Just starting with new test Kit and the trouble free methodMy cya

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S

Shootsteel

0
Jul 2, 2016
8
Tampa/Florida
Hello everyone and I am glad I found this site! Tested my pool for the first time today and wanted to post up my readings and ask for anyone to comment on my situation.

Water is is clear and sparkling

ph 7.5
ta 90
cya 80
fc 12.5
cc 1
tc 13.5

My cya seems high as heck as I have just taken back this pool and had tenants living here for the past 6 years. They were using pucks and adding liquid stabilizer on a weekly basis. :)

Thanks in in advance for your help.
 
Oh yeah.. welcome to TFP!! Do you have one of the test kits we recommend? Now regarding your questions-

Hmmmm...the 1 CC is concerning. By chance is the pool surrounded by a screen birdcage? That sometimes limits the UV rays that help get rid of CCs. Otherwise I would look for a source of contaminant or algae. You may need to do an OCLT (Overnight Chlorine Loss Test) to determine if you've got something growing in thee.

How are you chlorinating?

Everything else looks good. Your ideal FC level at 80ppm CYA is 9, so you're a skosh high but better a little high than low, eh?
 
I lurked here for a week reading about how you guys do your thing as I had a issue that made no sense to me at all.....hit the Google and landed here.

My initial problem upon moving in two weeks ago was I had a bit of algae on the walls so I was/am living in a sea of boxes and un-hanged pictures. So I filled up a container with water and headed to the pool store....they tested and gave me recommendations .....I followed them to the letter. Four days later algae ....lightly on the walls again. Ran the water sample back to pool store...."has plenty of chlorine" they said. Wanted me to buy algaecide. Didn't fall for that and headed home to google...that's when I landed here.

i bought the testing kit sold here TF-1000.

It came in the mail yesterday.

- - - Updated - - -

I do have a bird cage
 
pooldv said:
CYA at 80 isn't terrible with all that sunshine. I'm between 90 and 100 right now. More CYA means less FC loss to the sun. Clear and sparkly is good!
Click to expand...

I wonder if the TFP pool calculator setpoints don't need to be revisited. It has the CYA range at 30 - 50 for a freshwater pool. But there seem to be a lot of educated TFP'ers running higher levels than that. I'm running the lowest CYA levels in years (around 50) and am not digging the increased chlorine demand (now at 2.5 / day as opposed to previous years of 2 / day). 2 ppm per day is nice because I can do 1/2 gallon of 8% bleach per day.
 
C3Cl3N3O3 said:
I wonder if the TFP pool calculator setpoints don't need to be revisited. It has the CYA range at 30 - 50 for a freshwater pool. But there seem to be a lot of educated TFP'ers running higher levels than that. I'm running the lowest CYA levels in years (around 50) and am not digging the increased chlorine demand (now at 2.5 / day as opposed to previous years of 2 / day). 2 ppm per day is nice because I can do 1/2 gallon of 8% bleach per day.
Click to expand...

Folks in the Southwest with blazing sun and SWG users and the like use a higher CYA level.
 
So, our recommended CYA level for a saltwater pool is 70-80 and a regular pool is 30-50. That range is based on how much sun hits the pool and how hot the climate. As Yippee indicated the folks in the desert southwest have much more i tense sun and heat so they need to be at the top of the range to better protect FC loss to the sun. Folks in the middle of the country in the middle of the range and folks up north on the lower end of the range.

With CYA at 80 you can drain about 25-30% of the pool to lower CYA to 50-60 to be more in range. Or you can understand the chlorine/CYA relationship and maintain the proper chlorine level for your CYA based in the [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]. CYA will tend to drop a few ppm per month on its ow, even more with lots of rain overflowing the pool.

To kill the algae in the pool follow the SLAM process here, SLAM Process
 
I did the overnight drop test for fc and when I tested it twice both times it came back a reading of 12 and last nights readings were at 12.5. I am starting to think that higher cya is helpful to my pool as it only dropped .5 with people swimming late last night after testing.

Thoughts on the basic "daily test " for chlorine . Since my target fc is 9 and the daily test Taylor k-1000 included in my TF-100 only measures to 5. Is there a way to change how I do test so I can interpolate say to a max of 10?

overall I am really happy with the ownership of new test kit as it makes me feel powerful and independent in reference to maintaining my pool.
 
The yellow test is the OTO test. Doing the OTO test and the FAS/DPD test side by side will give you a pretty good idea of what shade of darker yellow is close to 10 on the OTO test. Just be sure to use the FAS/DPD test to make sure it is 10 or less when testing PH. The PH test is not valid when FC is above 10. The most important part is to stay above minimum.

Yep, it is the best test kit ever. Test kit plus TFPC equals total control over your pool. :thumleft:
 
Ok will give that a shot in the morning as I am going to do another overnight drop test to see its repeatable. Until I finally understand my pool I will have to test like a scientist on a grant. Within two weeks I suspect I will get the ebbs and flows of pool ownership, pool ownership with knowledge!

interesting fact is that I have had a pool in Florida since 1980 (various homes) and was the only caretaker during all this time...I constantly just tossed money into the water according to my local pool store. Luckily when I returned from Boston (5 1/2 years) my tenants did not leave behind anything needed to care for the pool so I was starting from scratch and landed here. Thank you Internet!
 

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