Wife just fired my pool guy - Want to make sure I am on right track cause plan on going it myself

[Jason245]

If there is one thing I have learned is to be patient with the pool chemistry. When I was a young impatient pool owner I would dump all my chems in at once and expect it to be ready in an hour. I started to realize this was more like college chem class, and not like adding creamer to a cup of coffee where its ready to go in two stirs of the spoon (he says as he sips on his cup of morning joe). CYA takes time to dissolve and to start binding with the CL. It probably approaches the target asymptotically. And if you add too much your only recourse is to drain and refill (like with Salt too).. and that just screws up your other numbers as well. SO I tend to add all my chemicals in a incremental fashion. If my calcs say 20#s of yadda yadda, I add 10 and test. Then I add 5 more and test, so I creep up on the target. Sometimes I would stop short of the target because it affected another value, but I am in the range I needed. The pool chem area list chemical properties that change in reaction to there other chems. I made a little reference card of those relations and stuck them in my test kit.

Sounds like you are on your way!

My hope is that by end of this week I will have an empty sock and be able to test CYA levels.

I agree 100% with you on adding a little at a time and testing... in the case of my CYA, the numbers needed to go up so much that I figured I would be fine doing about 2/3 of what the calcs said and going from there. I am taking that approach mostly because the kit I bought looks like it only has enough to do the testing 5 more times and once I get things on order I can see myself testing this monthly so I imagine I am going to have to start looking into replacement Chemicals for the kit soon.

 

[Jason245]

You can squeeze the sock that has the CYA in it to help it dissolve faster if you want.

Now I want to talk to you about CSI. Are you using Pool Math? Look at it and find the CSI section and give it a read. Water temp plays a BIG part in the CSI reading. This will really come in play when you get new plaster but now would be a good time to learn about it and tweak your levels to see what YOUR pool likes. There are many threads about it so do a search (use the G search option) if you want to read up on it more.

Kim

CSI Miami?

LOl

I assume you mean Saturation Index (but you can tell me if I am wrong). I got this wheel thingie in my Taylor kit and when I lined all my numbers up (PH of 7.6, CH of ~200, TA of 90 and water temp of ~82 degrees) I end up with a number of between 0 and 0.1 which seems to tell me that I am OK since it isn't greater than 0.5 or less than -0.3.

I will plug numbers into pool math and see what it gives.

 

[mguzzy]

oh.. I squeeze that sock to get the CYA into suspension as quick as I can.. it will be a gooey sock forever unless you nudge it along....

You can order replacement reagents from here. I keep my kit in the refer to help extend the shelf life. (That what we did in the lab I worked in when I was in college). They mostly need to be in a consistent environment. If I had a wine cabinet I would put them there.

 

[Jason245]

oh.. I squeeze that sock to get the CYA into suspension and quick as I can.. it will be a gooey sock forever unless you nudge it along....

You can order replacement reagents from here. I keep my kit in the refer to help extend the shelf life. (That what we did in the lab I worked in when I was in college).

Thanks. It looks like many will not fit the test box (which I am fine with). Do they have tips that will produce the same sized drops?

(the Idea of opening and moving liquids between bottles is not that appealing to me)

 

[frogabog]

Thanks. It looks like many will not fit the test box (which I am fine with). Do they have tips that will produce the same sized drops?

(the Idea of opening and moving liquids between bottles is not that appealing to me)

The reagents from TFTestkits are Taylor reagents with the correctly sized tips, yes. Also, yes some of the bottles are bigger. Some of the bottles aren't bigger though. I believe the bottles in the TF-100 kit were carefully designed so as to not end up with some reagents still very full while others are all used up. The K-2006 just has .75oz bottles throughout. If you look at the TF-100 full kit and click "details" you'll see the full list with volumes for all the different reagents, the same exact reagents as the K-2006. Of significant note is the volume for the CYA reagent. It's something like 10+ times what you get in the K-2006. The R-0871 is TWO whole ounces as compared to .75oz in the Taylor kit.

When you consider that the TF-100 is only $12 more than the K-2006, the TF-100 is the better deal, clearly. The only real benefit in price is shipping if you have Amazon Prime I suppose, since shipping isn't free at TF-Testkits until $100.

The one difference to note is the CYA mixing bottle. The volume of reagent needed is a bit more than the Taylor. It also goes with the TFTestkits test tube, since if you use the Taylor mixing bottle that is 14ml total (7ml CYA reagent/7ml pool water) you may not have enough volume to fill the tube to show 30-40ppm.

All that being said, you can safely order individual reagents from TFTestkits and get exactly what you need.

 

[Jason245]

The reagents from TFTestkits are Taylor reagents with the correctly sized tips, yes. Also, yes some of the bottles are bigger. Some of the bottles aren't bigger though. I believe the bottles in the TF-100 kit were carefully designed so as to not end up with some reagents still very full while others are all used up. The K-2006 just has .75oz bottles throughout. If you look at the TF-100 full kit and click "details" you'll see the full list with volumes for all the different reagents, the same exact reagents as the K-2006. Of significant note is the volume for the CYA reagent. It's something like 10+ times what you get in the K-2006. The R-0871 is TWO whole ounces as compared to .75oz in the Taylor kit.

When you consider that the TF-100 is only $12 more than the K-2006, the TF-100 is the better deal, clearly. The only real benefit in price is shipping if you have Amazon Prime I suppose, since shipping isn't free at TF-Testkits until $100.

The one difference to note is the CYA mixing bottle. The volume of reagent needed is a bit more than the Taylor. It also goes with the TFTestkits test tube, since if you use the Taylor mixing bottle that is 14ml total (7ml CYA reagent/7ml pool water) you may not have enough volume to fill the tube to show 30-40ppm.

All that being said, you can safely order individual reagents from TFTestkits and get exactly what you need.

Thanks for the info. So much to think about. I bought the k-2006 using Amazon before finding this site and when it comes time to buy replacement chemicals it is good to know that alternative options exist.

 

[kimkats]

Make sure to check the dates on any regents bought from Amazon. We have seen where they are outdated and as such do not work as well

Any regents brought from TF-tests are guaranteed to be fresh!

Kim

 

[mguzzy]

Thanks. It looks like many will not fit the test box (which I am fine with). Do they have tips that will produce the same sized drops?

(the Idea of opening and moving liquids between bottles is not that appealing to me)

I've seen on this forum people frequently grow out of the boxes that came with their test kits.. They repurpose art project boxes, fishing tackle boxes,.. some are quite creative.
Here is a recent thread: New-box-for-my-tf-100

Oh.. I like the smaller boxes, its easier to carry around, like a field kit,. When I need to refill I rinse out my dropper bottles with a little DW (distilled water) and let them dry before refill. Same basic procedure I used when I did field chem research back in the day.

 

[Jason245]

Make sure to check the dates on any regents bought from Amazon. We have seen where they are outdated and as such do not work as well

Any regents brought from TF-tests are guaranteed to be fresh!

Kim

First thing I did when I opened the box was pull out each Regent and checked dates and confirmed they were good for at least 6 to 12 more months.

By my math within the next 6 months I will be ordering more stuff. I am guessing the one I will use up the quickest is the Chlorine testing ones (the drops more so than the powder).

I read the recommended schedule of pool care and I commend anyone who has the time to test their PH and Chlorine daily, I don't think I will be able to meet the Trouble Free Pool Standard of Excellence, so I will probably end up in the "Mostly" trouble free pool bucket.

 

[mguzzy]

...

I read the recommended schedule of pool care and I commend anyone who has the time to test their PH and Chlorine daily, I don't think I will be able to meet the Trouble Free Pool Standard of Excellence, so I will probably end up in the "Mostly" trouble free pool bucket.

Me too... I've been considering starting a thread for the TFP'ers that have fallen from the pure TFP faith.. and have their own schedules and found other things to augment the TFP system. I know I don't test daily. I would rather spend that time posting on the forum

 

[frogabog]

At some point you'll learn what your pool does daily, taking into account bather load and sun. You won't have to test daily to know that on a day with normal sun but no bathers you have to add xx amount to get back to target. If people swim, maybe you normally have to add an extra ppm or so.

Most of us only test a couple/few times a week and on non-testing days just go add what we normally do. I'm a 4 cup doser. It might be .5 cups too much, or maybe .5 cups too little but when you aim for target you've usually got a little grace and won't fall below minimum if you're keeping track of outliers such as extra swimmers.

 

[Jason245]

At some point you'll learn what your pool does daily, taking into account bather load and sun. You won't have to test daily to know that on a day with normal sun but no bathers you have to add xx amount to get back to target. If people swim, maybe you normally have to add an extra ppm or so.

Most of us only test a couple/few times a week and on non-testing days just go add what we normally do. I'm a 4 cup doser. It might be .5 cups too much, or maybe .5 cups too little but when you aim for target you've usually got a little grace and won't fall below minimum if you're keeping track of outliers such as extra swimmers.

SWG should take care of Chlorine... so my bigger problem will be PH I think/hope.

 

[mguzzy]

Nah.. no biggie. pH is easily controlled with a splash of MA. Since adding my SWG I adjust pH with a little MA once a week or so.

 

[kimkats]

I read the recommended schedule of pool care and I commend anyone who has the time to test their PH and Chlorine daily, I don't think I will be able to meet the Trouble Free Pool Standard of Excellence, so I will probably end up in the "Mostly" trouble free pool bucket.

Shhhhhhhhhhh but I don't test daily any more! I have learned what my pool needs on average so work from there for my daily dose of FC. Pour about 1/3 of my yellow jug each late afternoon and call it good!

I know I don't test daily. I would rather spend that time posting on the forum

I, for one, am VERY glad you are posting here! I have seen many of your awesome posts. I hope there are many more to come!!!!

Kim

 

[mguzzy]

Shhhhhhhhhhh but I don't test daily any more! I have learned what my pool needs on average so work from there for my daily dose of FC. Pour about 1/3 of my yellow jug each late afternoon and call it good!

I, for one, am VERY glad you are posting here! I have seen many of your awesome posts. I hope there are many more to come!!!!
Kim

THX!

 

[Wobblerlorri]

I test daily because I enjoy testing, but I could probably make it an every other day thing -- I've already learned that I use 2.5 ppm FC over two days, so I dose 2 cups liquid chlorine every other day, enough to bring 4.5 up to 7.

 

[Newdude]

Shhhhhhhhhhh but I don't test daily any more!

Get that SWG hooked up and once you learn how your pool reacts to it, you'll be testing once a week or every other week. Good times.

 

[kimkats]

Get that SWG hooked up and once you learn how your pool reacts to it, you'll be testing once a week or every other week. Good times.

OH SO TRUE!!! SO ready for it as I have to go get chlorine today!!! SOON! Hubby is about 3 more weeks out from being able to walk again!!!

 

[Jason245]

So my CYA is almost fully disolved (as of last night), and interestingly enough, even though it was a sunny day (like almost every other summer day), my FC increased from about 5.0 - 5.5 the night before to 6.0 - 6.5 last night. I decreased the SWG output by 5% and gonna see what results look like tonight.

PH increased so I added more acid to the pool.

By tonight all the CYA should be disolved (only a little was left in the sock to be dissolved), I am then going to wait until Sunday to test the CYA levels (I figure better to give it a few days to fully intigrate into the pool). I am hoping that the reason my FC has increased has to do with the addition of the CYA to the pool causing my SWG to produce more than needed to maintain FC (At least I think that is how the CYA is supposed to work based on what I read but someone can correct me).

On the bright side, Pool is crystal clear still so I have not screwed everything up yet... lol.

 

[mguzzy]

Sounds just about right to me! As your CYA level stabilizes you are starting to see the subtle effect of tweaking the SWG output on CL production. And you can also adjust your run time too. You may also notice your pH creeping up. It seems to be a natural side effect of the SWG process. Just control as necessary with MA. The next challenge will be to see how you adjust to the next big rain and dilution. Here in CA we don't get much rain in the summer months, not enough to worry about having to drain the pool. This was the first year since putting in the SWG 15 years ago that we got late May rain storms and I had to fire up the siphon to drain some water out of the pool after I had already opened and got everything dialed in. I had to rebalance my salt/CYA/other stuff it was like a mini pool opening..