Year 2 = A new beginning (with my test results)

[nick182]

Thanks Carl for the feedback! Yes I should've mentioned, these numbers were from a pool store; they purchased a new, more advanced machine for analysis recently, and although they do charge for the test, I figured I would give it a shot for the beginning of the season (3$, not too expensive). I have pretty basic testing kits here at the moment, not much options for quality kits in Canada currently as far as I could tell.... I'm going for a 2 weeks trip in Florida next month, so hopefully I'll be able to purchase a decent Taylor kit so I can have some quality testing this summer.

I checked with my own kit at home, and these numbers were in line with the rough estimates I tested myself (although I suspected my pH could've been lower than 7,3)

I used the fancy Alk+ stuff since I still had some stock left from the previous owner, but you have an excellent point, baking soda will do the job afterwards.

I'll stick with liquid chlorine as much as possible. Thanks to you guys here, I've learned this trick and had a lot of success recovering the pool chemistry last year after a terrible start (think green mud!). I *may* have to rely on pucks for 2 weeks in May, since I'll be away on vacation and pucks in floater won't require as many maintenance visits from my friends to look after the pool. But otherwise, I'll keep going with bleach for sure

Thanks for confirming my suspicions regarding Calcium, and for the feedback, much appreciated!

[CarlD]

You're welcome! If you're going to get a proper test kit in the US, get the Taylor K-2006 or K-2006C, or the Leslie's FAS-DPD Chlorine Service Test Kit. But you'll have to get them online and have them sent to a US location. Stores don't sell them that I know of. There's some issue with getting these kits north of the border, but I'm not sure what it is.

The problem with such pool store numbers is a lot of them test with...strips and then plug the results in the computer.

[kelemvor]

Neither Leslie's nor pinch a penny (the big pool store chains down here) carry the K-2006 kits. Pinch a penny carries most of the chems individually but not the R-0871 needed for FAS-DPD testing. I just ordered a few things from "Amato Industries" via amazon.com and it took four days to get here with standard shipping. You shouldn't have a problem getting an order to your destination with a two week window.

[CarlD]

The only way to get the K-2006/2006C is online. Leslies CAN get the R-0871 and FAS-DPD powder on order. The Leslies FAS-DPD Chlorine Service Test Kit is only available on their web site. It IS the K-2006, re-badged and stuck into a Leslies box, with all Taylor re-agents.