Understanding Water Testing
For Your Pool Or Spa
What Should I Test?
Pool / Spa owners should test pools and spas for the following items:
Water Balance
- every day for the pH
- weekly for total alkalinity
- monthly for calcium hardness
Sanitation
- every day for chlorine and/or bromine
- monthly for cyanuric acid
What Is Water Balance?
Water has a tendency to either corrode what it touches – remove good stuff – or deposit scale on what it touches – leave crusty stuff. A pool / spa owner’s goal is to keep the water chemistry right in between these two extremes. Try picturing a tug of war with corrosion vying with scale for control. When the water is in balance, neither one of these problems has the advantage.
There are three main factors that influence water balance. Click on each to learn more.
What Is Sanitation?
When testing water, water balance is enough if you do not have people swimming or bathing.
However, once people are in your water, biological organic matter enters the water.
This is why we need the following sanitation chemicals. Click on each to learn more.
Are All Test Kits The Same?
No they are not. Testing is the cornerstone of water treatment. Not all test kits are created equal. Make sure you buy a reliable test kit. You want one that is easy to use and gives accurate results, time after time. You also want ones with instructions that are color-coded to the reagent bottles.
Taylor Test Kits are the very best on the market. And we sell more Taylor Test Kits than anyone else in Canada. They are the real product. They are shipped from Canada.
