How Often Should I Test My Pool?

[ScottS]

It is not necessary to check ALL the levels daily. It is good practice to keep a close eye on the Cl and pH daily though.
Most suggest the other tests be done weekly which for me only includes the Alk test since I am not concerned about the calcium hardness in my vinyl pool. The CYA level shouldn't fluctuate much at all unless you drain or backwash often, then you can loose some. I only test CYA level about every other month unless I add some intentionally by using pucks or straight CYA.

You are certainly on the right track by adding bleach as needed and testing Cl everyday. Your FC level may be a bit on the low side at 2.5 depending on your CYA level.

Use this to determine:

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Ben's 'best guess' FC/Stabilizer table for algae free operation of OUTDOOR pools -- as of July 2003 --

Use the info in this chart to help you figure out what levels of chlorine you need to maintain in your pool based on the amount of CYA (cyanuric acid, also called stabilizer) that you have in your pool. (FC = free chlorine)

Stabilizer . . . . . . Min. FC . . . . Max FC . . . 'Shock' FC
=> 0 ppm . . . . . . . 1 ppm . . . . . 3 ppm . . . . 10 ppm
=> 10 - 20 ppm . . . . 2 ppm . . . . . 5 ppm . . . . 12 ppm
=> 30 - 50 ppm . . . . 3 ppm . . . . . 6 ppm . . . . 15 ppm
=> 60 - 90 ppm . . . . 5 ppm . . . . . 10 ppm . . .. 20 ppm
=> 100 - 200 ppm . . . 8 ppm . . . . . 15 ppm . . .. 25 ppm
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Oh and one more thing to remember. The yellow drop based test gives you a TC (total chlorine) reading and NOT a FC (free chlorine) reading. It would be wise to test FC often but you can't do this if you only have the walmart test kit or one like it.


take care.