New pool confused pool owner

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C

Chief2505

Silver Supporter
Jul 7, 2022
15
West TN
Pool Size
32000
Surface
Vinyl
Hello, we purchased a home in West Tennessee in December 2020 and it has a wonderful pool. We never had a pool prior to this. In 2021 we hired a pb to take care of our pool and to educate us. We had lots of travel planned and did not want to leave the pool unattended. The PB ripped us off, they came each week and vac and brush but never did the chemicals! We had an algae problem and after many days of cleaning and many $$$ of chemicals we finally got it fixed.
2022 we hired a company to take the winter cover off (simply too heavy for my wife and I) The company said they would test the water and put in what ever chemicals it needed. They offered to use our chemicals if we had them so I stocked the cabinet with everything they might need. We were gone when they came to open the pool and imagine my surprise when I got home and my chemical cabinet was empty! They had put in 49# of baking soda.
So now I am fighting a very high TA.
Anyway that was a very long introduction that did not tell you much about me other than I am easily taken advantage of.
 
Hi Chief!! You showed us a lot about your self when you found and posted here on TFP!!! You are a smart person that is willing to learn! You are going to do great now!

The next thing to do is buy your own test kit. Here is a link to the ones we use Test Kits Compared

How is your water looking today?
 
kimkats said:
Hi Chief!! You showed us a lot about your self when you found and posted here on TFP!!! You are a smart person that is willing to learn! You are going to do great now!

The next thing to do is buy your own test kit. Here is a link to the ones we use Test Kits Compared

How is your water looking today?
Click to expand...
KimKats

Our water is beautiful! Has been almost since we opened it! Just absolutely sparkling clear and blue! Feels great, looks great, no smell and no taste.
I did purchase the HTH 1273 6 way test kit and that is what I am using. Actually I was using test strips, pool store and my HTH kit just because I did not trust my color reading on the test strips, nor do I trust the pool store and I was still learning my HTH kit! I am pretty confident in my usage of the HTH kit now and am going to rely upon it to help me in the future.
 
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The main drawback to the HTH 6-way kit is that it lacks the FAS-DPD chlorine test required to measure free chlorine (FC) above 5 ppm. As long as your water stays clear and algae free, you can get by with that, provided your CYA is less than 70 ppm. If your CYA exceeds 70, your minimum FC level is 5 which is at the upper range of the HTH test's capability to measure.

FC/CYA Levels

Furthermore, if you develop algae and need to perform a SLAM, the HTH kit won't be capable of measuring FC at the levels required.

SLAM Process

You also need to be aware that the HTH test only measures total chlorine (TC), which is the sum of FC and combined chloramines (CC). FC is good but CC is bad and you have no way to know how much of your TC is which. The FAS-DPD test differentiates between the two. If your water is clear, it's likely your CC is low or zero. But that's really just a guess.
 
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