First, I'd like to thank all of you for your help last year. I learned a ton from this site and was able to get my pool from covered to swimmable in 5 days this year vs. 3 weeks last year.
I'm having issues with my CYA. Last year it was at 50, just at the high end of ok. This year, I can't get an accurate reading because I can still see the dot when the tube is completely full of the mixture. I'm really not sure what I'm doing wrong or how the CYA dropped so much over the winter. I've added enough stabilizer to bring the CYA from 20 to 30 three separate times but I'm still able to see the dot. I'm using a knee-high sock to hold the stabilizer and am hanging it into my pool in front of the only return jet. The sock seems to empty in a day or so. I am holding the tube at my waist level with my back to the sun. I tend to test more in the middle of the afternoon rather than at high-noon, simply due to availability. I test a couple days after adding the stabilizer. I went through the rest of my Taylor kit's test liquid and bought another, so I don't think the solution was bad. I stopped using the stabilizer that was open and instead switched to an unopened container. The "new" one would have been bought at least a couple years ago, I didn't need to use any of the stuff that was left for me last year. Does stabilizer go bad? Any other ideas regarding why I can't seem to raise the level? I'm worried about adding too much stabilizer since I have a well and water-replacement is not a good option for me.
I'm having issues with my CYA. Last year it was at 50, just at the high end of ok. This year, I can't get an accurate reading because I can still see the dot when the tube is completely full of the mixture. I'm really not sure what I'm doing wrong or how the CYA dropped so much over the winter. I've added enough stabilizer to bring the CYA from 20 to 30 three separate times but I'm still able to see the dot. I'm using a knee-high sock to hold the stabilizer and am hanging it into my pool in front of the only return jet. The sock seems to empty in a day or so. I am holding the tube at my waist level with my back to the sun. I tend to test more in the middle of the afternoon rather than at high-noon, simply due to availability. I test a couple days after adding the stabilizer. I went through the rest of my Taylor kit's test liquid and bought another, so I don't think the solution was bad. I stopped using the stabilizer that was open and instead switched to an unopened container. The "new" one would have been bought at least a couple years ago, I didn't need to use any of the stuff that was left for me last year. Does stabilizer go bad? Any other ideas regarding why I can't seem to raise the level? I'm worried about adding too much stabilizer since I have a well and water-replacement is not a good option for me.
