Hiya! First time pool owner

[vaubach]

Ok, I got my water tested today at Leslie's. I last shocked the pool two days ago, and we had a hell of a thunderstorm that night too.
FAC: 5+
pH: 7.2
TA: 110
CYA: 60
Ca Hardness: 160
TDS: 400

He said all my levels were fine, not to add anything else right now but to keep the filter running to continue clearing it up. It is looking much better than it was. I did get in there and brush up all the algae on Wednesday, and that's when I shocked it again after. Unfortunately after the storm we had, I have some other debris I need to vacuum out now. But looks like it's supposed to be sunny and mid 80's for the next week or so, yay!

[PoolDoc]

+ If you've got a Leslie's guy who said your numbers are fine, and didn't try to sell you something . . . GO BACK TO THAT GUY!
+ If that guy continues to be available to you, you can probably get by with him, but if you want to be sure, go ahead and get the K2006 and learn to use it!
+ Put the ePool in your attic or garage sale. ORP does NOT equal chlorine level, so there's no way to maintain calibration. Ph electrodes drift over time -- in labs, they are re-calibrated weekly or even daily. If you can force yourself to ignore the pH and chlorine readings, it would be OK to keep it. But most likely you won't, and if you don't, it WILL get you in pool trouble.

[vaubach]

So far the pH readings on the ePool have been consistent with readings at two different pool stores (another Leslie's location was pretty far off), on several different occasions during the last month and a half. It doesn't give a definitive chlorine level actually, just <1, ~1, >2, so I'll just test specifically for that myself once I get the water clear again. The last time I shocked the pool was with a dichlor instead of the cal-hypo and I did notice a drop in the pH (although minor). I have bleach and borax on my shopping list for later, so I'll probably start supplementing my chlorine levels with bleach instead of relying on the chlorinator. I see that has contributed to an increase in the CYA as well.

[PoolDoc]

I'm not saying they are always wrong -- though in time that will happen -- I'm saying they are never RELIABLY correct, and they can be WAY off, with little or no warning.

I used to be a dealer for pH / ORP controllers for large commercial pools, and am very familiar with the 50 year old sensor technology involved. The electronics just adds a layer on top of the sensor output; they cannot compensate for the intrinsic limitations of the sensors themselves!