RuBaDuB Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 HI all....just got our spa a week ago and seem to be having trouble reading the test strips they gave us. They are AquaCheck strips that read hardness, bromine, TA and pH. The hardness and bromine seem to be very easy to read, no problems there, nice bright color readings. But the TA and pH is not clear. For example, the TA color range goes from something like pale yellow at low to dark army green at high...when we test, we get something similar to army green but it's very clear and faded looking, not a dark solid color like on the bottle. Same for pH, the range is from pale orange at low to bright pink at high...our color is pinkish, but again, very clear and faded out looking. Sort of like the color was there at one point but faded way so it really doesn't match ANY of the colors. So far, we've tried to match the color type rather than the brightness of the color...so this says our TA and pH are high. So we've added Spa Down every day for a few days, but still the same reading on the strips! Does anyone know what this means? Should the colors come out nice and bright like on the bottle? Maybe the test strips are old? I plan to get a real test kit, but want to still use these if possible for quick checks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitro Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 Guess (I mean Test) Strips are almost useless for testing pH and TA. Your best bet is to get a good drop test kit such as the Taylor K-2106 (Bromine). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuBaDuB Posted June 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 Guess (I mean Test) Strips are almost useless for testing pH and TA. Your best bet is to get a good drop test kit such as the Taylor K-2106 (Bromine). Planning to get a kit...it's just that my dealer makes it sound SO easy with the strips! Been reading about the test kits...is it a big complicated production to test the water with these? Compared to just dipping a strip in? Is it going to take me a half hour to setup, test the water and clean up the equipment, etc? Or is this just a 5 minute thing once you get the hang of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elbyron Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 Planning to get a kit...it's just that my dealer makes it sound SO easy with the strips! Been reading about the test kits...is it a big complicated production to test the water with these? Compared to just dipping a strip in? Is it going to take me a half hour to setup, test the water and clean up the equipment, etc? Or is this just a 5 minute thing once you get the hang of it? There's no setup, you just fill the sample tubes, pour back a little until the water level is at the marked line (or use an eyedropper), then add your reagents and check the result. Depending what you are testing you'll either count the # of drops to make it change color, or add a fixed # of drops and check the color. You'll find that the color checking is much easier with the kit than with the strips. Cleanup is just dumping and rinsing the tubes. Most of the time I just test my bromine and pH, which takes me about a minute. Every so often I check the TA as well, which adds another minute or two. Testing chlorine might take a little longer because you need to measure the total chlorine and free chlorine. I don't even have the reagents for the calcium test, I just use my leftover test strips and check it only every few months - it doesn't change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuBaDuB Posted June 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 There's no setup, you just fill the sample tubes, pour back a little until the water level is at the marked line (or use an eyedropper), then add your reagents and check the result. Depending what you are testing you'll either count the # of drops to make it change color, or add a fixed # of drops and check the color. You'll find that the color checking is much easier with the kit than with the strips. Cleanup is just dumping and rinsing the tubes. Most of the time I just test my bromine and pH, which takes me about a minute. Every so often I check the TA as well, which adds another minute or two. Testing chlorine might take a little longer because you need to measure the total chlorine and free chlorine. I don't even have the reagents for the calcium test, I just use my leftover test strips and check it only every few months - it doesn't change. Thanks for the info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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