Totally Frustrated!!!!!

Unfortunately, Ben doesn't seem to be in the kit business just now--it's been awhile since he's paid any attention to the forum and in fact has a very long list of people who have already bought kits and are waiting for them to be delivered. My suggestion is the Taylor K-2006, which is almost the same kit, and can be found at most pool stores or online.

In answer to your other question about vacation, if your FIL can come by and check on the pool say every 2-3 days, can he pour in a gallon of bleach? If you shock it before you leave with a CYA of 90 and he comes over, say, twice to add more bleach, then you should be fine. An alternative would be to get a new floater and cal-hypo tabs. THey don't add stabilizer. The newest ones really are not great because they dissolve too quickly and get kind of mushy, but they might do in a pinch.

I think personally I'd just shock it to the upper end of the recommended chlorine range, ask FIL to come by in about 4-5 days and pour in 2 gallons of bleach, and then take my chances. Beats worrying about it the whole time you're gone!

Janet

I need to get one of Ben's kits - is he selling them now?

I have a Taylor test kit , works good and easy to use . You
can buy refills from Taylor themselfs online , it's seems to
be the cheapest spot .

I bought my kit online , just did a yahoo search and then hunted for the
best price "with" shipping .
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When you get your CYA down , it will stay steady also till you drain and refill your pool . Or you drain alot because of rain .

When mine droped I just added Cond. to the pool again , 1.5 quarts and then wait a week to retest . It's fine again , taking about a 1 quart of Ultra bleach a day .

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how do you keep your chlorine levels steady?

I check once every other day and add a jug (3 quarts ) of Ultra
bleach when the FC drops below 4 . But my CYA is only 30 , and yours
is 90 -100 I guess . Your gonna have to have your FC much higher readings
to kill the "bugs" as u stated .

Or you can check each day and add a quart at a time .
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Every time you use a tab or a powder shock product your adding more CYA to your pool and making it so you have to have more FC to kill the "bugs" .

I have 40 plus lbs of tabs and 4 bags of "shock" left that I don't use unless my CYA drops below 30 .

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Did you do that search ? I used that alot , search for answers from other peoples problems . We mostly have the same ones over and over .

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Yes Vac :( I am dreading it . Last year my "friend" helped me by adding cond. to my pool as he said "it helped my clorine to work better" :(

I am hopeing on someone to come every other day and check FC and all bleach . So far my wife hasn't found that certain someone .

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Get that test kit asap . Lower your cya lvls . Don't use anything with CYA in it till you want to raise that reading . Your gonna be alot happer . Just cause you can't see green "yet" doesn't mean it's killed . Trust me .

Thanks, Sprocket - that answers a lot of questions. I won't hold my breath waiting for one of Ben's kits then.

I can't do the BBB method until all the trips are over - there is no way anyone will do that for me and even hubby is skeptical of the bleach-only method. So the CYA will just stay up there until I can get back and do a drain, or if we keep getting rain. The pucks are feeding and the pump is running 24/7. I'm a bad forum member right now!

Next year we are planning to go to Europe. Sigh....

Nice u read up on my troubles and fixes <S> .

It does work , I am living proof of it . I don't buy poly anymore either :) All I have to do so far this year is bleach , about 1.5 quarts of conditioner because when I refilled the pool alot ran out of the waste drain on the filter
:( . That's it , my alky is a bit high but I have a rubber liner and they say that's ok for me .

So much cheaper than last year and no headaches .

I get so mad at the store that sold me the pool . They never bothered to show me the "correct" way even after I asked . Just kept selling me stuff that would help them sell more product in the long run .