Help...about to pull my hair out or tear down the pool!!!

[Watermom]

Here is a way you can force your kit to read higher than 5 until you get a good kit. It loses accuracy with each dilution, but is better than nothing. Testing Without a Good Kit

[PoolDoc]

If you get a cheap OTO/phenol red kit, you can get a rough approximation. OTO changes from dark yellow (5+) to orange (~20) to brown (35+) as the chlorine level increases.

You could have a chlorine level of 15 ppm or more -- given your stabilizer level -- with no noticeable effects on swimmers.

Ben

[CarlD]

I'm back. Irene hasn't actually hit us yet but the Nor'easter-type rain is here. So I just read through the thread.

I don't know about the new HtH 6-way drop kit. The old 5-way was a true bargain. I'll have to get one and try it.

Meanwhile, since your pool is clear but the chlorine keeps dropping, aylad's plan to get your CYA back up to 70-80 is probably a good one. Before, advice was based on the premise you were fighting something more than just losing chlorine in the hot, humid Southern sun.

Carl

[aylad]

Just FWIW, a friend of mine recently bought the $20 HTH kit in the process of trying to clear up her messed-up pool (an Intex filled with well water ) and after taking my PS 234 over to test her water, I repeated it all with her new 6-way, and all the results were the same--so it appears that this is the same 6-way they had before, just without the blue plastic storage box. And the OTO block on hers reads to 5 ppm.

Janet

[PoolDoc]

That's good, and I'm glad.

I still don't trust them. The goop I found in Walmart this summer, under the HTH label, was discouraging. (BTW, I got thrown out of Walmart for taking pictures of the stuff! Still got the pics, though; just haven't gotten around to posting that info.)

[butterfly26_78382]

All right guys....I thought i've been doing good keeping my pool nice & balanced, well not so sure My water is clean & crystal clear but here are my newest readings from about noon today:
TH:0
FC:3
PH:7.5-7.8
TA:180-190
CYA:50
Now i've read that harness isn't really needed in a vinyl pool, but none at all?? when i put in the blue drops & swirled it around instead of turning blue it turned a light yellow or clear color, then as it sat for a while it turned red without adding the titrant. Freaked me out because the pool looks great & i thought i was doing so well. Also the TA is a bit scary, i just kept adding & adding those drops waiting for it to turn red. I got to 18 & it turned a very slight red then i added 1 more drop & became a more noticible red. But isn't that a bit high?? The PH side on the test kit is a lil darker than usual, which usually runs at a 7.5 so i guess it would be closer to a 7.8, but from what i gather that PH is an ok level. Please any advice would help me out, i'm freaking out about my numbers being a bit off, just let me know if this is ok & if not how i could get it back to what it was! I didn't add any bleach last night so my chlorine is a bit low, but toniight i will add about 47oz to get it back up to about a 6. Please let me know if i should add anything else. Thanks

[Watermom]

Your pH is ok up to 7.8 as long as 7.8 isn't the highest that your kit can measure. If it is, then a reading of 7.8 could actually be higher than that. Your TA is a little high. You can lower it by following the directions given here: Lowering Alkalinity Step-by-Step

Another guide for you to read: Using Muriatic Acid Safely

Don't worry about the calcium hardness reading in a vinyl pool.