Pool Water Testing with LaMotte Down Under

Magnesium, Salt & the Truth About Water Testing with LaMotte – Part 1

Is your salt test really measuring salt?

What happens when magnesium enters the equation?

And why do two different salt tests sometimes give two completely different answers?

This week on Mondays Down Under, Lee and Nick welcome Hieron from LaMotte for a fascinating deep dive into modern water testing, magnesium pools, calcium hardness, Langelier Saturation Index (LSI), and why understanding your test results is just as important as performing the test itself. 

Whether you're servicing pools every day or managing a retail water testing lab, this episode explains why blindly trusting numbers without understanding the chemistry behind them can cost your customers money—and shorten the life of their equipment.

In This Episode

•  Why total hardness is no longer the same as calcium hardness
•  How magnesium changes water chemistry 
•  Why magnesium hardness must be separated from calcium hardness 
•  The relationship between hardness and the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI)
•  Why pH remains the single biggest factor affecting water balance 
•  Does magnesium actually affect scaling? 
•  Understanding the difference between conductivity salt meters and reagent-based salt testing
•  Why two salt tests can produce dramatically different readings 
•  The hidden problem of "dead" salt and elevated TDS 
•  When water replacement becomes the only practical solution 
•  Protecting expensive salt chlorinator cells through accurate testing 
•  Why experienced technicians ask questions instead of simply printing reports 
•  The psychology of educating customers and building long-term trust 
•  A preview of LaMotte's upcoming professional training course for the pool industry 

Key Takeaways

One of the biggest myths discussed is that all salt readings are equal.

Traditional conductivity meters measure the electrical conductivity of dissolved solids, while LaMotte's Spin system chemically measures usable chloride ions—the portion of salt that can actually produce chlorine. Understanding that distinction can dramatically improve troubleshooting and help explain why older pools often experience chlorination issues despite appearing to have sufficient salt. 

The conversation also explores why magnesium pools require technicians to think differently about hardness testing. Magnesium contributes to total hardness but should not simply be substituted for calcium when calculating water balance or the LSI. Accurate testing allows professionals to properly determine true calcium hardness instead of relying on outdated rules of thumb. 

Beyond chemistry, the discussion focuses on customer communication. The best technicians don't simply hand customers a printout—they ask better questions, interpret the results, educate pool owners, and build relationships that last for years. 

Featured Guest

Hieron – LaMotte

•  Water chemistry specialist 
•  Professional water testing educator 
•  Expert in Spin water analysis technology 
•  Developer of LaMotte's upcoming online professional training program 

Coming Next Week

Part Two continues the conversation with even more practical discussions on professional water analysis, advanced chemistry, and improving customer outcomes through better testing and education. 

Listen, subscribe, and join the conversation wherever you get your podcasts.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Good afternoon, good evening, good morning, good whatever time of the day it is. It is time for Mondays Down Under on the Talking Pools podcast. It is great to have you with us. My name is Lee, and I'm the pull shop coach. And today I am joined by my esteemed colleague Nick. Hey Nick, how are you?

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Good Lee. Still picking up the pieces after Wednesday night, but let's not talk about that.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

Well, you raised it. And I'm not wearing maroon or blue today. So for those listeners who aren't privy to the New South Wales and Queensland clash, I'm in New South Wales. And Nick is in Queensland. And of course, NRL, State of Origin, and no.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Oh no, next year.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

See, and I even wore Marone last week, and you thought that was a good omen. There you go. But today we have a special guest with us, somebody who is a world of knowledge when it comes to water testing and water chemistry, and someone I'm very grateful to have join us, and that is Hiron from Lamotte. How are you, Hiron?

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Good, thank you, Lee. Thanks for having me. And I appreciate the comment uh the start of the podcast with the blues versus Marines.

SPEAKER_03 2:12

Yes. Do you have a banter like that in your staff? You've got a team in Queensland, I would imagine, or at least uh a couple of colleagues.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

No, luckily everyone was painted blue here.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

That's good. No internal rivalry. No, we're with my IRL hat on for IR Learning. Um, a number of my colleagues are in Queensland. So it always makes for for good team banter, that's for sure. But Hieron, you and I have known each other for a few years now. And actually, I think you've been on the podcast before, haven't you?

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Um, this is my first time on the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 2:48

And uh you've certainly been the topic of conversation before, that's for sure. Because I I know you and I have spoken many times over the years. We always dive headfirst into water chemistry and water testing, and I always learn so much from you. So I'm truly grateful to have you in my contact bank as one of my go-to gurus. But you were a source of information for me, and I of course shared it with our listeners on magnesium versus salt, that good old chestnut, let's say, that everybody likes to ask those questions. So, can you give our listeners some insight into water testing from Lamotte and how we can interpret those test results from a uh uh salt and magnesium, or even for that matter, potassium and all sorts of mineral perspective?

SPEAKER_00 3:42

This is a two-part question, I would like. Then we will discuss more into the salt side of it because magnesium chloride and magnesium is something what we can start with, and then we will eval evolve into the salt reading. Before the introduction of all these mineral pools or magnesium pools and everything like that, we used to measure for calcium hardness. Now, calcium hardness used to be the same as total hardness. That's because that's what it was. There was no magnesium harness. After what threw spanners into our work was magnesium introduction of magnesium, which inflated the total hardness reading. Now, the because half calcium and magnesium sit on the periodic table above and below each other, the chemistry to measure them is the same. They're both expressed in calcium carbonate. Now, due to that molecular weight and everything, we had to do something around and to come around it. We always measured total hardness with a 204 series this. And to combat this challenge, 801 series this was introduced. Now, there is actually no difference between 204s and 801s except for one little test factor. For us to introduce the magnesium ion reagent into the disk, somebody had to get kicked out. And copper got kicked out into that way. So we always measure total hardness. In fact, there are two chambers allocated to read for total hardness here in Ashaia, low range and high range. It measures up to 1200 ppm comfortably into the tolerance. The next part to that is uh there is a magnesium ion reagent into one of the chambers where copper got replaced. So magnesium ions multiplied by 4.12 will give you your magnesium hardness reading. So now we can we know how to we we've got the reading for total hardness, we've got the reading for magnesium hardness. Pin does this for you, so you don't have to worry, and it calculates the value for calcium harness. This is where your true calcium harness reading is derived. So there's no guesswork there. What most of the technicians do is okay, I'm going to do the one-third of the total hardness I've got. That's actually not the right way to go for it. Because the literature was different before there is there was an ambiguity, nobody was really testing for magnesium hardness. So precisely, that's why this is before the introduction of 801. So this is a long time ago. And now things have become a bit more clearer. We are now able to test for total hardness, we measure magnesium hardness and give you a calculated value for calcium hardness. This is done on our 801 series test. And that that that is where we we always the whole aim or hope is depending on your surface type, we are looking at 200 ppm of calcium hardness here or there, sort of thing. On fiberglass or concrete, which is slightly different here. Fiberglass is lower range. We all know about that. And concrete base is a little bit higher.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

So a question I often get asked, and if you don't know the answer to that, this is completely fine because I'm gonna spur this on to you at the is if I've got magnesium hardness in the water, do I still need calcium hardness in the water?

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Yes, calcium hardness is something which uh helps us to determine our LSI, Langliar saturation index. And what is Langlia saturation index? It helps us to know how our water is going to behave. Is it going to be corrosive or is it going to be scaling? Is my pipes going to be corroding away or it's going to be scaling? That sort of thing, stains and everything is all relevant over here. What is LSI is Safanatum, which relies on five test factors. PH, the most important one, which deviates that LSI. Many of the software platforms now have LSI in the bottom corner. When some people pay attention to it, some people don't. It's ranges in a scale. Zero is something what we are looking at for. Zero, we aim for. And in anything, any reading goes in minus or negative, it's going to be taking away from the surfaces, tiles falling off, and all that sort of problems here. On the other side, when there is when it's on the positive side, it's going to be scaling, deposition. Now minus 0.3 to plus 0.3, you could say it's an ideal range. But anything below that or anything above that, it's going to be disturbing your food. And that that's the goal or that's the range we are looking forward to. Now, what is LSI again? Sorry, pH is the most deviating one, alkaline T.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Calcium hardness. This is where we need to know what calcium hardness is for us to know what LSI is, and that's where we'll be able to balance it. TDS and temperature are two other test factors as well, which helps us, which deviates that LSI.

SPEAKER_03 8:58

Now, obviously, LSI is very old. Like it's been around for eons, let's say. And it is an industry standard. Like it's as I say to my students, whether you know it or not, often it is the software program that is working in the background of your software that you're using to do your water testing and balancing with. And but the thing is, back then, while magnesium was around, it wasn't something that was used in pools. It wasn't something that was present in water. So I sort of go, well, is magnesium hardness not part of the LSI because it didn't exist back then? Does it actually impact the LSI indirectly that we're not aware of? Opening a whole can of worms.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

It depends. See, all this eventually becomes a minor part of or minor, very minute part of TDS. And like uh the other day somebody asked me a question regarding uh regarding from liquid acid, people are going to the dry acids. And due to the people people constantly using dry acid, does it affect my LSI here? Like let's isolate the pH reading, what it's going to deviate to. Let's isolate that. But over the time, those products are going to eventually contribute towards it's not going to directly affect your LSI. Not magnesium is also not going to directly affect your LSI. But maybe when they will bound with other molecules, that's when the com combination will come. And this is where sauce very minute influence is there, but it's not a major impact.

SPEAKER_03 10:34

So it's impacting it through the TDS level in the LSI equation.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

But other than that, not a massive uh difference there. Because minute fractions.

SPEAKER_02 10:45

Because obviously I've thought the same thing. I've thought the same thing about the magnesium because I know just firsthand being on site with pools that you know pools with magnesium do tend to scale more.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

So I've often wondered whether it had any influence. Magnesium is a natural floc flocluent. You often see that uh it it's again has a little bit of an impact on, but magnesium is a natural floccuent, and people have used that in olden times typically to be flocking stuff away. But uh it does that's why you see that there's a cloudiness presence when you initially do that.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

So calcium carbonate is the scale that we see. Do does it also does the magnesium also bond with the carbonate to make magnesium carbonate?

SPEAKER_00 11:35

That that's they're both expressed in calcium carbonate, those hard metal.

SPEAKER_03 11:39

Ah, right. Okay. So calcium carbonate is what we're seeing in scale. So that's what I'm thinking of Nick's comment there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

That's that some magnesium bill uh you may see if you've got very high magnesium into your pools, you will see there is a jelly sort of thing. Increase the magnesium levels to 2000 ppm. Let it go that high. Don't don't do that in practical sense. You do a little experiment in your thing, otherwise you'll wreck someone's pool. Unless you want to do it in your own pool. You'll start seeing those jelly stuff. And and and when you feel it, you'll see a smoother feel than the calcium. So that that's the jelly stuff if you're referring to, that's the magnesium base, not the calcium base.

SPEAKER_03 12:27

Yes. Yeah. I've well originally when our pool was installed, we had a mineral claw chlorinator installed, which operated on straight magnesium and worked exceptionally well. Uh water was beautiful. Eventually I did convert it over to Dead Sea minerals and and whatnot over the years. But uh I found that as long as I kept my pH right, that calcium carbonate, that magnesium carbonate, magnesium jelly, whatever we want to call it, wasn't coming out of solution. So it it does come down to water balance. And and like we say, pH, a high pH, everything comes out. A low pH, everything gets eaten up.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Everything falls into suspension once the pH is low. This often happens when when you're dealing with uh low salt chlorinators with a copper as an active like naked pool.

SPEAKER_03 13:25

You're talking about naked pools in virus swim bionisals where they have the copper and silver anodes.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

And it goes up in trouble as the pH goes up, copper falls out of suspension. And for those pools, it is good to have those acid doses in place as well, which contains the pH around 7.2. Not that typically you will not have any issues in that.

SPEAKER_03 13:48

Yeah. So going back to magnesium and chlorides, we have talked about the magnesium-calcium relationship. Now let's talk about that from a uh a chloride perspective.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Now we are very lucky with the spin on how it reads the salt reading. Previously, before this test was introduced into the spin, people used to use those TDS pens or salt pens, which we all are aware of. If you have a closer look at the point of a point of that pen, you'll see two nodes on it, one is positive and one is negative. It works of an electronic conductivity principle. An electric current is passed through between them based on the temperature. There's a calculation factor. If the based, say if at 26 degrees Celsius, the calculation factor is 0.63 for uh TDA 0.67 for salt, and that that's how you get your results down based on the temperature.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

So basically a conductivity meter is a mathematical equation.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Mathematical equation. So EC times the temperature conversion factor, and you get the reading. Nothing wrong with that. It's been industry, it was it industry standard for over four decades or so. Spin reads salt differently, chemically. There's it's a chemical-based test.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

Now the reagent test.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Reagent test, that's right. So just as an example, sodium being a positively charged ion, chloride being a negatively charged ion. Spin is going to take all the negatively charged ions into consideration and give you out a reading for salt. So it doesn't matter whichever salt you use, sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, spin doesn't care. It takes all the chlorides into consideration, give you out a reading for salt. What we like to say here is all usable salt, the salt which are going to be converted into chlorine, that is what is read by the mirror. Now, if uh you can have an example there is sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium sulphate. Spin is going to take magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium chloride into consideration. The chloride part of it, give you the reading. But magnesium sulfate, it's not going to take that because it's not going to produce chlorine to have that sanitation part of it. So it's very clever in a way. It's a true reading what you're getting from the spin for the salt, all the salt which are going to be converted into chlorine, that is what you get at the end of the day. Now, um, if you want to take extreme examples and everything like that, let's look at one of the very, very old pools which has not been looked after. An active surface type concrete base. So we go down to that pool, nobody has really looked into the pool. Someday one of the old men has looked, and my grandkids are coming today. I'm going to look after the pool and get it ready. He's gone down, called in a technician, and the technician gone down, tested with the salt pen. Old pool, so old chlorinata 6,000 ppm. He's tested with the pen, he's got salt reading as 6,000. He's done a spin test, he's got the salt reading as 3,000 ppm. It's a big difference. As a general rule, spin is going to read lower, but not so low. What's happening here? Something is wrong. What our job is you we give you that data on your plate to make those decisions for your customers and help them understand what is going to happen to you and why you're going to get an expensive bill now because you didn't look after your pool, which often happens in winter. So there we are. So what will happen? There are three options here, typically, you can look at. Number one is you go down and follow the salt pin. Do nothing about it. Let the chlorinator run over time to keep up the chlorine levels. Maybe the pool's gone green because the chlorinator has not worked up enough, or get an expensive electricity bill for your customers. That's also something. People park it on the side. It's not technician's problem, it's the homeowner's problem. That's part one. Part two is you follow the spin and you ignore the salt pin. What is going to happen? It's going to elevate the salt reading and it's also going to elevate the tedious reading on the claudinator, the claudinator might might shut off. That's something to be worried, worried about too. What is the third option? And how can we resolve this? What do we do here?

SPEAKER_03 18:22

The right option.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

The right option, of course. How can we bring the readings together? And the only way we can really do is to do a water exchange. Now, if you do that in regional areas, the customer's not going to be happy with you. What what is he going to do? He's not going to he's because he's living off tank water, he's he wants his water to be preserved. But the only way you can really reduce what it is, it's TDS in the water. The only way you can do it is by dumping it.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Doing a water exchange, refilling it with a fresh water, that's how you'll be able to reduce that particular reading. And you can actually help the customer by doing that rather than now what we've done, we've given you so much information. You let this information be passed on to your customer. He knows what he's expected to get. And eventually both are happy. In fact, if he pass in a technician will pass on so much information, customer is never going to let him go. Those sort of relationships is something what we are here to build with the customer. And long-term customer is what we want to hang on to.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

So it's Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

On a fresh on the freshly new pool, the readings will be very close to each other.

SPEAKER_03 19:42

Yes. Yes. And I've seen this firsthand. I often tell this story when I'm explaining this exact situation to people. I was working in a pool shop and I always observed the staff at first, let them do their job, and I never ever correct them in front of a customer. But this particular day the client came in, got their water tested, the shop assistant, as they do, did a conductivity test with their pen and then also did the spin, took the conductivity test as the true and gospel salt reading and put that into their water test program. I let the customer leave because this is what this how this business functions. So it was no different for that customer. However, at the end, like when the customer wasn't there, I said to the shop attendant, talk me through what you did and why you took the readings that you did. And then I they said the spin's not accurate. The salt reading on the spin is not accurate. I said, okay, we're about to have a debate here. We're gonna have a heated debate. And I then imparted the w wisdom of Heron in saying that it is a true salt meter, a salt reading in the spin. It is a reagent test. It is actually testing the chlorides. So it's try showing you what is true and usable salt, what is the good salt in the pool. Whereas the conductivity meter is telling showing you the old salt, the TDS, the things that can't produce chlorine, just as much as it is showing the ones that can produce chlorine. And they still didn't believe me, of course. They were they were very skeptic. And so I said to them the next said to them over the series of days, we will have a chance to actually put this theory into test. And lo and behold, the next day, somebody came into the shop with a freshly filled pool that had been resurfaced and they'd done the normal wait a few weeks, then put their salt in, and they were coming in to check that they'd added enough salt to the pool. So very fresh pool, very fresh salt. We did the spin, we did the conductivity pen, and lo and behold, there were only a hundred parts different. And I said, there you go. This is fresh salt. This is what you're really testing for, and that's why you need to trust the spin over the pen. And as you said, Kieran, that can create problems for businesses, for service technicians, or retail stuff when you have to tell the customer, look, I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to drop some water out and refresh it and the chemical loss and the water loss. But the bigger cost here that actually people don't think about is getting your pool, your your salt water chlorinator to run on, let's call it empty salt or dead salt is actually stressing your chlorinator cell out. They're astronomical. Like we've talked about ruthenium several times. That ex huge costs that chlorinating cells now are to replace. We want to get as long a Life out of them as possible. And part of that is actually testing for usable salt because otherwise they're asking for their salt water chlorinator to make salt or make chlorine under extreme duress. It's trying to make it's trying to run on the smell of an oily rag, really.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Good chlorinator brands will often tell you how much chlorides are required and how much TDS is required as well. So it is it is an interesting connotation over there. If you want the longevity of your chlorinator, it's good to know both of your readings in a sense. But the regular pools which you are going down and regularly testing, it's just good to follow one regime. Because if you're regularly monitoring that pool, there's not going to be a lot of difference between the pen and the saw or spin reading. Because you are looking after that pool every day. You're maintaining that pool. So that's not an old pool. The readings will just follow the spin and carry on with your life.

SPEAKER_03 23:54

Yeah. And and TDS is something that really people, I suppose, don't struggle struggle to understand, but struggle to explain to the clients. And shout out to John Harding, because I take this from him. The way he explains what TDS is. People in our industry as well as to end consumers. That is, TDS is like the freeway. If you are driving down the freeway in the middle of the night, the road is empty, you can do 110 kilometers an hour till your heart's content. You can move in and out of lanes as much as you like, and you've got free rain. And that is the equivalent of a low TDS. You've got free movement, the water can function, the chemicals can do what it's they're meant to do. They can move around freely in the water and take action. But then you get a high TDS, and it's like peak hour traffic. You're lucky if you're driving at 60 kilometers an hour, you're stuck in traffic, you can't move from lane to lane. And that's what high TDS is.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

I would have to deal this.

SPEAKER_03 24:58

It's a great analogy, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 25:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:02

So, no, it's it's a really a really good way of explaining it. And so, yeah, you may have salt in the water, but you're actually trying to operate from TBS that's not going to produce anything.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

All this, all this information, which we we've seen growth. And to able to we are able, we are distributing our products through our distributors, we are distributing our products through the franchise groups, maintenance groups, and there is sometimes this information gets missed out. And how can I we reach everywhere? Now, how can we pass on this message, if bit of it here and there? That's where the new course which we are about to launch at the splash season. This is going to help all the pool professionals of their game.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

This course is one little thing that is going to be it's an online course. Do it at your own pace. But what it really includes is an in-depth chemistry knowledge. Sanitation side of it. Firstly, secondly, is the asset protection, is how you can protect your assets. Third part to that is how you can use the water testing equipment, maintenance, calibration, and everything which is involved into that sort of thing. The third fourth part, which is super interactive, there is, there will be, or you can't just skip over you. There are a lot of questions in an interactive way. There are a lot of videos which is gone into this particular uh training course. And the fourth, fourth section is actually about the psychology of our customers when they walk into the store. And that is going to it's sort of uh you can ask a question to that particular. There'll be two options, two answers. What are you going to do here? And you're going to are you going to give your test report to the customer? And then what happens if you give the test report to the customer? And on the flip side of it is you explain everything and then give the test report to the customer. An educated And we've all we all know an educated customer is going to spend more money with you happily than an uneducated customer.

SPEAKER_03 27:15

Yeah, I think a lot of businesses struggle with that one because they feel that if they educate their customer too much, that their customer is going to take that knowledge and go to the hardware shop or Bunnings, Marta 10, wherever it is, or maybe even the local supermarket, everybody seems to have pool chemicals these days. And they're going to take that knowledge and they're going to do it themselves from somewhere else. But my thing is you actually that person was never your customer in the first place.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

We sit in the market in such a position where we see it all, believe it or not. We see the Bunnings market, we see the all the supermarket markets as well. As you would possibly go down and see the test strips, you will know and do a fine comparison between everything. And then you come to the pool stores. You go to the franchise groups. We can see all the markets and how it's trending. And how, in fact, even the chemical chemical manufacturers are trending and how our pool industry is doing. We are very lucky to see all that and how everything's been evolved up for so many years. And we those sort of customers are only going to come to you once a year. When they have banged their head and cannot solve the problem. That's when they will come to you. In that case, this is where you really get educated to to know or learn or educate your staff when to give out the test report.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

It's not only about test reports, it's actually about all the other factors in as well and all the other things that goes wrong with it and white with it. In fact, you do this, you'll get uh this out of the customer. And it's a full in-depth psychology on what customer thinks and how cases could run for you. And it's it's a good little tool for everyone to take in home.

SPEAKER_03 29:14

I think the thing is too, is getting your staff to actually well, there's two factors here. One, read between the lines of what the customer is telling you, or actually listening for things the customer isn't telling you.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

That isn't.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

Because you love it when you go, how does the pool look? And they go, Good.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

And you go, That is okay.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

Well, you've got no chlorine in the water. Is there any green there? Oh yeah, there's a little bit on the walls, and there's some in the corner, there's a bit on the steps. So good has gone to green. And we and we know there's no such thing as a little algae problem. Once you've got algae, you've got algae. And so it's actually asking the questions. How is the clarity? Is there anything on the walls or floor? Really probing for for answers with the right questions, listening, and also the biggest thing of all is interpreting test results.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Yeah, yeah. Because you this is believe it or not, this is our first question. In fact, first wrong, I should not be saying that out loud, but this is the first wrong answer. It's in the course. And often they'll ask, how's how does the pool look like? Good. That's not something they need to have open-ended questions for for us to really evolve their journey.

SPEAKER_03 30:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:42

We can I know it feels sometimes it feels heavy-handed. But you've got a hell lot of time in winter. Please utilize that and make make the most out of it. That repo.

SPEAKER_03 30:53

And then and also training your customers on the questions you're gonna ask. Like I'm gonna ask you, how long is your pool running for? How m how what's the chlorinator setup, the percentage? Because these are things that I need to know to make an educated decision about where I'm gonna take your pool. How much chlorine do I need to add? Maybe I need to increase your hours, decrease your hours. I need to answer why the water has reacted the way it has. I always say water is a very habitual creature. You know, if you do A to it, you'll get B. And so you need to understand it and interpret the test results. Don't just follow the bouncing ball of the test results that the computer spits out. Ask questions. Analyze why have I got why suddenly, and this is a classic, Nick, you will have seen this all the time too. All of a sudden the sinuric acid has bounced right up. Now, last time they came in, it was within range. So we certainly didn't ask them to add any chlorine. And you're going, well, why has it all sudden gone from 35 to 70? Okay, they're adding chlorine. So why are they adding chlorine? Was the pool green at some point in my dealing with that issue? And why was the pool green? Was a piece of equipment failure? Maybe the chlorinator's not working, the cell's not producing. It makes us ask so many questions. So interpreting the test results, looking for the rhyme and reason behind water changes and probing the customer for those and those answers to our questions.

SPEAKER_00 32:36

It's also don't get me wrong, but you've spent over 25 years or 30 years around in the industry. You're making me feel old here and that that's what that's the part I'm sorry about. Otherwise, that's you you've become natural in that sense. And this is what the industry really needs to put down in someone to look up to to get that thing floating around.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Thank you for joining us for part one of this two part episode.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

Make sure to tune in next Monday for part two of Lamot Down Under on Monday's Down Under on the Talking Pools podcast.