- Nov 5, 2008
- 2,598
Hello from a very soggy Houston, Texas. I don't know how much it rained yesterday and overnight but when I got concerned about the pool overflowing, with 1" to spare, I set out a bucket near the window so I could watch without going out again in the rain. That bucket has 5" in it now.
So, I have been circulating the pool to be sure all the rain water mixed in. I know some dirt got into the pool from landscaping, and the color and clarity is off a bit in the deep end, but normally it is clear and sparkling as I've kept it clean and chlorinated all winter. I'd been needing to lower the CYA anyhow and free rainwater should have helped the pH, I'd have thought.
Test results...
FC = 5 (test strips said maybe 2)
CC = 0
TC = 5 (test strips said maybe 2)
pH = 8.0 (test strips said 7.8 )
TA = 210 (test strips said 120, called that high end of OK)
CH = 140 (test strips said Total Hardness 250, called low end of OK)
CYA = 75 (maybe lower, generally couldn't see the dot, but a little more would have totally covered it) (ttest strips said somethng between 50 and 100)
So, CH is a bit low? pH a bit high? Does that make sense, I'd have thought that CH and pH would both be high, and I'm not sure which is in need of work, or which first. Pool temp 75 and I don't know how long until it is swimming temps but it felt pretty decent to step into so I want to have the water balanced when we are ready to swim.
When the pool did overflow, we watched it go away from the house, down a paved pathway to the street out front; so the PB and the landscaper did a decent job. Nice to know that after 5 months of worrying about which end of the pool might be the first to spill over, since my overflow grate is a fake. Quite a dip from the pool toward the back door.
So, any advice on the pool chemistry before I set off to get more chlorine and maybe some muratic acid?
So, I have been circulating the pool to be sure all the rain water mixed in. I know some dirt got into the pool from landscaping, and the color and clarity is off a bit in the deep end, but normally it is clear and sparkling as I've kept it clean and chlorinated all winter. I'd been needing to lower the CYA anyhow and free rainwater should have helped the pH, I'd have thought.
Test results...
FC = 5 (test strips said maybe 2)
CC = 0
TC = 5 (test strips said maybe 2)
pH = 8.0 (test strips said 7.8 )
TA = 210 (test strips said 120, called that high end of OK)
CH = 140 (test strips said Total Hardness 250, called low end of OK)
CYA = 75 (maybe lower, generally couldn't see the dot, but a little more would have totally covered it) (ttest strips said somethng between 50 and 100)
So, CH is a bit low? pH a bit high? Does that make sense, I'd have thought that CH and pH would both be high, and I'm not sure which is in need of work, or which first. Pool temp 75 and I don't know how long until it is swimming temps but it felt pretty decent to step into so I want to have the water balanced when we are ready to swim.
When the pool did overflow, we watched it go away from the house, down a paved pathway to the street out front; so the PB and the landscaper did a decent job. Nice to know that after 5 months of worrying about which end of the pool might be the first to spill over, since my overflow grate is a fake. Quite a dip from the pool toward the back door.
So, any advice on the pool chemistry before I set off to get more chlorine and maybe some muratic acid?