David G

Jason who did you find in Canada ? I did a bit of research last week and did not find any vendors that gave me any confidence or price break so ordered the one Richard recommended from http://www.tftestkits.com/ today. Given the cost of everything else in this game I decided to bite the bullet and get the kit from a reliable source. Dave there was very helpful and shipping is next day. It would be handy to find a Canadian source for the supplies although I understand that the kit will last more than one season. I switched to bleach this weekend after getting my CYA up over the past week using my old dichlor supplies. I am also keeping a container of lithium so that my wife can treat the pond when I am out of town on business without having to use my "chlorine system." I have rigged up one of those half litre plastic drink or juice containers that you can open and close the little spigot on. I have used a permanent marker and marked off single dose gradiants. Am leaving the container in a sink in the basement for a couple of weeks to make sure that nothing reacts with the bleach. david

Richard, As a newby to the board and a relatively new spa owner your post was a major education. I too think it should be made into a sticky! My question relates to frequency of adding the bleach. I travel a lot in my job so it is impossible to add bleach on a daily basis. I am generally home by Friday night and the spa often only gets used Friday and on the weekend. Since inheriting the spa from the previous home owner I have been using pucks and now the Beachcomber sticks in a floater plus a granular dichlor for shock. After 6-8 weeks I am finding that my reading of TCI eventually goes through the roof even when my FCI is at or below 3 ppm. I assume that this is due to excess levels of CYA. My dealer did a CYA test a couple of weeks ago and it was through the roof - just over 120. I have now changed the water and done an initial shock with dichlor and have had the floater in the water for a week but would now like to switch to bleach before CYA gets high again. Also I am currently using test strips but would like to switch to the more accurate test kit. I have seen a recommended brand on the board but did not record it. Could I have your suggestion ? Thanks to all contributors, one evening on this board teaches me more that my well meaning dealer has in 6 months of ownership.