How often to run various tests, and how long do you run your filter?

[AnnaK]

How often do you run these tests?

Free Chlorine...................every other day
Combined Chlorine...........with FC, every other day
pH.................................daily
Total Alkalinity.................monthly unless pH changes
Calcium Hardness............never, my pool is vinyl
CYA................................3 or 4 times a season

Also, how often do you run your filter/pump, and for how long?

7 hours out of 24, on a timer, from 15:00 to 22:00.

[waterbear]

"Calcium Hardness............never, my pool is vinyl"

Just because you have a vinyl pool does not mean you should never test for calcium hardness, you still need to know if it is high because it could lead to cloudiness or scaling under certain conditions. You just don't need to add more calcium if it is low.

Also realize that calcium will concentrate in the water from evaporation and, depending on the calcium content of your fill water, might not be diluted enough on water replacement which leads to an overall rise in CH. Anyone with a pool in a very hard water area like parts of Arizona or Florida know what I am talking about.

[AnnaK]

The calcium content of my fill water is 40. I have no scaling or clouding. There's no source of calcium going into the pool. There's no reason to test for it under those circumstances.

Should people with vinyl pools run a calcium test to get a baseline? Sure. Should we all know the chems of our fill water? Absolutely.

But the question was "how often do you test" and for calcium hardness in my vinyl pool, that would be 'never'.

Would you like to guess what chemical the pool stores want to sell me more than any other on the few occasions when I've had my water tested there?

[cleancloths]

I run my pump 27/7, but not at very high speed. At night I run it at between 25 and 35 GPM (depending on my mood). During the day I run it at 1,100 RPM which provides enough flow to go through my small solar heater using only about 100 watts of power (I have time of day electric). As for testing, unless it does not taste right too me, I probably only test it about once every two or three weeks. I use two or three pucks a week and maybe two or three gallons of bleach. I find the mix of the two holds the pH very steady, while pucks tend to drop it and bleach tends to raise it.

[waterbear]

But the question was "how often do you test"

I viewed the question as one with a 'universal you' as in meaning "How often should these things be tested" and not as how often does each individual answering the question test, which is not going to be valid for the OP as your case clearly demonstrates.
Personally, I know my TA and CYA stay stable because I have a cart filter so I only test those evey few months but I do test my CH every two to 4 weeks because the level tends to drop faster than the previous two parameters (I have soft water and a fiberglass pool and have seen first hand that higher CH does help prevent stains in fiberglass.) However, this also is not pertinent to the OP.

Ditto for how long to run the pump. How long either you or I run the pump doesn't matter but the OP will need about 10-12 hours a day with her Intex pump/filter on a 5 k pool.

[CarlD]

OK, I'm going to take the company line here and NOT give out all the "exceptions".

1) Test your pH and chlorine once a day, best at sunset, and add chlorine, borax or acid as needed. If your chlorine runs in the 5 or less range, you can use and OTO kit and get the TC level.

2) Run a full suite of test, (FAS-DPD, pH, T/A, CYA) once a week and record the results.

3) Calcium Hardness: If you have a concrete pool, check it once a week. If you have a vinyl pool, check it at least twice a season, once when you open, and once about mid-season.

4) Metals: Only if you suspect metal contamination.

5) Phosphates: Once every 15 years--or less.

6) Pump/filter time: You should run it 10-12 hours per day, but you can set your timer to run part of that during the night.

All the exceptions are for people who really know their pools, know what corners they can SAFELY cut, and what they can't. Until you know your pool, this is the easiest way to do AND not have problems.