like salt could cause bubbles. This is the Mentos in Diet Coke affect. There is no chemical...

You probably don't even need test strips now. Add enough to get to about 50 ppm and you're close enough. However, you will want test strips next time (in a year or so) so you know how much you have left.

PetSmart and PetCo carry ammonia tests. My local PetSmart has a whole range of drop based color matching tests. Around the same time, I discovered that people on fish forums don't really trust test strips either.

Three hours of sun and no chlorine loss means the sun is dying!

Ha! Happy Birthday! Not needed, but it sure makes those tests quick and easy.

I found the Clorox bottle harder to pour than the generic bottles. I'm pouring slowly, so I don't need a breather hole and the opening is smaller because of it. The only time I've had bleach stains was when a bottle fell out from under the cart at Walmart. I'm still hearing about that one.

In my area, the date codes on KT Chlorinating Liquid are two digit year and three digit Julian day. Just like bleach bottles. They look surprisingly similar.

EPA standards for drinking water pH is 6.5 to 8.5. These are secondary standards, which are not requirements and just guidelines.

Grandpa?! Just kidding, but I thought most people had learned how nasty use motor oil was. It kills lots of things and persists in the environment for a long time. My grandpa used it for all sorts of things, but my parents were very careful not spill any. EDIT: Wasps are beneficial...

I have a different Polaris, but the diagram of a 180 tail looks like mine. I switched to (added really) a no spray tail. It doesn't spray windows, people and cats any more. However it often gets filled with small oak leaves, then it stops swishing. I've notice that when the tail doesn't...

Wasps are my least favorite. The come to drink from the pool and when it's colder, they get caught by the skimmers. I've been stung once. Toads, june bugs, pill bugs, worms, caterpillars, etc. I even fished a skink out of the pool one day. That's a lizard that looks a lot like a snake.

Drat. I was hoping for a hydrogen flame test.