CH Test - reagents not mixing

[Poiks]

I figured this would best be a separate thread than my FC thread.

Both times today that I've tried totes my CH, the reagents have failed to mix properly with the water. The colored reagents, as shown, are "clotting" in the water. This doesn't seem to be normal behavior and I'm starting to think my Taylor kit contains bad chemicals. Any thoughts?

 

[anotherpyr]

What’s the expiration date on the calcium indicator?

 

[Poiks]

What’s the expiration date on the calcium indicator?

7/20 (for everything in the kit)

 

[Poiks]

For what it's worth, I have emailed Taylor's tech support. I will post more info when they respond.

 

[JJ_Tex]

And just to confirm, you are putting the top on and turning it upside down a time or two, right?

 

[mknauss]

I think this is due to metal interference.

Lets see if @JoyfulNoise can help out.

 

[Leebo]

As Marty said, I’d look at metals......

Taylor calcium hardness test wierdness

I just performed the Taylor Calcium Hardness test (the blue top bottles) and got a strange result. The solution turned red as expected after 20 x 0010 and 5 x 0011L. After adding about 35 drops of 0012, the red started to precipitate into small globs that remained in suspension while the...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[JoyfulNoise]

That's typically caused by your CH being too high or excess magnesium. When the dye interacts with the divalent metal ions, it can clump. A SpeedStir helps a lot but it will happen when the CH is too high.

You can try this -

Add roughly 5-10 drops of R-0012 before anything else.
Add the required amount of R-0010 (10 drops for a 10mL sample or 20 drops for a 25mL sample)
Add the R-0011L dye
Titrate as usual with the R-0012

Total drop count is the number of drops added in the beginning plus the number of drops used to go from pink/magenta to blue.

You can also dilute your pool water sample with an equivalent amount of distilled water (you can buy distilled in the supermarket). By diluting the sample, you cut the concentration of all chemicals species in half. Just remember to multiply your answer by 2.

 

[Poiks]

Here's what Taylor Chemicals' tech support wrote:

The little globs you see in the CH test are a normal reaction. What you see is magnesium hydroxide forming. It doesn’t interfere with the test or the final blue endpoint color. Just look past them.

 

[Poiks]

And just to confirm, you are putting the top on and turning it upside down a time or two, right?

I don't think I did that--I was just swirling it. I'm going to give it a go again tomorrow.