Pool Water Testing Blog

We’ve talked a lot about the eXact Micro 7+ Pool Testing Meter and would now like to introduce you another pool testing meter called the Aquachek Tru Test Reader which works in a completely different manner.

The Aquachek Tru Test Reader uses special three-way test strips instead of reagents added by drop, tablet, reagentstrip, powder, etc. and detects free chlorine, bromine, pH and alkalinity in as little as 15 seconds.

Simply dip an Aquachek Tru Test Strip into the pool or spa for few seconds, remove from water, place in Aquachek Tru Test Reader, and press the ‘read’ button.

The unit uses two AA batteries for power, features a large, easy to read LCD display, and stores the last nine sets of test results.

With regard to the unit’s ability to handle accidental immersion in a pool or spa, the manufacturer claims the water can withstand accidental immersion in water for a short period of time without sustaining permanent damage. They suggest drying the unit off, removing the batteries, drying the battery compartment, and replacing the old batteries with fresh, dry batteries.

Things to Note About the Tru Test Reader

• The reader will only read correctly when used with Aquachek Tru Test Strips.

• We did not see anywhere that the unit has any kind of actual waterproof rating (such as IP-67).

• Although removing user subjectivity from the equation by having the meter read colors instead a person, the unit still relies upon test strip technology which some people do not care for or trust.

Our opinion of the Aquachek Tru Test Reader?

• It seems like a nice, inexpensive meter to have around the pool for spot testing the basic three pool water parameters: Free Chlorine, pH and Alkalinity. Given that the instrument interprets the strip and requires no light to do so, the unit ought to work quite well for testing in low-light conditions and for people with color blindness.

• Its accuracy, though leaves something to be desired, we think. The Aquachek Tru Test Reader appears to have the same amount of +/- accuracy as a person reading test strips by eye… Alk: +/- 30, pH: +/- 0.1, Cl: +/- 0.3 from 0 – 1.0ppm & +/- 1.0 from 3 – 10ppm.

• Having to use only the Aquachek Tru Test Strips kinda’ stinks, but for a sub sixty dollar multi-parameter, they gotta’ get their money out of you SOMEhow, right?

In the end we believe the meter has its place in the pool testing arena, but not near the top. Its lack of accuracy and reliance upon test strip technology make it a nice gadget, but not one for the serious pool testing enthusiast.

We still feel that the eXact Micro 7+ Pool Testing Meter has the most versatility and offers the most bang for the buck — but then again, it also costs a lot more than the Aquachek Tru Test Reader… so we guess ya’ get what ya’ pay for in this case.

Once you have tested your pool water for all the important parameters (free chlorine, total chlorine, pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, stabilizer, iron, copper, etc.) with one of the following testing methods, you will need the right pool water balancing chemicals to correct any parameters not within acceptable ranges.

  Pool Water Test Strips — least expensive & very subjective

  Liquid/Tablet Test Kits — ‘wet’ chemistry & very subjective

  Pool Testing Meters — most expensive & least subjective

Oh, and lest we forget to remind some of you, make sure you checked the dates on your pool water test kit reagents and test strips to make sure they had not expired before you used them! Expired test strips and test strip reagents will usually give false readings and wind up costing you more money in chemicals down the road!

With pool water testing results in hand, you may now select the proper pool water balancing chemicals for your current water conditions. hopefully you won’t NEED any chemicals besides chlorine and maybe a little cyanuric acid (stabilizer), but in case you do, we posted the following links just for you:

Yesterday we provided you with a way to possibly get rid of unpleasant looking stains on pool steps using Jack’s Magic Step Stuff and today we will tell you a few of the reasons WHY you may have had stains in the first place… and what you can do to prevent them in the future.

The most common sources of stains in a pool include:

• Leaves and other organic matter resting undisturbed on a surface for too long a period of time. The less time that leaves, dirt, pine needles, dead bugs, the neighbor’s cat, etc. sit on the bottom of a pool, the less likely they will stain the surface.

  In other words, remove debris from the pool ASAP. We recommend the use of a leaf rake on a telescoping pole and/or an automatic pool cleaners for the task.

• Algae. Though technically organic matter, we felt it deserved its own line anyways. Many forms of ‘green algae’ begin as invisible slimy coatings on pool surfaces. As the organisms mature, they develop a greenish tint to them and at that point you will notice that you have an algae problem.

  If you let it sit on pool surfaces long enough, it may begin to get comfortable in its new home and not want to leave w/o a fight… which means you could potentially wind up w/ a stain.

  At this point you should NOT just start dumping chemicals into the pool. First you should TEST THE POOL for critical pool water parameters such as free chlorine, total chlorine, pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness and stabilizer (cyanuric acid). Adding all the shock in the world won’t kill the algae if you have improperly balanced pool water!

  Once you have your water properly balanced, shock the pool with the appropriate amount of pool shock and brush the walls and sides thoroughly at the same time. Once in suspension the algae will fall victim to the chlorine (or other) shock treatment, die, turn a whitish color, and get filtered out by your pool filter.

  Individual results may vary, but more or less the process outlined above ought to take care of most green algae outbreaks.

• Dissolved metals dropping out of solution often create the most troublesome stains in a swimming pool. Removing them may require a lot of elbow grease and costly chemicals (see Jack’s Magic Stain Removal & Prevention Chemicals) and sometimes you may wind up with stains that NEVER come out.

  The number one way to prevent metals such as copper and iron from dropping out of solution and creating a stain in your pool: Don’t have copper and iron in the pool in the first place!

  Sounds silly, but many people do not realize their well water and even municipal water (once it has traveled through miles of metal piping) will sometimes contain varying amounts of dissolved copper and iron. Those metals will usually stay in solution and cause very few problems — until the pH shifts radically and/or a large amount of oxidizer (see Pool Shock Chemicals) enters the water. Then they may drop out and land on pool surfaces where they will leave a stain if not removed almost immediately.

  After adding water to a pool it makes sense to test for the presence of dissolved iron and dissolved copper using a pool testing meter such as the eXact Micro 7+ Pool Meter or specially designed Aquachek Test Strips for Iron and Copper.

  If you get positive test results, use a metal remover to convert the dissolved metals to a harmless form.

Though not specifically related to pool water testing, we recently got asked if we knew how to get stains off of pool steps. Why? Because not everyone opens their pool and finds everything nice, neat and clean the way they left it when they put the winter cover on in the Fall.

Sometimes bad things happen over the Winter and all sorts of dirt and debris gets under the cover, sinks to the bottom, and leaves nasty stains — especially on pool steps. Unsightly dark stains on white pool steps make even the nicest swimming pools look like backwater swamps!

So… What can you do about unattractive stains on you pool steps? Apparently the folks over at Jack’s Magic have found a way to remove those stains without a ton of scrubbing, without chemicals that drastically alter the chemical balance of the pool, and without having to drain the pool.

And unless the photos provided by In the Swim lie, the product looks as though it works pretty well.

We also noticed that Jack’s Magic Step Stuff received nothing but good reviews, too.

• Simple 2-part system safely and effectively removes yellow-brown (metal) stains right before your eyes – no scrubbing!

• Works great on white centrex (plastic) steps, acrylic, fiberglass, gunite and vinyl-covered steps.

• Can even be used on rock waterfalls!

• pH neutral and non-toxic.

• Includes two 8 oz. bottles (one application).

So if you have some spots or stains on your pool steps that you’d like to get rid of, you may want to give this product a try. Click for more information on Jack’s Magic Step Stuff.

We have mentioned the eXact Micro 7+ Pool & Spa Testing Meter numerous times on this site but we have not, as of yet that we can recall, simply listed the pool water parameters it tests along with the detection limits.

In addition to the eleven pool & spa related water parameters listed above, the meter also works well for general water quality testing applications. With the purchase of the appropriate reagentstrips and use of a conversion chart the meter also tests for: Ammonia, Chlorine Dioxide, Chromium Hexavalent, Iodine, Low Range Total Hardness, Nitrate, Nitrite, Acid pH, Alkali pH, Potassium, Sulfate, Sulfide, and Turbidity.

Health Regulations Specify DPD as the Testing Reagent

Worried about complying with health regulations that require use of DPD as the reagent when testing for chlorine residuals in pool water? No problem. The eXact Micro 7+ Pool & Spa Testing Meter uses DPD-1 for free chlorine detection and DPD-1 with DPD-3 for total chlorine detection — just like health regulations specify.

Detection Ranges for chlorine testing:

• Free Chlorine:     0.00 to 2.39 ppm w/ 0.01 resolution and 2.4-6.0 ppm w/ 0.1 resolution
• Total Chlorine:     0.00 to 2.39 ppm w/ 0.01 resolution and 2.4-6.0 ppm w/ 0.1 resolution

Metals in Pool Water a Big Concern

The eXact Micro 7+ Pool & Spa Testing Meter makes testing for the most commonly found metals in pool water (Copper, Iron and Manganese) a simple process.

Detection ranges for copper, total iron and manganese:

• Copper:     0.00 to 1.99 ppm w/ 0.01 resolution and 2.0 to 8.0 ppm w/ 0.1 resolution
• Total Iron:     0.01 to 2.00 ppm w/ 0.01 resolution
• Manganese:     0.03 to 1.52 ppm w/ 0.01 resolution

Note that the eXact Micro 7+ Pool & Spa Testing Meter has dual detection ranges for copper in pool water and it detects TOTAL iron.

What About Replacement ReagentStrips for the Meters?

You can find replacement eXact Micro 7+ reagents/reagentstrips on the following web pages:

• http://chlorine-test-kit.com/chlorine-test-kits-reagents.shtml#exact
• http://watertestingblog.com/2009/11/12/exact-micro-7-replacement-bottles/

Looking for a convenient place to pick up DPD Test Tablets for Lamotte, Taylor and other chlorine test kits? If so, then we can definitely help with that task.

In the Swim a leading online retailer of pool products and pool supplies, has packs of DPD-1 (for free chlorine) and DPD-3 (for total chlorine) available in packs 100 and 1,000 — for as low as 4.8 cents per test!

Worried about getting too many and the tablets going bad before next season? Not a problem! Unlike liquid dpd reagents for chlorine testing which must get replaced each year, DPD tablets have longer shelf-lives. Just keep them from getting too hot, too cold and wet.

A key factor in determining how much chlorine your pool will use over the course of a swimming season: Cyanuric Acid level.

If you have too little cyanuric acid in the pool, sunlight and warmer temperatures will make keeping a decent free chlorine residual difficult. On the other hand, too much chlorine stabilizer in pool water may reduce the effectiveness of free chlorine and mean having to keep a higher free chlorine residual to achieve the desired level of sanitation in the pool.

As a general rule residential pool owners will test the cyanuric acid level in their pools once or twice a year… at the beginning of the swimming season and again, perhaps, in the middle of the swimming season.

Tho have their cyanuric acid levels checked most people will take a sample of their pool water to their local pool supply store for analysis. Others will use at-home pool water testing products such as Aquachek 7 Way Test Strips, liquid reagent cyanuric acid test kits, or an electronic pool testing meter such as the eXact Micro 7+ Pool Testing Meter.

Sam from Georgia wrote in and asked,

I badgered my husband into taking the cover off the pool last weekend at our new house. The cover ripped part way off the pool and dumped a lot of ‘stuff’ into the water. Should we wait to test until all the junk gets removed? And what should we test for?

First of all, congratulations on the purchase of your new home and ownership of a swimming pool.

We suggest you begin testing your pool water as soon as you have finished filling it up to the proper level, assuming you had to add water after taking the cover off. Often times the water people use to fill their pools may contain dissolved metals so you definitely want to test after you top off your pool.

At the beginning of each pool season we suggest people test for the following pool water parameters before adding anychemicals to their water:

• Free/Total Chlorine
• pH
• Alkalinity
• Calcium Hardness (in some cases total hardness)
• TDS
• Cyanuric Acid
• Iron
• Copper

Most people take a sample of water down to their local pool store in the beginning of the season and have trained pool water specialists examine their water. This works out well because they can get all the corrective and maintenance chemicals they need at the same time. It doesn’t hurt, either, that most pool stores don’t charge for water tests!

Suppose I Want to Test My Own Water… What Do You Suggest?

To start, we suggest that new pool owners not attempt to diagnose and fix their own water chemistry issues w/o assistance from experienced pool water professionals… so that means most people should take their water to a store and get it tested at the beginning of every swimming season.

Persons w/ degrees in chemistry and/or water science exempted from previous statement.

Now should you choose to go it alone, you have roughly three choices when it comes to testing your own water:

• Pool Water Test Strips — least expensive & very subjective
• Liquid/Tablet Test Kits — ‘wet’ chemistry & very subjective
• Pool Testing Meters — most expensive & least subjective

Unsure of what you need to add to your pool to get it started? Let Pool Opening Kits from PoolCenter.Com help you get off to a hassle-free swimming season!

Available in three sizes, Pool Center’s Pool Opening Kits combine 4 important products designed to make opening your pool as trouble-free as possible:

• Algaecide — Helps keep algae growth at bay
• Clarifier — Causes smaller particles to stick together so your filter can catch them easier
• Sequestering Compound — Renders metals ‘harmless’ so they don’t drop out of solution and create unsightly stains
• Chlorine Shock — Effectively ‘kills’ biological and organic contaminants in pool water and establishes a chlorine residual to help keep the water sanitized

Each kit comes with enough chemicals to properly open a 7,500, 15,000, or 30,000 gallon pool.

On a Side Note…

For those who believe in miracle pills, we wrote about a ‘new’ all-in-one product called the Spring Pill which supposedly contains all the above chemicals (clarifier, chlorine shock, sequestering compound, and algaecide). Just toss it in and you’re done… Supposedly.

If anyone has ever used one of those Spring Pills, please drop us a line and let us know how it worked, if it worked, etc.

When we started this blog posting we had hopes of showing a direct comparison of detection levels on Pool Check 6 Way test strips and Aquachek Select 7 Way test strips… but that all fell apart when we could not find a site that listed all of the Aquachek product’s current detection levels.

We had to make due, instead, with detection ranges for the Aquachek product. Sorry, folks. We tried.

As far as upper and lower detection limits go, it seems as if only one difference exists between the two products:

• Pool Check 6 Way can detect slightly higher and lower pH levels

Aside from that, we have heard that the Pool Check product uses the same indicator for free chlorine detection as SenSafe Free Chlorine Water Check, an EPA Approved product for testing free chlorine levels in drinking water.