Pool Store vs Test Kit Results??

[aylad]

Hi Scott, and welcome to the forum!!

First off, I would junk the test strips. They are sometimes useful for indicating the presence of or absence of something, but they are not accurate and consistent enough to base your treatment of water problems on. You definitely need to use a drop-based kit. I very strongly encourage you to get the Taylor K-2006, which will completely eliminate the guesswork and make taking care of your pool SOOOO much easier!! The Taylor can be purchased online through this link http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=10006 (and PF gets a donation from them when you use that one!) or also at www.sps-poolsandspas.com.

So, in throwing the test strip results out, you're left with the HTH or pool store readings. The chlorine readings are not that far off, so I have no argument with them. Regarding CYA, now there's a big difference--but I'll tell you that if your CYA is 60, the 5 ppm is the absolute LEAST level that you can let your chlorine drop to. If it's 97, then you need to keep the chlorine no less than 8 ppm...so either way, you need to up your chlorine some, if you're having problems with recurrent algae.

I would shock the pool based on the 97 reading, using plain, unscented bleach, and hold it at shock level by testing 2-3 times daily and adding more bleach to get back up to shock level, which will be 25 ppm. In a pool your size, each 3 cups of 6% bleach will raise the FC by 1 ppm. Hold it at 25 ppm until you're not losing any chlorine overnight when testing at night after the sun is off the pool and testing again in the morning before the sun is on the pool. Then when you let it drop back down, don't let it get below 8 ppm. In the meantime, you'll have time to order and get your new kit, and then you can go from there, using numbers that you know are accurate!

By the way, no trichor pucks or dichlor shock for you--that's going to raise your CYA even higher. Also, it's a plaster pool--you didn't list a level for Calcium hardness, but you need to have that in the 200-400 ppm range....

Janet