It's time to take testing into our own hands!

[JanieBee83]

Hi there!
I discovered this helpful site as I was deciding on which test kit to purchase this year. I had previously been using the basic Taylor DPD test with the gauges for chlorine and pH. We have a great small business that we use to open and close our pool and we attend their spring "pool school" that they host every year, but I was never getting down there enough during the summer to get the more in depth testing done for things like Alkalinity, Calcium, Salt, etc. I wanted to be able to monitor this on my own and not be dependent on them to tell me how to fix our pool.

We have an in ground concrete pool that goes way back to maybe the 1960 era. In the last several years, we've really overhauled it with a sandblast and repainting job, new pump and conversion to SWG, which we absolutely love. Per the previously mentioned pool business we use, we typically use BioGuard products.

Last night I did my first BIG testing session at home with my new testing kit, the Taylor K-2006-SALT kit. I also discovered the Pool Math app last night and set that up. I have been studying the manual that came with my kit, BioGuard literature I have saved, and the information that I have received from our previous "pool school" experience and I have some questions. I'm wondering why the ideal ranges that TFP provides tend to be higher than what I am seeing in these other sources. I have set my own targets in the app but is there a way to customize the app so I don't have all the alerts that I'm outside TFP's ideal ranges? Maybe this isn't the place for actual questions. If not, maybe you can point me to the correct thread to post in.

Thanks for the excellent resource and the nice app!
Jane

 

[kimkats]

Janie, TFP is based on CURRENT science and we are always looking at and working on our findings to adjust the levels as we learn more. The Taylor and chemical companies have not adjusted their finding for a long time nor do many of the chemical companies recognize the importance of the FC/CYA relationship.

If you would like to explore the deep details I invite you to go to the Deep End and do a search for ChemGeek. It is some heavy reading but it is the base of our levels.

 

[JanieBee83]

Thank you kimkats for the info. I did jump off the deep end and after several hours of reading now, I feel relatively satisfied in my level of understanding, especially with the CYA levels for SWG's. I even bought the subscription for the app today, so I'm all in, bound and determined that we can do this without relying on our pool company.

As a follow up, are there any discussions here about effects of levels on health?
Is there a reason why testing companies, ASPCA, etc. haven't caught on or accepted these standards yet?
Maybe there are other threads on this already?

 

[kimkats]

The main health discussions that I can think of has been from people with eczema. They tell how their skin has never been better!

Other than that I am not sure but if you want to do a search on it make sure to use the G search as it does a better search for some reason.