Help!

[kirklaura]

Hey all,
I am a new pool owner, just acquired in April. I have been searching through this site looking for answers/guidance on maintenance. I have purchased the TFT 100 and here are the results..
pH <6.8 (per the pool place here in town it was 6.4..YIKES)
FC 1
CC 0
CH 200
TKA 10
CYA ~115

Amazingly the water is clear, but there is some white/clear stuff beginning to float on it (?algae). Please help me get this situation resolved so i can begin to enjoy my new purchase. Thanks y'all!!

 

[tim5055]

Welcome to TFP!!

I wold say right now go out and pour a bottle of bleach in the pool to get the FC up. 1ppm is WAY too low for CYA north of 100.

How did you test CYA to 115? The TF-100 CYA test tops out at 100.

Mixing pool store advice/testing with TFP methods is just another recipe for disaster.

If you have read around here much you have probably seen that not much credence is given to pool store testing. While you would think that a "professional" would be the best, unfortunately in most cases it is quite the opposite. Between employees who blindly trust the word of chemical sales representatives and high school kids working in the pool store for the summer you end up with poor results from their testing. In my case two different pool stores told me my CYA was "fine", around 70 or 80. When I tested myself (using special methods) I found it over 200.

How much Pool School have you read? Start with these:
ABCs of Water Chemistry
Recommended Pool Chemicals

In the Recommended Pool Chemicals article you should pay attention to the section "Raising PH" That will be your next project which should be taken care of today. pH that low can damage equipment. So, I see a visit to WalMart in your future for soda ash. Soda ash is available as ARM & HAMMER® Super Washing Soda Detergent Booster. Do not confuse this with ARM & HAMMER® laundry detergent! It is sold in the laundry detergent section of most larger grocery stores and some big box stores. It is also sold by pool stores under various names, including PH Increaser, PH Up, Balance Pak 200, etc. Soda ash is best added by pre-dissolving it in a bucket of water and then pouring that slowly in front of a return.

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

 

[Richard320]

Welcome

Start by repeating that CYA test using the dilution method. You can fill the mixing bottle to the bottom of the label with pool water, then fill to the top of the label with tap water and mix it, then pour off half -- back to the bottom of the label -- and proceed with the rest of the test. Alternately, mix a cup of pool water and a cup of tap water in a clean container and pour some of that as your sample instead of straight pool water to the line in the mixing bottle and add the R-0013 to that. Be sure to take several readings, back-and-forth between view tube and mixing bottle until you're satisfied. Then double that reading. That's your CYA level.

If it's still way high, you'll want to consider some water replacement. And if so, there's no point in treating the water in the pool now, just to dump it out in a few hours. Odds are the previous owner relied on pucks to chlorinate, or a pool service that relied on pucks, and that's why the CYA has built up so high. It is possible to maintain a pool with real high CYA, but it's not easy and I don't recommend it. I had to because of water restrictions and I have found it so much easier to maintain with a reasonable CYA level.

If it's a reasonable number, then you deal with pH, TA, and FC. Get back to use with a solid CYA number and we can advise you better.

 

[kirklaura]

Here are the numbers I just did:
FC 8
CC 0
CYA 90-100 (multiple tests in between that using dilutional and non dilutional methods)
CH 250
TA 30

I do have 25lbs of 100% bicarb if that is any form of the solution and approx 1lb of Borax

 

[Richard320]

Here are the numbers I just did:
FC 8
CC 0
CYA 90-100 (multiple tests in between that using dilutional and non dilutional methods)
CH 250
TA 30

I do have 25lbs of 100% bicarb if that is any form of the solution and approx 1lb of Borax

Are you feeling up to a partial drain to get CYA down to the 60-70 range?

If no, then raise TA to about 60 using some of that bicarbonate and let it mix well, then recheck pH and use some of that Borax to fix it the rest of the way.