So, our pool has been completed almost 2 months ago now. I was able to get in in about 3 times up until about 3 weeks ago. Water temp currently has been holding between 73-76, a wee bit too chilly for me to brave a full body swim. Walking around the baja shelf up to knee depth is not so bad. Air temps during the day have been upper 80s/low 90s with lows in the upper 50s.

So, I have been testing my levels every day, and up until about a month ago, I was testing everything daily. I am now down to testing only the pH, FC/CC, and TA daily.

I had initially been using the tricolor tablets in a floater but removed them about a week ago as I think they were causing my pH to keep rising after adding muratic acid nightly. Since then I have been able to bring my pH pretty well under control as it has not topped 7.5 all week when most of the time it was at around 7-6-7.8.

My chlorine levels have dropped off as well but I have been solely relying on bleach when needed. I have also noticed from removing the tablets that my TA has been dropping at a steady pace, from 100 to 70 in the past week to 10 days.

I have had my water pretty much completely in balance since about 2 weeks in to the start up with the SI never outside of +/- 0.3. The pool still sparkles all the time.

My numbers tonight look like this:

(10k gal)

pH = 7.3
FC = 3.5
CC = 0
TA = 70
CYA = 80
CH = 380

Pool temp = 74Ëš

This is the first time in over 2 weeks I have not had to add any MA. I added bleach to counter the high CYA and have been trying to keep it between 4-6. I am losing about 0.5 to 1.0 FC a day. I also added about 2 pounds of baking soda to bump up the TA closer to 90. The CH on the pool has always been high and seems to fluctuate between the 300-400 range. They will be partially draining the pool next month to reset the mosaic tiles on the first step as they were not put in level. I am hoping that little bit of water (around 10% is my guess) replacement will bring things back down closer to 350.

The one thing that has been confusing me is the the CYA levels and why have been climbing? It was another reason I decided to do away with the tricolor tablets in the floater. Right after the pool was in the CYA was between 40-50 on a regular basis. Is a CYA level of 80 anything to worry about? I know most say between 30-50 is preferred but can easily be fine up to 150 as long as you bring up the FC levels. Is this the case?

As we really don't 'close' pools down out here in the desert, besides routine testing of pH and FC, is there anything else I need to worry about as there will be no swimming until things heat up next spring out here. I assume the plaster finish is going to continue to fight me for a while in keeping things balanced and in check?

One last question might be brushing the pool. Should this be done on a regular basis or mainly only right after a storm just to help clean up dust and debris?

Okay, off to order some replacement pool chemicals, this daily testing has taken a toll on my stock!

Trichlor adds about 3ppm of CYA per tablet in a 10,000 gallon pool. Thats how your CYA levels went up so fast. CYA takes about a week to register on a test after it is added when you use tabs or powder. Many pool owners in AZ run the CYA around 50-70 with good results. I would not go higher than that. You would be using a lot of bleach just to maintain daily levels and a whole lot of bleach if you ever need to treat an algae outbreak.

Since your CA tends to run high, you will want to keep pH between 7.2 and 7.5 and keep TA low between 70-90 as well to prevent scale formation. Test the CA level of your fill water. Water replacement may not help much if fill water CA is high.

Brushing the pool weekly is the norm once the plaster has cured and stops shedding dust. If you are still getting plaster dust when you brush then you should still be brushing daily.

I suggest that you go back to read Pool School again. You seem a bit confused on some of the chemistry. As mentioned, some of this is just the time lag of some chemicals but there is some basic misunderstandings in your post, gfxguru.
In a new pool, the new plaster is what causes the pH to rise. Not trichlor tablets. In fact, trichlor tablets help to counter that pH rise, in the same way that muriatic acid does. Both work to reduce the TA and as that declines, the pH levels off to a stable value for the most part.
I believe that there is a section in Pool School about new pools that will address how long you must brush the pool daily.
I suggest that you do a full test of the pool monthly, as TA and CH and CYA will change over time.

Thanks for the replies. I do understand the new plaster is what keep the pH continually climbing and that it could take up to a year before it settles down. I did nis-read some things about the trichlor.

The plaster dust itself was gone after about a week, but I brushed 3-4 times a day for the first 2 weeks, then 3 times a day for another 2 weeks and now just brush once a week (or after a dust storm).

So, do you believe I should continue using the tabs with bleach and just fight the pH daily with MA? I only worry about the CYA getting out of hand to a point I need to re-fill the pool and I do not want to that only 2-3 months in. I will test the source fill water CH and post back.

My pool is over a year old now and my pH rises from 7.2 to 7.8 in about 4-5 days still at this time. Get used to that rise. I do have a waterfall from the hot tub to the pool that runs continuously for chemical dispersion.

My plaster pool is about six months old and I have exactly the same rise in pH (from 7.2 to 7.8) in 4 to 5 days, but never seems to go above 7.8. Is there any harm to the pool in just letting the pH stay at 7.8, or do I need to keep adding a quart of MA acid every 4 to 5 days?

Mine keeps going higher unfortunately, so I don't have a choice. I think if it stays at 7.8, you are within the safe limits.

So, I know this is a little late in reporting back. I tested the water from the hose that was used to fill the pool. The CH test came back at 10. The first drop added changed it from pink to blue. I assume then this means I have some of the softest water around, mainly because of our salt water softener which I thought was on the interior lines only and that the exterior spigots were hard city water.