Testing chlorine when shocking

[CarlD]

OK, let me break it down for you.
You have the HTH kit and for testing chlorine you have a bottle that says "OTO" on it. There's a big name for it: orthotolo-something...no matter.

Your chlorine color indicator only goes to 5-10ppm. This means if you are testing chlorine it goes to 5ppm, but for people who use bromine instead, it goes to 10ppm.

Ok, the "copyrighted" CarlD Shot Glass method is as follows:
1) Buy steam distilled water. You can get this at any supermarket or discount drug chain. It will be clearly marked and a gallon will be a couple of dollars, if that. Don't use anything else.
2) Get a shot glass full of pool water (that's what you want to test).
3) Pour it into a clean container (like a pyrex measuring cup from the kitchen).
4) Fill the shot glass with distilled water.
5) Pour the shot of distilled water into the pool water
6) mix so you have a 1 to 1 mix of pool water and distilled water.
7) Use this mix in your test, pouring it into the test unit (called a cell), add the drops of OTO, but NOW the reading you get is doubled. For example, say it indicates 4ppm. That means you actually have 8ppm. You can measure up to 10ppm this way.

But if you want to go higher, in steps 4 and 5 add TWO shots of distilled water. Now the solution is diluted to a 1 to 2 solution and when used you TRIPLE the reading...so if it says 4ppm it means you have 12ppm.

And so on.

I like the shot glass because it's a very easy way to get exact amounts of pool water and distilled water. Large enough for precise measuring, small enough to be easily managed.

That's it!