My first trip to my local pool store....Hmmm

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teppy

teppy

0
Nov 11, 2007
120
Louisiana
CYA test results

I just got in a ColorQ test kit by LaMotte. I have the tf-100 test kit, but really have trouble with the Ph readings. I did a comparison test of the two kits twice now, one yesterday afternoon and one this morning. The only two readings that are the same are the Ph and alkalinity. The chlorine reads on the lamotte reads a little lower than the tf-100 in both testings. the CH was off everywhere. Yesterday afternoon my tf-100 kit read 300 and this morning its 220. I don't know how they are both so different. Yesterday afternoon the colorQ CH was 274 and this morning its 302. The color Q testing for CH is closer this morning with yesterday. Its my CYA that I'm more concerned about than anything. the tf-100 is consistently giving me readings of 60-70. The colorQ has now given me two readings of 95 yesterday afternoon and 91 this morning. My pool water temp was 89 degrees yesterday and its 85 degrees this morning. Not too much difference in temps. I have seen a tutorial on how to judge how much solution in the vial to where I don't seen the black dot. I can't find it. I have tried to search. Please someone give me a link to that so that I can make sure that I'm doing the tf-100 CYA test correctly. With the colorQ, i did not touch the tablet. I put the foil pack over the vial and pressed so that the tablet fell directly into the vial. I followed the instructions exactly. I have got to find out which test is correct. CYA results of 60 are alot different from results of 90. I can't figure out how much I need to chlorinate my pool. I have stopped using my chlorine feeder and am totally using the BBB method now. Any help here is appreciated. Thanks.
 
Re: CYA test results

There are some known issues with the colorQ, particularly with the CH test. Do you have the one with all tablet reagents or the one with mostly liquid reagents and only tablets for the CYA test?
 
Re: CYA test results

Yes, I have the liquid regents. the only tablet is for the CYA test. I have been reading threads here on the colorQ. I will wait for more than the 2 minutes for the CYA test next time and will place the second set of drops in the vial before the first set for the CH test and see if that makes a difference. Overall, I'm really happy with the Ph and alk test, the ph mostly which is really the reason that I bought it in the first place. I do have a confession to make though. I have been keeping my Ph at or around 7.2 and its been much easier for me to judge using the taylor kit now because I know that I want it in the orange color range and nowhere near pink or red now. It makes it alot easier. I probably don't even need this color Q now. It took almost two weeks to come in and in that two weeks is when I made my changes in ph levels.
 
Re: CYA test results

teppy said:
I have seen a tutorial on how to judge how much solution in the vial to where I don't seen the black dot. I can't find it. I have tried to search. Please someone give me a link to that so that I can make sure that I'm doing the tf-100 CYA test correctly.
Click to expand...

Is this the link you are looking for? http://www.taylortechnologies.com/Chemi ... ntentID=44
 
Re: CYA test results

I did end up finally finding the link for that. It looks like I'm doing the CYA test right as far as judging when to stop adding the liquid to the tube. I will go with the tf-100 test kit results of 60 instead of the colorQ test results of 90. I hope that I'm right because that can mean a big difference of even minimum amounts of chlorine levels. This is my first summer with my pool and its looking crystal clear and beautiful so far.
 
Re: CYA test results

From what I have heard the ColorQ is very finicky about the CYA test and it is easy for it to be way off. Both time and water temperature affect the CYA test. The PH, FC, and CC tests in the ColorQ are very good as long as FC is below 10 and CH is below 500.
 
[Edit to include line breaks...easier on the eyes:jjparrish] :wink:

Now I am so totally confused as to what to believe. I really need some help here sorting out different tests. I've posted before about this, but I will go again here.

I have been using the TF-100 test kit since November now with no problems except for difficulty deciding what color my Ph reading is. So, I researched digital readers for awhile and bought the LaMotte colorQ. I've been getting different readings with these two test kits when compared side by side with my CYA and CH. Everything else is pretty much very comparable.

I really wanted to know which test to believe as far as my CYA goes for sure, so I brought in a water sample to my pool store today. They use a strip reader I think by BioGuard. My CYA was at 104, which is close to what the colorQ gives me at 94. I've been consistently getting results of between 60-70 with my TF-100 kit for awhile now. Which numbers should I believe? Should I go with the 60-70, or the 100 range? How reliable is that strip reader? It did look pretty sophiticated. I just don't know.

The CH reading that they did today was just about spot on with my TF-100 test kit at the 230-250 range. The colorQ was off this time giving me a reading of over 300. If any two of these test kits/readers were consistent with each other in all of the testing, it might be easier to know what my real numbers are, but I'm getting two of the kits matching on some tests and then another two matching on other tests. Is there any way to really be sure of what my CYA is?

My trip was very frustrating to say the least, and not to mention the conversation about needing to shock once a week and how water temp does not affect a CYA reading. I then had a discussion with him about how important is was for me to know what my CYA was because I would need to make adjustments to my chlorine levels. He aksed me why? I told him that the higher the CYA, the higher the amount of chlorine was needed. He told me no, thats not true and that my chlorine should always be at around 3ppm no matter what.

I didn't even go into it any further at that point. I bought some muriatric acid from him and told him thank you and left. Could I please get some guidance here about how to check my CYA for a true reading? PS-By the way, I am pretty confident in the way that I am doing the black dot test for CYA.
 

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