It's spring - Let's go!! First test of the season/ownership

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98valkyrie

Gold Supporter
Jan 6, 2024
20
Knoxville, TN
Pool Size
16460
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Hi all,
Been following along here and attending Pool School over the winter to get up to speed on my (new to me) AGP. I moved the pump/filter away from the edge of the pool (30ft.) and just filled up past the return and skimmer today. Ran the pump for ~2 hours to mix thoroughly. Here are my results:
FC: 1.0
CC: 0.0
pH: Somewhere below 6.8
TA: Test never turned blue. Stayed red so couldn't record a number.
CH: 250
CYA: 120
I tried the initial CYA test and it was way over the mark, so filled bottle with 1/2 pool and 1/2 tap. Poured it off and then retested ( multiply x2) to get the 120.
The previous owner used 3" pucks and had the pool store test so I'm not terribly surprised at the CYA number. I figure I will need to drain off some water and refill to get the CYA to normal.
Not knowing any better, I bought one of those winter floaty thingys to help while it was covered this past winter.
Looking for advice on next steps.
Cheers
Jim
 
Good job on testing. Mainly looking at the TA test to verify.
I think you did your TA incorrectly. Did you use a 25ml sample and add 2 drops of R-0007, then 5 drops of R-0008? It is supposed to turn GREEN, Then adding R-0009 the end point is when it turns cherry red.
The blue color is for CH test.
Since you need to drain to lower your CYA - will need to drain 50-60% there is no reason to add LC unless you plan to delay the drain event.
It would be good to test your fill water since you plan to drain.
 
98valkyrie said:
Sorry, got my colors mixed up. Yes, green is expected, but it never turned green. Stayed red. Tried it twice to verify.
Will drain and refill and also test refill water.
Click to expand...
That would indicate you had ZERO TA. This would force your pH to crash below 5.
You said your pH was somewhere below 6.8. That is all you can measure with a drop test - correct? Or were you using a pH meter?
Test your tap water now and show the CH and TA of that.
Something is out of whack.
 
HermanTX said:
That would indicate you had ZERO TA. This would force your pH to crash below 5.
You said your pH was somewhere below 6.8. That is all you can measure with a drop test - correct? Or were you using a pH meter?
Test your tap water now and show the CH and TA of that.
Something is out of whack.
Click to expand...
Yes, I did the drop test. Here is my tap water results from today.

House tap water 21 March 2024

FC: 2
CC: 0
pH: 7.8
TA: 110
CH: 150
CYA:
 
98valkyrie said:
No, we bought the house (and its AGP) Oct. 2023.
Click to expand...
We moved in the end of September. The 2 half cases of powdered shock I found told the story as to why the PH and TA were in the basement, and the CYA was 300+

It took 5-7 rounds of trying to make the PH a 7.

Anywho, I'm sure your people were shock happy also, as we know for a fact how well the pucks worked. Between the two, it's a crud ton of acid.
 
98valkyrie said:
Yes, I did the drop test. Here is my tap water results from today.

House tap water 21 March 2024

FC: 2
CC: 0
pH: 7.8
TA: 110
CH: 150
CYA:
Click to expand...
Thanks. Since you plan to drain and refill that will solve your both the TA and CYA issue.
Asking @Mdragger88 to provide feedback on draining AGP.
 
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@98valkyrie is the pool buried at all? If so you don’t want to drain lower than the surrounding ground level. Otherwise you want to not drain lower than 12-18” remaining in the pool or you risk the liner shifting.
With a 52” pool your water level is roughly 4’ so a 50% drain should leave you 2’ remaining which should be no issue if its not buried higher than that.
Use a submersible pump (they rent big ones at Home Depot or you can get a cheap one at harbor freight) and refill with 2 hoses if you can.
I use my harbor freight automatic cover pump for a multitude of draining purposes (pool, pool cover in winter, hot tub).

I assume you’re on municipal water since there’s 2ppm fc correct?
 
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Mdragger88 said:
@98valkyrie is the pool buried at all? If so you don’t want to drain lower than the surrounding ground level. Otherwise you want to not drain lower than 12-18” remaining in the pool or you risk the liner shifting.
With a 52” pool your water level is roughly 4” so a 50% drain should leave you 2” remaining which should be no issue if its not buried higher than that.
Use a submersible pump (they rent big ones at Home Depot or you can get a cheap one at harbor freight) and refill with 2 hoses if you can.
I use my harbor freight automatic cover pump for a multitude of draining purposes (pool, pool cover in winter, hot tub).

I assume you’re on municipal water since there’s 2ppm fc correct?
Click to expand...
Pool is not buried at all, all above ground. If I interpret your second sentence, you mean with a 52" pool water level is roughly 4 FEET, so a 50% drain should leave you 2 FEET?
Yes, on muni water here.
 
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98valkyrie said:
and used my new 1 1/2” discharge hose
Click to expand...
It really matters.

Submersible pump hack.

Hey all !! I’ve been doing this for years but finally got good pics to show the difference. I have a standard 1/3 HP submersible pump withshown here Flow from 100ft 3/4 inch hose. Here comes the fun part : In the sprinkler section of the home centers / hardware store they have 3/4...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
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98valkyrie said:
On to the next steps…. 24 hour fill and ran pump for 2 hours. Here are my latest results:

FC: 1
CC: 0
pH: 6.8
TA: 40
CH: 250
CYA: 70

Best steps next??
Click to expand...

I am surprised that your TA was not higher. Your test of fill water was 110 so I expected higher than 40 but tests do not lie.
Also your fill water was CH 150 but it ended at 250 so your original CH was pretty high per your original tests.
The good news is that CYA came in at 70 which was a key goal in addition to raising your TA.
So raise FC with liquid chlorine and raise TA with Baking Soda. This will result in TA change but a small pH change. Please use PM app to define the dosage of each.
 
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