Balancing my water for start up.

[triplets&quads]

I have a quick question...

I went to the pool calculator and put in my numbers and it told me what to to add to get my water balanced, but is it better to post my numbers here for the experts to see before I add anything to my water?

FC 1
CC .5
PH 7.35
TA 50
CYA 70

Temp 60-65
Water is clear and beautiful and I just started my SWG.

Thank you, Nancy

 

[JasonLion]

When you are just starting out it is often good to post your numbers and get advice specifically tailored to your situation. Once you get the hang of things you shouldn't have any trouble using the Pool Calculator yourself and trusting the results.

Your FC level is a little low. Since you just turned on the SWG, it should be able to take care of the FC level from here. At the same time, it is often best to raise the FC level to the recommended level so the SWG is only maintaining the level instead of needing to raise it. Since your water is very clear, this could go either way, add a little extra chlorine now, or wait and see if the SWG takes care of it.

Your PH is a little low, but your PH will most likely drift up on it's own. I would leave it where it is for now and only adjust it if it starts going down lower.

Your TA level is a little low. You should bring TA up to about 70 with baking soda.

Your CYA level is good.

I didn't see you post a CH number. Even though you have a vinyl liner pool, it is still a good idea to get a CH level at least once in a while to make sure that CH isn't getting too high.

 

[Guest]

Also, you did not post your salt. As far as the TA, whether it needs to be raised from where it is depends a lot on where your CH is. If you have VERY high CH then your TA might be better where it is. At any rate I would not raise it much above 70 ppm with a SWG and adjust the CH up if needed to maintain balanced water.

BTW, how are you testing your water. The pH number of 7.35 looks like it's from some sort of electronic readout.

 

[triplets&quads]

waterbear, I got the 7.35 because the color looked to be between the 7.2-7.5 range, so 7.35 is the average of the two numbers.

Here are my numbers today.

FC 2
CC 0
TA 80
PH 7.5
CYA 60
CH 30
Salt 2940

I never check the CH, but someone said I should, so I did. Does 30 sound right? I am sure I did the test right, but I thought even a vinyl liner would have a higher reading then 30, but then I am not the expert, and that is why I come to you guys!

Please let me know if I need to adjust anything. Thank you, Nancy.

 

[JasonLion]

With a CYA of 60 and a SWG, you never want to allow FC to go below 3. You should turn up the percentage on the SWG. You want to adjust the percentage setting so that the FC level is 3, or just above, in the early evening.

CH of 30 is possible. Just to confirm that was three drops to change the sample color when doing the CH test. Vinyl liner pools don't really care if the CH level is too low. They only have problems when the CH level is too high. So you don't have anything to worry about there.

 

[triplets&quads]

Thank you Jason. Yes it was only 3 drops for the CH test and I upped the percentage of the SWG right before I posted my numbers!

Nancy