First Test Results with PS234

First off I what to say Thanks!! to everyone that takes the time and share their advice with everyone. This is our first year with a pool, I had no prior experience with pools and have learned everything from this forum. Anyway, I was wondering if you could get some advice on my numbers:

FC - 3.0
CC - 0
TC - 5 (I think it's alittle higher, colors after 3 are hard to tell a difference)
pH - 7.8
Alk - 120
Cal - 90
Cya - 40
Salt - 5000
Temp - 88

We have a 18x36 vinyl pool, SWG, about 26,000 gal.

Thanks again for all the help..

FC + CC = TC. Always. With a cya of 40, just be sure to keep your FC between 3-6 all the time. Ph is OK at 7.8, but if it goes any higher, you'll need to bring it down with a little muriatic acid. Welcome to the forum.

Your results are pretty good. I recognize you got your TC result from the OTO test......not by adding FC + CC.

Many, if not most, new kit owners do just like you and go right down the tests one by one (I know I did) and end up with a TC result that is different from the total of FC + CC in the FAS/DPD test.

Most of us don't report both tests...just the FAS/DPD test and let the reader do the math to get TC.

Your salt seems a little high....most SWG's seem to require 3000 - 3600 as ideal but I am not an authority by any stretch....it's just what I've read from other SWG owners here on the forum.

As watermom indicated, don't let your pH slip up into the 8's.

I like the idea of doing FC + CC to get my TC. It's alot easier than trying to match up the colors.

As for the salt, we've got a IntelliChlor Generator and it's suppose to have a green flashing indicator light on the control panel if it goes above 4000, right now it's a solid green which should be in the 2900-3900 range. So maybe I messed up on the salt test. I'll try again and see what I get.

Thanks again for the advice.

I also have a new pool with an Intellichlor which says my salt is good but my test kit puts the level at 5200. I have read all of the posts about possible inaccurate readings of salt with the test kits. I took my water to have the pool store check it and they got a reading of 4000 with the electronic tester, and my contractor got 4100 with a different electronic tester. My intellichlor diagnostic reads the level at 3500 and has been reading the same value for a week without variance so I think the Intellichlor is unreliable in its reading or out of calibration.
I have a call in to Pentair and will let you know if they ever call back, but I wouldn't trust what the SWG says in light of other tests that say different.