Help! First time Taylor K tester.

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H

Hlynnkirk

0
May 13, 2018
32
Matthews NC
Hi all! Got my Taylor K test kit today. Attempting my first test, but just on the free chlorine I'm following instructions. Elbow deep water, filled to the 25 ml line. Added to dips of dpd powder. Water is almost red. I'm adding the R O871, 141 drops later in the water still has not changed to clear! I know my chlorine is high because we were dealing with a high cya plus mustard algae problem. But we've drained and refilled half the pool to lower cya, and have just been doing one gallon of bleach per day since that drain on Monday.
 
You should use 10ml of water so each drop is 0.5ppm.
Or initially since you are not sure how high it is, try 5ml of water so each drop is 1ppm (this is just for initial reading and not recommended for day to day).
 
The 25ml sample is too precise for what you need and uses a little more powder. Instead, for regular testing we recommend a 10ml water sample with one heaping scoop of powder (turns Barbie Pink) Mix until clear and divide by 2. (standard method) i.e. 20 drops = FC of 10.

Now in your case right now with a crazy high FC level, just do the 5 ml water sample where each drop = 1 FC. 50 drops = an FC of 50. Is not as accurate, but right now that's probably your best bet to save some R-0871 until the FC comes back down to earth.

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Rats! Jason cut me off. :poke:
 
Take the mixture and the little tube with the black dot outside, hold tube at waist level with back to the sun, slowly add the mixture to the tube until you can't see the dot, read the result. Pour it back and forth a few times to see if you get around the same answer.
 
I also can't get a read on my alkalinity. According to my test strips, which I know we don't really trust, but my uncle and it has been around 80 this week. But I've tried both the 25 ML and the 10 mL test and I can't get it to go beyond yellow...

My other results:
FC 42
CC 1
pH 7.8
CH 180

CYA... I'm guessing over a hundred. I didn't really have to add that much Before I couldn't see the bottom. But I'm so frustrated! We just did a 50% drain on Monday, I can't believe that my cya would have been the same. But that's according to a pool store test.

The only thing we've added since the fill was bleach, 5 lb of dry acid after the refill because the pH was super high, and a bottle of metal free because we deal with metal staining.
 
Let's focus on the CYA first as that will drive what happens next. If it is very high, which we suspect, we need to know about how high. So please do a diluted CYA test as explained on the TFP Pool School - CYA page starting at step #8. Don't beat yourself up too badly on the previous draining. I'm sure it was needed. The CYA test is one we see the pool store perform incorrectly many times. It's good you are testing it now. Once you get that number report back with your results.

CYA Testing:
Proper lighting is critical for the CYA test, so you want to test for CYA outside on a bright sunny day. Use the mixing bottle to gently mix the required amounts of pool water and R-0013 reagent, let sit for 30 seconds, then gently mix again. Recommend standing outside with your back to the sun and the view tube in the shade of your body at waist level. Then, begin squirting the mixed solution into the skinny tube. Watch the black dot until it completely disappears. Once it disappears, record the CYA reading. To help the eyes and prevent staring at the dot, some people find it better to pour & view in stages. Pour some solution into the viewing tube, look away, then look back again for the dot. Repeat as necessary until you feel the dot is gone. After the first CYA test, you can pour the mixed solution from the skinny view tube back to the mixing bottle, gently shake, and do the same test a second, third, or fourth time to instill consistency in your technique, become more comfortable with the testing, and validate your own CYA reading.
Click to expand...
 

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You don't invert the tube, you just see where the level is in relation to the lines on the tube. If it did not take much solution to obscure the dot, then your CYA may still be much higher than you expected (pool store testing of CYA is really bad).

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The TA test colors can be messed up due to your very high FC ... I would not worry about the TA right now.
 
Whelp, that diluted test gave me a 120 (60 x2). �� What now?

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I should also know that we are getting buckets of rain today. I've already drained several inches to waste and I'm going to have to do that again at some point this evening as it's almost back to the top of my skimmers
 
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