Please Help!!!! Swamp pool

Quote:

Originally Posted by michelle king

I have always used the simple tset kit this thing has like 20 bottles in it!

The most critical test readings, right now, are the ones for chlorine, both free and combined, and for pH, and for stabilizer. Those are the numbers we need in order to get an idea of where you are, and how to move forward.

The kit contains all of the following tests:
Free and combined chlorine levels (chlorine that's ready-to-work, and chlorine that's partially used up)

pH (how acidic -- like lemon; or basic -- like soda; your pool water is)

acid and base demand (how much acid or base it will take to change your pH to a different value)

alkalinity (how resistant to pH change your water is)

calcium (how much calcium is in your water)

stabilizer (how much cyanuric acid is in your water)

It's not necessary to understand all these, yet. We can do that bit for you, for now. Just get a large pool water sample, in a measuring cup, and a stainless mixing bowl, and sit down at your kitchen table with the test kit and instructions, and carefully work through the tests, one at a time. I know it seems kind of overwhelming -- but if you just go through the tests like a robot, carefully following the instructions, it will rapidly become routine and not-so-complicated after all.

Be careful about the CYA test, however. It is an IMPORTANT test, and there's only enough reagent to to it 6 or 7 times. It's really very simple: fill the little flip top bottle 1/2 with pool water, and the rest of the way with the CYA reagent. Mix, and wait at least a minute. Mix again, wait another minute. Take the test block and look down in the small side -- you'll see a black dot there. Begin adding the mix from the flip top bottle, checking to see if the cloudiness in the mix obscures the dot. Continue adding mix till you can no longer see the dot. Then read your CYA level from the outside of the kit. If the mix is clear, and does NOT obscure the dot, your CYA level = 0.

Good luck!

Ben