It's not super accurate, but you can get a fair idea of your pH by buying some DISTILLED water in the bottled water section at Walmart, and diluting a pool water sample 1:1 with distilled water. (Fill a 1 cup measure with 1/2 cup of POOL water & 1/2 cup of DISTILLED water, & mix) Test the DILUTED pool sample. It's will be accurate enough to let you tell if have gotten in the 7 - 8 range.