DIY Orlando Pool Repair and Care ~ Step 2: Test Water

With internet access and test strips, you can now perform swimming pool water tests at home in seconds. This eliminates the need to take a water sample into your neighborhood pool store. Test strips easily test every aspect of your pool’s chemistry. I recommend AquaChek 6 to give you a full spectrum of chemical readings.

Pool chemistry does not need to be an exact science and the test strips will offer sufficient readings.

Tests to Perform:
Weekly: Free Chlorine, Total Chlorine and pH
Monthly: Total Alkalinity, Total Hardness and Cyanuric Acid
The AquaCheck 6 test strips can test for all of these readings in 15 seconds.
Please write down your readings and save them for Step 9.

Regardless of which brand you use, please read the test strip or test kit manufacturer’s directions and follow them explicitly. Take note of the correct depth to dip the strip or take the sample, the time to immerse and wait for the reaction and whether or not shaking the water off the strip is recommended. Failure to follow directions can result in inaccurate results. Watch this Water Testing Instructional Video to see how easy using a test strip can be. (video coming soon)

It is important to note that many liquid testing reagents, test strips and chlorine tablets have a limited shelf life. Keep them out of the sun in a cool dry place. Both the test strips and chlorine tablets have a shelf life of about two years and should have an expiration date on the packaging. Liquid test kit reagents have a shorter shelf life of three to six months and typically do not have a printed expiration date. You may want to note the date of purchase with a permanent marker to give yourself a guideline.

On to Step 3: Empty Skimmer
Back to Step 1: Add Water