First post - Trouble maintaining Chlorine

[waste]

Thanks Waste. Not sure I understand this "honest folks who do their own testing get numbers that end with "0"." We do have our own tester that we use on a sporadic basis. Our numbers are in the ballpark with the pool store. We just added 12lbs of sodium hydrogen carbonate (aka., soda ash, baking soda, sodium bicarbonate). We'll see what that does. The water in my area is very hard (19-20 grains, ?ppm). So, I am thinking of switching the auto-fill supply from hard water to soft water. I should have done it summer before last when we drained the pool. Still considering (researching) the whole liquid bleach approach.

Ubalr1, I believe that every new poster deserves a quick response, even if I can't provide the 'full' answer. There are folks here who understand chemistry MUCH better than I. What I know has been (mostly) gathered from reading a bunch of threads here, so I'm passing on second hand info to you.
As for the 'results ending in '0' ', pool store testers seem to have a 'built in' 'sell chems' sub program in them, when I do a drop based test (like Ben's kit or the Taylor 2005 kit) I get results that are in increments of 10 - a pool store number that doesn't end in "0" is an indication of the 'selling software' kicking in. (this does not apply to cl or pH)
While we're at it soda ash (a/k/a sodium carbonate/ soda ash is different from sodium bicarbonate (a/k/a sodium hydrogen carbonate) The Borax is a different way of raising the pH, but it doesn't affect the total alkalinity like soda ash does.
I hope that this is at least slightly helpful, I'm thinking that a few of the folks who know more about chemistry will post when they see it.

[ubalr1]

Ubalr1, I believe that every new poster deserves a quick response, even if I can't provide the 'full' answer. There are folks here who understand chemistry MUCH better than I. What I know has been (mostly) gathered from reading a bunch of threads here, so I'm passing on second hand info to you.
As for the 'results ending in '0' ', pool store testers seem to have a 'built in' 'sell chems' sub program in them, when I do a drop based test (like Ben's kit or the Taylor 2005 kit) I get results that are in increments of 10 - a pool store number that doesn't end in "0" is an indication of the 'selling software' kicking in. (this does not apply to cl or pH)
While we're at it soda ash (a/k/a sodium carbonate/ soda ash is different from sodium bicarbonate (a/k/a sodium hydrogen carbonate) The Borax is a different way of raising the pH, but it doesn't affect the total alkalinity like soda ash does.
I hope that this is at least slightly helpful, I'm thinking that a few of the folks who know more about chemistry will post when they see it.

Very helpful. Thank you.

[waterbear]

Waste is right on the money with his answer about soda ash vs. borax!
Soda ash will increase pH and TA at the same time which, usually is not desirable. Borax will have minimal impact on the TA while raising the pH. The reasons are pretty technical and really of interest only to chemical nerds like myself.

If you need to increase the TA don't buy the 'sodium hydrogen carbonate' from your (I am assuming) Bioguard dealer at the pool store. It is most likely commercial grade. USP grade (which is much purer) can be had at the grocery store for less money as Baking soda!

If your pool store is using a colorimeter for testing with liquid reagents then it is possible that your numbers won't end in a 0, BUT if they don't calibrate the instrument on a regular basis then the readings might be less accurate then those from a test strip. IF they are giving you a computer printout either the meter is hooked up to the computer or they are manually entering the numbers, either way the clerk can (and sometimes do, I have seen it) change the numbers before the printout is run. You never know. If they are using strips with a meter I would suggest to RUN and NOT WALK out of there and not believe the results. Get in the habit of doing you own testing and take control of your water. You will be glad that you did! (And yes, I DO test water for people all day at work and sell chemicals!)