Reopening pool...is this the right test kit combo?

[biz_kid1]

We have an Intex 15' x15'x 42" Metal Frame Swimming Pool with Intex Krystal Clear Saltwater System with E.C.O. (Electrocatalytic Oxidation) - 4,646.25 gallons. In the past, we used strips but I'm upgrading to a "real" test kit this year. Is this a good combo for us?

Taylor Technologies K-2006 Test Kit Complete Chlorine FAS-DPD

AND, for the SWG

Taylor Technologies K-1766 Drop Test Chloride Salt Water

Or is there a better option I'm missing? Thanks!

 

[zea3]

I prefer the TF 100 as the bottles of testing reagents are 1 ounce as opposed to 3/4 ounce in the Taylor kit, but yes those two are both good kits.

 

[FattyLumpkin]

I use the K1766 and it works very well. Don't need to test salt all that often, but I'm glad I have it.

 

[biz_kid1]

I'm about to cry...I see no instructions for how to test the water in the book that came with it and the print on the inside of this lid is too small for my old eyes to read!

 

[FattyLumpkin]

This page might help.

 

[biz_kid1]

That post may be better for someone who is not a newbie....I got stumped at Step 1...what's a test cell?

I was able to locate the lid instructions online where I could see them, but as a newbie, was still confused. I guess Taylor calls it a comparator instead of test tube and at first, I had a hard time figuring out how much water to test but eventually got it. I only figured out part names by looking up the part list for my kit then doing a Google Image Search for the items to identify them because Taylor's site didn't have images. :\

So, eventually I got:
FC 1 ppm
CC 2 ppm
pH 7.8
TA 130 ppm
CYA 30 ppm
CH 120 ppm
Salt 200 ppm

And here is the screenshot that shows where the calculator wants me to add bleach and MA but empty 54% of the water for one thing and 80% of the water for another? And we haven't even added salt or turned on the SWG yet, so how can we have too much salt? So confused!

 

[DeanP66]

With those test results, you don NOT need to empty any water. Generally, the only time you need to empty any water is if your CYA is through the roof. At 30 PPM, it's fine, maybe even a little low in this summer heat. Lots of people from Texas on this forum run their CYA up to 50 or 60 to protect the chlorine from burning off too quickly in the summer heat.

Calcium hardness (CH) can become an issue as well when it gets really high (over 800 PPM). You're fine, no worries at your number of 260. If your water is crystal clear, I would add some bleach or liquid chlorine to get your FC up to the 5-7 PPM range as well as add some stabilizer to get your CYA up to between 40-50 PPM.

However, with a CC of 2, it appears that you have some algae in the pool, so you need to perform a SLAM. I would drop pH to 7.2 with muriatic acid, and SLAM away by increasing FC to 12 PPM and maintaining it at that level SEVERAL times a day by adding more bleach. Also, brush the walls and pool floor to suspend any algae in the water, so your filter will catch it while the pump is running.

 

[biz_kid1]

Added @ 7 oz. bleach, scrubbed floor and walls with brush, will add shock treatment this evening...how much MA? 12 oz.? And how much CYA?

 

[zea3]

You entered your test results in the wrong column. The column on the left is for your test results. It has some default levels in there the first time you open PoolMath. You just delete those and enter your results in the Now column. The Target column on the right is for entering the levels you want to achieve. For example under salt you have 1000 in the Now column and 200 in the target column. That tells the calculator you want to drop from 1000ppm of salt to 200ppm of salt. That's why it said drain 80% of the water. If you have 200 ppm of salt and you do not want to raise the salt level enter 200 in the target column as well. Then it won't tell you to add or drain anything for that box.

You also need to go to the yellow box at the bottom and select the suggested goal levels. You would select TFP for goal levels, bleach for chlorine source and vinyl for pool surface. Re-enter your test results in the Now column, set the goal levels in the yellow box and hit calculate. Next look at the suggested target values at the top of the columns for each test value, and enter those in the target column. You will find your FC recommendations for Shock level and regular chlorination in the blue box near the bottom of the page.

Play around with entering test results to become familiar with how the PoolMath works.

 

[biz_kid1]

Yep...sure did. That made a big difference and helped! Got my bleach and MA added...water is clear so we'll probably take a dip in a bit. We're having our central a/c replaced today it's been pretty miserable the last few hours now. Thanks for the help!