OTO vs. FAS-DPD tests?

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M

mamalou23

0
May 31, 2014
45
Burlington, NC
I got the Taylor K-2006 Complete and the K-1000 Basic. After SLAMing for the last week, I am out of the R-0871 titrating reagent for the FAS-DPD chlorine test. Where is the best place to get refills? Is it only available online? Also the Cyaneuric Acid reagent also.

But what application does the OTO kit have? It doesn't tell me FC only Total Chlorine. What good does that do me? Can I perform the Overnight Loss Test of FC with it or no?

I think I am through SLAMing because the pool is clear and yesterday the CC was at 0 - 0.5. But I have not done the overnight test yet. I also don't know how to use the Pool Math with an OTO kit with no FC reading.

Please help me finish getting this pool clear! Thanks.
 
You can not do an overnight FC loss test with an OTO test. It doesn't have anything close to the precision required. The OTO test is most useful as a simple chlorine/no chlorine check, though it can be used to get a very rough idea of the FC level when CC is not expected to be present (which is most of the time).

OTO can only really reliably measure a few fairly wide ranges. 0, 0.5, 1.0, 2ish, 3-12, 12-20, 20+. If that is your only choice, and CYA is fairly low you can wait for FC to get low, and then raise it again. That approach is fairly wasteful of chlorine but it can work. If CYA is high and the FC level is staying fairly high the OTO test is essentially useless.

R-0871 is very occasionally stocked by pool stores, but the great majority of the time you need to order it on-line.
 
Another victim of falling for the cheaper K-2006 only to have to order the FAS-DPD and CYA reagent refills. There is a reason we recommend the TF-100 ;)

As Jason said, they are rarely available locally unless you have a commercial supply house. You can get all the refills you need at tftestkits.net (owned by the owner of this forum).

How is your filter gauge? They have very nice liquid filled ones for a good price if you are already ordering refills to combine shipping. And of course the SpeedStir is also a great add-on.
 
You're unlikely to find the reagents for the FAS-DPD test at your garden variety residential pool store. One of the commercial places *might* have it. Your best bet is probably tftestkits

http://tftestkits.net/TF-100-Refills-c11/

If you can beat those prices it won't be by much and he ships fast.

The OTO test is useful when things are running normally for a daily sanity check of chlorine level. If your water is clear and nothing weird has happened since yesterday FC should be pretty close to CC. After a while you'll learn to anticipate what the test should look like before you start and weather or not you'll need chlorine today :) You won't be able to do a OCLT with the OTO.
 
TFTestKits is probably the best place to order reagents, and you shouldn't have to wait too long.

The OTO TC test is good for daily use by most people as a quick check that you are near your target chlorine level, and more importantly not going below your minimum chlorine level. Provided of course that your CYA is not any higher than about 40 ppm.

The biggest limitation is that the OTO test only tests to 5 ppm which is too low for SLAMMING, and it cannot tell you what portion of the total chlorine is the bad (combined) kind. You would be best off to order new reagents and keep to the same bleach additions you have been using in the meantime.
 
jbizzle--I sure thought I had seen the Taylor K-2006 highly recommended on here as THE test kit to have no matter what. Disappointed, of course, to realize now the TF-100 is THE kit to have.

I also thought the OTO kit was preferred some times but that doesn't really seem to be the case by the responses.

I will need to order reagents online then. Thanks for all the information.
 
I think the recommendation reads something like "either the K-2006 or the TF-100 are recommended; they use the same reagents (so they are both "THE kit") but the TF-100 includes more of the reagents you will use when practicing TFPC".

In my case (Canada) the K-2006 was my only option, so I went with that and recently ordered some additional 0871 and 0013 reagents (which aren't very expensive, and even less so from TFT). I'm happy.

It's also possible that the K-2006 was "THE kit" before the TF-100 was developed, but the internet's long memory failed to recognize that something had changed since then :D
 
Well, either kit contains the important FAS-DPD test ... the TF-100 just happens to be a better value due to the amount of reagents. Everyone has to order refills eventually ;) You can get larger refills now (although the bottles may not fit in your little blue box).

The OTO can certainly be helpful as a sanity check, it is much better than the pink matching DPD test which when clear either means you have 0 chlorine or a LOT of chlorine :hammer:
 
Last year when I ran out of dpd powder and the stupid post office lost my refills (!!) that I ordered from TFTestkits.net....I was desperate and did a lot of calling around locally. I managed to find a small local pool store that was able to find it for me. I'm pretty sure she got it from a local supplier because she didn't normally carry it.

I ended up paying more than I would have from TFTestkits.net but I was desperate and needed it NOW. :) My point is...with a lot of digging you might be able to find the refills locally but if you know you are going to need them ordering them online is the best bet!

Oh yeah, I never use my OTO test..lol I like the powder and drops precision!
 

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Bridgman, don't feel too bad about getting the K-2006. No matter what kit you start with you will eventually be purchasing refills. I have the K-2006, but those original reagents are long gone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
freqz said:
You'd probably want the 4 oz jug of powder to go along with it too...

$35!

http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-Replac...-25-Pound/dp/B001DO4PIK/ref=pd_bxgy_lg_text_y

(I can't imagine how long it would take to work through 113g of the powder...)
Click to expand...
At least the powder should last a LOT longer than the liquid ... but neither is worth anything without the other ;)

This is the Costco mentality ... sure you can save some $ / oz of product, but can you actually USE it all before it goes bad?
 
svenpup said:
Bridgman, don't feel too bad about getting the K-2006. No matter what kit you start with you will eventually be purchasing refills. I have the K-2006, but those original reagents are long gone.
Click to expand...

Yeah you could be like me. I found this site a little late and had already paid $150 for a ColorQ test kit. Then got here and they recommended either the K-2006 or TF-100. I looked on Amazon and found the K-2006 so I ordered it. Then got it and realized it could only do about 6 CYA tests so I ordered the TF-100. So I bought all 3 test kits within a week. I kinda like the toolbox carrying case of the K-2006 so I still use it to carry stuff to/from the pool.
 
We should start little TFP Co-Ops. Order bulk Taylor reagents, boric acid, etc. I thought about this when I recently bought some salt test strips. I only use 1 or 2 out of a tube, and then they go bad.

Where my sacramento TFP folks at?
 

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