Help no instructions with my 6 way test kit from walmart

I went to walmart and bought a 5 or 6 way tester. It didn't come with instructions!!!!

"Add drops" on the individual bottles but do we have to shake up after adding?

There is a place to test yellow (CL and Br together) and Red to test PH. I have a green bottom that says alkalinity titrant and a white one that says cyanuric acid reagent. There is a empty clear squishy plastic bottle (says a measurement of a 7 and 14 lines on it. Also there is in a uncapped skinny skinny tube container that measures 30 to 100 that says c.a. view tube (PPM). Last but not least a fatter tube like container ... also has no cap that is about 4 times the sizes of the skinny one that measures 5ml to 25ml. Can someone save me a trip back to walmart :confused: :confused:

Here's what I can remember since I just bought one of those 2 weeks ago:

Chlorine/Bromine - Add pool water to the chlorine side until you hit the mark near the top. Add 5 drops of the yellow capped reagent. With the cap on the tester, turn it upside down and right side up to mix. Compare the water color to the stated color chart on the tester.

PH - Add pool water to the PH side until you hit the mark near the top. Add 5 drops of the red capped reagent. With the cap on the tester, turn it upside down and right side up to mix. Compare the water color to the stated color chart on the tester.

Alkalinity - Add pool water to the 35 mL level in the largest tube. Add 5 drops of the green capped reagent (yes, I know there is 2, but one says 'Add 5 drops' and the other says something like "Drop by drop"). Swirl the mixture until its *pretty* green. Add the titrant (the other green capped bottle) and swirl after each drop. When it turns red, count the drops you used and multiply by 10 - this is your alkalinity reading.

Cyanuric Acid/Stabilizer/Conditioner - Add pool water to the 7 mL mark on the smaller plastic bottle. Add the white capped reagent to the 14mL mark. Shake for 30 seconds. Then put that mixture into the skinny tube drop by drop (or just slowly), until you can no longer see the black dot on the bottom. Then read the level on the side of the tube and this is your conditioner level.

Hope that helps. For as long as that took to type, somebody else will probably have replied.

This all looks right except on my kit it says to fill to 25ml line when testing alkalinity.

Thanks no1ford. I was hoping someone would check me against the real instructions. My post was strictly from memory, which has a distinguished history of letting me down.

I also left out the hardness test. I haven't done that one yet, so it wasn't front of mind.

Hardness (Calcium) - Add pool water to the 25 mL level in the largest tube. Add 5 drops of the blue capped bottle marked "Hardness Indicator" and swirl to mix. It should turn red if there is any hardness. Then add the titrant (the other blue capped bottle) and swirl after each drop. When it turns blue, count the drops you used and multiply by 10 - this is your calcium reading.

I have this same test, but when i do the hardness test, I put 5 dropd in, and it turns yellow, not red. What does this mean? Does it matter considering that my pool is a vinyl liner?

I guess I should say it turns yellow like a urine color, not like the yellow for the chlorine test.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gordyjamz

I have this same test, but when i do the hardness test, I put 5 dropd in, and it turns yellow, not red. What does this mean? Does it matter considering that my pool is a vinyl liner?

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Guessing that it's bad chems, i have one of these kits from last year, and a new one. One does the same thing, and the other works right.

gordyjamz: I also have encountered the "yellow" calcium hardness test. I do not know why it is sometimes yellow initially rather than red. A comment on another thread suggested minerals, but that was not verified by any other poster in that thread. My tests for calcium hardness ran red initially but, except for one intermediate day, have been yellow since. I still use the test and count drops (x10) until the color turns a light green, rather than blue. Seems to work just fine that way. The results correlate with the results achieved with Ben's testing kit, which I've recently received.

Sandy