so i was going to go to walmart later and thought id buy a test kit...i think one of them there tests CYA.....good idea? keep in mine money is very tight this month due to a trip we are going on in a few days....needing to see the CYA to see how much bleach i need to buy and use per week...thanks guys
test kit question...
- Thread starter queeniepaula
- Start date
You will not find a kit at Walmart that we consider adequate. Your money would be better spent if you save it up until you can get one of the kits suggested in Pool School.
thought youd say that...i asked because we are going soon and im not wanting to come back to a green mess, though i was also going to cover it before going to stop anything from falling it too its only a 14x48....maybe ill put in 2 gallons of bleach then right before we go
You shouldn't dump 2 gallons of bleach in your pool and call it a day queenie. We don't teach that here at TFP and you'll never hear someone advocate that here.
If you're so hard pressed to see what your CYA level is then go to the pool store and have them test it. For someone who doesn't have a test kit, that's about the best advice you're going to get until you decide you are ready for a reliable test kit.
If you're so hard pressed to see what your CYA level is then go to the pool store and have them test it. For someone who doesn't have a test kit, that's about the best advice you're going to get until you decide you are ready for a reliable test kit.
The HTH test kit is almost $25 I think. If you already have a pH test, you could get the TF-50 for not much more and have the correct chlorine test.
There is one drop based test kit that is so sold in some Wal-Marts, that has a CYA test included, the only problem is there is only enough reagents for 2 or 3 tests, the test strips that show CYA are useless even if they do read right, the ranges are too course, and most are higher than our suggest ranges (we generally suggest a CYA level of 40 for most pools, up to about 50 or 60 in prime sun belt locations, and advise partial draining to lower at over 100). Test strips (aqua chek brand anyway) show color match ranges for 0, 30-50, 100, 150 and 300 with the color for 30-50, being almost identical to 0. Meaning most ranges are useless
see this link
see this link
thanks all for the advice...asap ill get the right kit but i used a kit with cya test and my cya messures under 30 ppm so what can i do before my week long trip or do nothing and add a gallon of bleach before i go?
If you trust the 30ppm CYA you can SLAM the pool to 12ppm and cover it with a solar cover. You can use Pool Math to see how much should be added.
ok.....just sounds like more money lol so i should do this starting asap or a week before i go on my trip? right now the pool is nearly perfect looking 
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by the way will i always have to have it at shock level cause thats alot of bleach im sure
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by the way will i always have to have it at shock level cause thats alot of bleach im sure
Bring the pool to slam level and cover it as close to the time you leave as possible for maximum benefit. How long do you plan to be gone?
- Jul 1, 2013
- 220
In my opinion ... even though getting the test kit seems like a lot of money up front ... it will potentially save you quite a bit over throwing bleach blindly in your pool ... For example ... if you just take a little time and put your numbers into pool math - assuming your water really does come up to 48 inches (which most likely you need to measure as it will be lower than this) then adding 69 oz of 8.25% bleach will raise you from 0 to 10 chlorine ... my jugs of 8.25% bleach are 121 oz ... so adding 1 will raise it to 17 (from 0) and adding 2 jugs would raise it to 35! This could be very damaging to your liner ... and without knowing your CYA level you don't even know what slam level is.
Raising the FC in your size pool may take much less bleach than you think.
Raising the FC in your size pool may take much less bleach than you think.
im going for one week
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am using regular streanth bleach which is less then 8.25 i know that much, ill have to test the clhorine level tomorrow
btw this test kit i have has a total clhorine test in that....thats the only onr to test FC correct?
sorry for the mixed questions and such, im thinking about the pool and this trip which isnt a vacation to say the least so i really appreciate everyones help and all
heres a pic of a similar test to mine, i tested the clhorine today and you can see in the pic theres a 5 at the top left and a 5 at the bottom left, mine looked likt the bottom 5, ill assume thats not much clhorine but why are there 2 differant 5s im confused and if it only gets to 5 and according to this http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock i should get to around 10 i cant messure it huh? and again the two 5s confuse the heck out of me lol
The smaller number is for chlorine, the larger number is for bromine. There are instructions.
I'm going to agree with our fellow Mods. I was in your same situation at one time. I had just joined this site and had no formal test kit except for test strips or getting it tested at the pool store. I was also in financial trouble at the time, but I dished out some dough and bought the TF100. Best possible decision any pool owner could make in maintaining their pool.
lol i know that but if you look there at the bottom there is a 5 for chlorine and a 1 fore bromine and at the top theres a 5 for chlorine and a 10 for bromine....why are there two 5s and mine messures on the 5 at the bottom
The bottom one is a 0.5
You probably just can't see the .
I have no idea why they don't put "0.5" on there like a good science person would!
You probably just can't see the .
I have no idea why they don't put "0.5" on there like a good science person would!
Is this a test you ran, Queeniepaula??? Because it doesn't appear that you've filled the test chambers up to the necessary level with pool water, which could skew your results. Just something to keep in mind!
no no thats not a picture of mine that a picture i found online thats just like mine and thanks for clearifing about the two 5s.....i need to raise the chlorine a good bit