I did it with the stirrer, per this site's directions...got it at 175 lol
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Got our kit yesterday and did the testing today. Not too bad, a lot easier then I thought it'd be! We have a vinyl liner as well...here are my results:
FC- 2ppm
CC - .5
TC - 2.5
CYA - 10 (I think, I filled up the beaker and I could still see the black dot.)
pH - 7.5
CH - 775 - if I did that correctly too. When I tested it, I did not add the drops and mix each time. It turned a dark pink, then I added the drops one at a time. After a few, the bottom turned a little blue. The more I added, the higher the blue level became, with still pink on the top. I did shake it a bit to see if it'd turn blue and I don't believe it turned fully blue still a line of pink on the top until 31, but I may redo this one since I did see on here to use the stirrer when doing this.
TA - 100
I did the pool math, I need to add some bleach to get the chlorine level up. I know we didn't put the bleach in today b/c I knew I'd be testing it. We still have the chlorine tablets in the floaty.
As for the CH, the pool math says to get to 260, to drain the pool 66% and refill with no CH water. to get to 350 it says to drain 55% of the pool and refill with water. I'm going to do the test again using the stirrer and see if I get the same results. My husband isn't too keen on draining more then half the pool and refilling it, b/c whose to say it won't happen again. But my question is, what causes the calcium hardness...it was clear at one point for 2 days...I don't know. Just so weird.
Will getting the chlorine level up help at all? and where do I get 0 CH water to refill the pool? Afraid to use the hose in case that's where it's coming from.