Got my new K2006 Test Kit - here is my first reading

[Themadczar]

The cya test is tricky to read correctly. You want bright, indirect light. So ideally stand in sunlight with your back to the sun (your shadow directly in front of you) and view the dot in the comparator by holding it at your waist. You can also pour the sample back into the bottle and retest a second or third time to verify your results.

Also, if I understand correctly, CYA can take a week or two to show up in the test results (perhaps I'm wrong, or maybe that was only when adding CYA directly, not trichlor). If I'm correct thou, your CYA might be higher than you thought.

Assuming your pool is around 15300 gallons, every pound of trichlor will increase your CYA by 4.3, so 50 lbs will increase your pool's CYA by 215. I would suggest no more trichlor... But others intentionally operate their pools at high CYA (80-100) levels. Doing so has some unique challenges, and I recommend reading here in the forum thoroughly before doing so. I don't think CYA over 100 is ever recommended though. See the Best Guess chart in Watermom's signature for further explanation.

[JimK]

The cya test is tricky to read correctly. You want bright, indirect light. So ideally stand in sunlight with your back to the sun (your shadow directly in front of you) and view the dot in the comparator by holding it at your waist. You can also pour the sample back into the bottle and retest a second or third time to verify your results.

Also, if I understand correctly, CYA can take a week or two to show up in the test results (perhaps I'm wrong, or maybe that was only when adding CYA directly, not trichlor). If I'm correct thou, your CYA might be higher than you thought.

Assuming your pool is around 15300 gallons, every pound of trichlor will increase your CYA by 4.3, so 50 lbs will increase your pool's CYA by 215. I would suggest no more trichlor... But others intentionally operate their pools at high CYA (80-100) levels. Doing so has some unique challenges, and I recommend reading here in the forum thoroughly before doing so. I don't think CYA over 100 is ever recommended though. See the Best Guess chart in Watermom's signature for further explanation.

I use a SWCG and add stabilizer directly. It usually takes about 24 hours or so to get a good reading after adding it (I run the pump continuously after adding CYA). At least that's been my experience.