Done with the advice of my pool builder and store! Can you help me know what to do?

[Lamby2244]

I am so glad this forum is here.... it's given me the confidence to start to try and get my head around my pool. The idea that my store and the builder gave me that its as easy as:

1. Dipping a strip in the water and looking for colour matches is an idea long gone!!! Those strips are illusions of the truth....

2. Sticking a puck in the skimmer once a week. The impact on other factors of stabilised Chlorine is becoming apparent....

So now I need to know what to do.. I bought a second hand Photometer for a good price although am happy to resell if its the wrong path - Palintest 6 is what I bought.

I also have an ICO Ondlio floating test thing - which seems good but didn't give me everything I needed to know and it may turn out was hiding some truths.

So can you help me get my head around this all and help me think through what I do...?

1. ICO tells me I have a ORP of 650mV, which is in the ideal range. It also tells me I have a PH of 7.6 just now as I added some PH+, it was 7.4 all week before that.

2. Palin test tells a very different story - FC over 5ppm (I need the other tablets!!!), PH 7.1 (how is that so different? depth of sample - the ondilo floats and the sample I took was a 1.5ft), CYA at 90....... eek I am guessing the CYA is so high because of reliance on pucks as opposed to liquid?

Can you help me and understand what I need to do as with a hosepipe ban refilling my pool is a little challenging.... I am going to retest in the morning I think.

 

[randytsuch]

The standard TFP recommendations for test kits are here
But this is a US dominated forum, there are some recommendations for buying kits in other parts of the world, so please take a look.

If your CYA is high (and it could be from pucks), will mean you need to maintain a high FC level if you can't partially drain your pool.

Randy

 

[arff]

Hi Lamby,
I am in Switzerland, and have some of the same challenges as you.
My own path after finding and educating myself on TFP is/was:
- I have a Bayrol AS7 Salt Chlorine Generator with ORP control. I found the ORP control unreliable.
- I ordered a Taylor 2006C test kit from ebay
- do your own regular tests with a reliable test kit
- do not put anything unecessary in your pool (including things like pucks, clarifiers, etc.)
- I run my Salt generator on fixed output and adjust time based on testing results for FC (and other measures) based on TFP recommended parameters
- I switched from H2SO4 based pH Minus to HCL based
- I use pure liquid supermarket bleach instead of pool store products such as pucks, 'shock', etc.

Once you have reliable test information, managing the basic chemistry is relatively easy, and the
people on this forum have been extremely helpful and are very knowledgeable.
Good luck.

 

[arff]

PS - I also have a high CYA (was 90 - now closer to 80) due to previous use of pucks. I am keeping the FC in the recommended range for this level, and CYA is slowly coming down as I backwash my filter, rain, degradation , etc. But I am not partially draining.

My own conclusion is don't worry about the specific numbers - figure out the system as a whole.... (pH of 7.4 vs 7.6 for example) your pH will naturally go up and your CYA will eventually drop; get reliable test results and keep your FC in the range recommended for your CYA.

 

[arff]

ORP in lieu of FC for maintaining sanitizer level

I read the great thread on Understanding ORP on here and it got me wondering: for those of us who don’t have automatic ORP controllers, is it still practical to maintain correct sanitization levels by working from a handheld ORP sensor in lieu of a FC drop test? As long as we are mindful of pH...

www.troublefreepool.com

To quote JoyfulNoise:
"ORP is not a direct measure for chlorine, it is at best a proxy value. People that have used ORP sensors in pools find that you must keep CYA levels very low to avoid fouling the probe tips and in order to get a good enough signal to noise ratio to allow for feedback control. But at no point should ORP be a substitute for measuring actual chlorine levels."

 

[BoringDamo]

I’ve been using a non fas dpd testing kit that seems ok but a bit expensive. See my thread here UK SLAM FC level measuring
I couldn’t get a fas dpd test anywhere in uk due to import laws, not sure if that has changed since Brexit.