* The Pool Check^TM Copper test strips offer fast, accurate test results for copper, pH and alkalinity at a reasonable cost.

* The Pool Check^TM Pro Metals test strips offer fast, accurate semiquantitative test results for ‘all’ metals at once. It does not specify which metal(s) it detects, but it does give pool owners a better idea of how much staining potential their pool water has.

* The eXact^R Micro 7 pool and spa testing meter tests for many parameters including iron and copper.

* Other testing methods include using ‘wet’ chemistry kits from companies like Lamotte and Taylor, but they typically involve slightly more advanced testing techniques such as titrations. Wet kits also make use of messy dpd liquids, difficult to dissolve dpd tablets, and awkward dpd powder pillows.

For those who suspect that their source water contains metals, the SenSafe^TM Metals Check test strip will work quite well. It detects the metals commonly found in tap water and well water and provides accurate metals testing results in under 3 minutes.

Can Metals Stains in Pools be Removed?

For the most part, yes. The task will take effort, though, in some cases.

Vinyl liners typically resist staining quite well but the stains that do set in will not come off without a fight. Pool owners must use sequestering compounds and/or chelating compounds which attach themselves to the metal stains/deposits and more or less pull them back into solution. (See Jack’s Magic)

Owners of concrete and gunite pools suffer even worse fates when it comes to metals staining. Typically they must wash the stains away using diluted muriatic acid — and in some cases that means draining the pool completely before they can begin.

Due to the annoyance, expense and inconvenience associated with the removal of metals stains from pool liners and plastic fixtures, swimming pool professionals recommend testing for metals on a regular basis if the pool has a heater, uses a copper or silver ionizer, or has recently had water added to it that may have contained dissolved metals.

Copper Test Strips for Pools

Taylor Test Kit for Copper

Iron Test Strips for Pools

]]> http://watertestingblog.com/2008/06/06/metals-in-pool-water/feed/ 0 http://watertestingblog.com/2008/02/13/lead-in-soil/ http://watertestingblog.com/2008/02/13/lead-in-soil/#respond Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:06:42 +0000 http://watertestingblog.com/?p=3 Sometimes even the soil around your house can contain lead. If water containing lead came in contact with your yard at some point, there exists a chance it left a dirty little deposit…

Example 1: Remember when they filled in your lawn with topsoil? Do you know for SURE where that topsoil came from? Did it come from a pristine yard untouched by pollution or did it come from a questionable little quarry on the outskirts of an industrial landfill whose runoff management policies don’t get enforced?

Example 2: How about the runoff from up the street where they work with all sorts of metals and metal finishing products? Has it gone through the appropriate treatment systems before it reached the banks of the little stream where the kids like to play? How about the puddles formed from the runoff flowing downhill from that metalworking facility? What sort of nasty contaminants (i.e. heavy metals like chromium & mercury or possibly even… cyanide?) might one find in those?

If you don’t know the answers to those or any other questions pertaining to whether or not your soil contains lead, take a look at this Lead in Soil test.

This simple, easy-to-use test kit will help to keep your friends and family safe from the potentially lethal effects of inadvertent lead poisoning.

Now on the other hand, should you have concerns about the amount of lead in your drinking water, please refer to our Water Testing Blog entry about the Lead in Water Test Kit.