Hello! This is my first time posting. This is our second year owning a pool, but since we bought it last summer, the pool was already opened. Last year we used the Bioguard products, and I started reading the TFP forums to see what I could learn. We were using the pool store's testing, of course, and actually our pool had almost zero problems last year. This year I'm thinking I'd like to try the TFP system if I can get it figured out.
I just bought a TF-100 test kit (I had a Poolmaster basic kit - those results always varied from the pool store, which sounds normal from what I read, but still makes me feel very unconfident). I've been experimenting with it. We just opened the pool, later than we'd hoped for, but the pool store had scheduling problems. Next year we anticipate doing it ourselves, now that we know what goes into it. However, the pool guy tested our water with a test kit once it was almost clear. He said our CYA is at 100. Last year the final readings from our pool store measurements CYA was 150 (it had started at 100, then creeped up to 150 by the end of the summer - we were using three tabs weekly in our chlorinator so that makes sense to me). I did the test from the TF-100 last night and today and it came back at (less than 20) but zero today both times. I can see the black dot very clearly all the way up to the top. I've read the post about how to do the test, and I've done it three times, so I feel like unless I'm missing something totally, I don't know how we could end up at 0 from 150. My understanding is that CYA won't go away unless you drain the pool. We certainly drained some of it, about 3" below the skimmer line, last winter, and we had to drain it a few times over the winter due to rainfall (we have a mesh cover), so we've changed out some of the water, but certainly not all of it. I would have expected that maybe the CYA would be around 100 (like the pool guy tested) since we definitely had some water exchange.
**So my question is how could my CYA test be 0 and the pool guy's (again, not at the store - he used an acutal test kit and seemed to know what he was talking about and his other results were fairly similar to mine) be so off. I don't want to add CYA and then be stuck having to drain it/refill it over and over again. All these wildly different numbers makes it so confusing to know what is correct and feel confident in anything. He even said that we should probably drain some water to get the CYA down, so last night we drained about another 4" and readded it this morning before I tested again.
The rest of my numbers aren't quite there yet - he shocked it three times over a week to get any chlorine in there and kill off whatever was in the pool (using granular CLC3 that I had leftover), and my husband had to do some multi-port gasket repair last night so the pump is off for 24 hours. But here are my numbers as of yesterday from the TF-100. I'm guessing I need to do the SLAM process at some point, but haven't gotten that far yet because I need to figure out this CYA first. Our kids are ready to swim and I'm feeling overwhelmed.
FC .5
CC 1.0
pH 7.4
TA 90
CH 300
CYA 0
Thank you so much!
I just bought a TF-100 test kit (I had a Poolmaster basic kit - those results always varied from the pool store, which sounds normal from what I read, but still makes me feel very unconfident). I've been experimenting with it. We just opened the pool, later than we'd hoped for, but the pool store had scheduling problems. Next year we anticipate doing it ourselves, now that we know what goes into it. However, the pool guy tested our water with a test kit once it was almost clear. He said our CYA is at 100. Last year the final readings from our pool store measurements CYA was 150 (it had started at 100, then creeped up to 150 by the end of the summer - we were using three tabs weekly in our chlorinator so that makes sense to me). I did the test from the TF-100 last night and today and it came back at (less than 20) but zero today both times. I can see the black dot very clearly all the way up to the top. I've read the post about how to do the test, and I've done it three times, so I feel like unless I'm missing something totally, I don't know how we could end up at 0 from 150. My understanding is that CYA won't go away unless you drain the pool. We certainly drained some of it, about 3" below the skimmer line, last winter, and we had to drain it a few times over the winter due to rainfall (we have a mesh cover), so we've changed out some of the water, but certainly not all of it. I would have expected that maybe the CYA would be around 100 (like the pool guy tested) since we definitely had some water exchange.
**So my question is how could my CYA test be 0 and the pool guy's (again, not at the store - he used an acutal test kit and seemed to know what he was talking about and his other results were fairly similar to mine) be so off. I don't want to add CYA and then be stuck having to drain it/refill it over and over again. All these wildly different numbers makes it so confusing to know what is correct and feel confident in anything. He even said that we should probably drain some water to get the CYA down, so last night we drained about another 4" and readded it this morning before I tested again.
The rest of my numbers aren't quite there yet - he shocked it three times over a week to get any chlorine in there and kill off whatever was in the pool (using granular CLC3 that I had leftover), and my husband had to do some multi-port gasket repair last night so the pump is off for 24 hours. But here are my numbers as of yesterday from the TF-100. I'm guessing I need to do the SLAM process at some point, but haven't gotten that far yet because I need to figure out this CYA first. Our kids are ready to swim and I'm feeling overwhelmed.
FC .5
CC 1.0
pH 7.4
TA 90
CH 300
CYA 0
Thank you so much!
