Well, I got the TFP testing kit for DH last year and he never used it (stubborn cuss!). I pulled it out this month and decided to give it a go, myself :-D I'm a little anxious, since I feel like I have to prove myself (and the kit) to DH, and I'm hoping I'm doing everything okay...
First - are the testing chemicals still good? The kit has been stored away from heat or light in a lower level office that stays cool year round.
Second - assuming that the chems are okay, I'm a little confused about the pH and TA relationship. I thought pH was a measure of where the water was on a scale of acidity to alkalinity. Or are they two separate things (acidity and alkalinity)?
Third - here are the latest test results:
FC - 3
CC - 1.5
pH - 6.8
TA - 140
CYA - 30 (it was between 30 and 40, slightly closer to 30)
According to these compared to yesterday's testing, the pH has dropped from 7.2 and the TA has dropped from 170. Does that make sense? To me, the TA drop seems significant, but what would do that? Testing error? I'm also confused that they both dropped at the same time because I thought they would move opposite of each other - if one goes down, the other should go up.
I'm not sure what to work on next and would appreciate any feedback. I think the CYA is okay - we have the popular 'filled sock by the skimmer' that's been dissolving for the past few days. DH is going to put in some bleach tonight (it was a 90 degree sunny day, so I think that's where we lost some FC - it was 5 last night.
If it helps to know this, the day before yesterday, I did an overnight FC loss test and it dropped by 1. I think that's okay, yes? Or not?
DH is jonesing to shock the pool - he said he 'always' does that around this point in pool opening. Not sure if that's indicated by any of the results, though, so I'm holding him off for now. The water is a little cloudy, but there's no visible algae or anything off color. DH had put in a few bucketfuls of semi-dissolved stabilizer at the beginning of the week, so I wasn't sure if that could be still dissolving. We've vacuumed so there's no dirt or anything in the pool, and DH has cleaned the filters several times (the filters are old and tend to clog with all the vacuumed silt) and soaked them in dishwasher detergent just a few days ago.
Thanks so much for any advice or information you can share! I'm officially taking over as Chief Water Tester and Chemical Counsel for our pool :lol: I'm starting a log of all pool related information and activity so whatever info I get, you can trust I will be taking notes and hopefully learning so I don't have to ask the same stupid question twice! :lol:
First - are the testing chemicals still good? The kit has been stored away from heat or light in a lower level office that stays cool year round.
Second - assuming that the chems are okay, I'm a little confused about the pH and TA relationship. I thought pH was a measure of where the water was on a scale of acidity to alkalinity. Or are they two separate things (acidity and alkalinity)?
Third - here are the latest test results:
FC - 3
CC - 1.5
pH - 6.8
TA - 140
CYA - 30 (it was between 30 and 40, slightly closer to 30)
According to these compared to yesterday's testing, the pH has dropped from 7.2 and the TA has dropped from 170. Does that make sense? To me, the TA drop seems significant, but what would do that? Testing error? I'm also confused that they both dropped at the same time because I thought they would move opposite of each other - if one goes down, the other should go up.
I'm not sure what to work on next and would appreciate any feedback. I think the CYA is okay - we have the popular 'filled sock by the skimmer' that's been dissolving for the past few days. DH is going to put in some bleach tonight (it was a 90 degree sunny day, so I think that's where we lost some FC - it was 5 last night.
If it helps to know this, the day before yesterday, I did an overnight FC loss test and it dropped by 1. I think that's okay, yes? Or not?
DH is jonesing to shock the pool - he said he 'always' does that around this point in pool opening. Not sure if that's indicated by any of the results, though, so I'm holding him off for now. The water is a little cloudy, but there's no visible algae or anything off color. DH had put in a few bucketfuls of semi-dissolved stabilizer at the beginning of the week, so I wasn't sure if that could be still dissolving. We've vacuumed so there's no dirt or anything in the pool, and DH has cleaned the filters several times (the filters are old and tend to clog with all the vacuumed silt) and soaked them in dishwasher detergent just a few days ago.
Thanks so much for any advice or information you can share! I'm officially taking over as Chief Water Tester and Chemical Counsel for our pool :lol: I'm starting a log of all pool related information and activity so whatever info I get, you can trust I will be taking notes and hopefully learning so I don't have to ask the same stupid question twice! :lol: