Can I get by with 6 way kit?

[smith81gigem]

We set up a vinyl above ground pool about 2 months ago. It's stabilizing well with dichlor about every other night now - rarely need bleach. Also, pH is stabilized - haven't added borax in 2-3 weeks.
Is it still important that I purchase the Taylor 2006 kit?

[Watermom]

What is your CYA level? If you've used a lot of dichlor in the past two months, it is possible that you have a pretty significant CYA level by now. Needed chlorine levels are based on CYA levels. (See the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature for the correlation between the two.)

We really think everyone needs a good kit. The HTH kit will only read chlorine levels to 5ppm and sometimes that isn't high enough. Plus, the HTH kit only reads FC and sometimes it is very important to also know CC. I'd go ahead and get the Taylor K2006. I don't think you'll regret doing so. It makes pool maintenance much easier.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[PoolDoc]

Is it still important that I purchase the Taylor 2006 kit?

As Watermom notes, it depends on your CYA level. If you read the "Best Guess" Chart (linked in Watermom's blue signature box), you'll see that chlorine levels have to be adjusted according to CYA levels. Once your CYA goes above 50 ppm, it becomes hard to maintain the proper chlorine level, using just an OTO chlorine test.

You can use the HTH 6-way with CYA > 60 ppm, if you purchase a standalone K1515 chlorine only test.

Kit info is in on the kit info page, also linked from Watermom's sig box.