Testing the levels of your pools chlorine, alkalinity and pH can be a daunting task. Some strips require you to match up colors by looking at a chart, or water drops that change colors must be matched by looking through a plastic container.
This is one way to achieve the result readings, however it can be difficult with just a human eye to tell the difference between dark brown, medium brown and light brown, etc.
Luckily there is an easier way that I like to use when checking my swimming pools water levels. All you must do is place the smart test strip in the water, remove it and take a picture with an app.
Clorox Smart Strips
When I discovered this way of testing my swimming pools water, it changed the way that I maintain and check my pools water.
When you purchase this kit it comes with a set number of test strips, a chart to manually read your results and a small white backdrop that you can place your used strips on while using your smartphone to snap a photo.
It will then automatically detect your waters levels and even allow for you to save the data to look at in the future for reference.
What Does It Test For?
You can for all the important readings and get the results.
Total Chlorine. Find out exactly how much total chlorine you have in your swimming pool.
Free Chlorine. When you are testing your pool, you want this to typically stay between 1 -4 PPM. If it is 5 PPM or above, stop adding chlorine until it drops to safer levels.
Hardness. This can impact how your pool equipment is affected. If you water is too hard it can damage pool pumps, ladders and all other components that come in contact with your water.
Stabilizer. While this doesn’t directly impact your pool cleanliness, it does impact how well your chlorine lasts in your water when the sun is at its peak. Too low of levels and your chlorine will evaporate too quickly and too high can result in to much total and combined chlorine.
Alkalinity. You typically want to keep this around 75 and 125 PPM. Don’t panic if you fall just outside these numbers, but to keep your pool from becoming cloudy and allowing all your other chemicals to work correctly, keep your alkalinity levels in check.
pH. A proper balance for this is between 7.2 and 7.6 PPM. Once you have our pH and alkalinity levels where they should be, it is time to move on to chlorinating your pool. These are a couple of areas you want to correctly maintain in your pools water.
Ease Of Use
These strips are not going to be for everyone, but if you have a smartphone it is definitely worth giving a try.
The app is free and will work on Android and iOS devices. Be sure you take your snapshot within 15 seconds after it has been emerged under the water for best results.
Once you results are shown, you will also be given recommendations on how to correct the areas that need to be adjusted.
I test my water with these smart strips at least once per week, sometimes two and it takes just a few seconds. You can grab your Clorox Smart Test Strip Kit and make your water testing much easier.