Chemical balance advice for recently filled pool

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T

tubngo

0
Jul 8, 2016
40
Santa Clarita/CA
I have a 14,000 gallon pool with plaster walls and a built in hot tub that flows into the pool when the pump runs. I recently had to re-fill almost 13,000 gallons of fresh water due to an unfortunate accident with the reverse osmosis company that's paying for my re-fill fees. The reason why I needed the RO was because my CY was 250ppm and CH was 410ppm.

I'm all in on the TFPC method, but need some help on this restart. My current readings are:

CH: 300ppm
CYA: 40ppm
pH: 8.0
FC: 550ppm (it was 11 drops of the Taylor K-2006 test)
CC: 0.4ppm (2 drops from K-2006)
TA: 180ppm

I'm a total newbie when it comes to this, so any advice would be appreciated, I'd like to avoid having to go the RO route ever again, not my funnest experience to waste that much water.

Thanks again for this site, it's awesome!
 
MarianParoo said:
So 2 drops for CC test multiplied by 0.5 means you have 1ppm CC. That COULD be from the refill water.

Lower your pH to 7.6 to start and see where you are. Really, right now, except for the CC and pH looks fine. You can address the TA after you know that everything else is balanced.

Does your schedule allow you to do an OCLT during the week?
Pool School - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT)
Click to expand...

wouldn't 25mL mean 0.2 ppm multiplier for both giving FC = 2.2 and CC = 0.4? In this case FC is below minimum of 3ppm and target 5ppm for given CYA.
 
Oh gah! Good catch, Max! I was in a hurry. Max is totally correct. You need some chlorine too, but MA and chlorine need to be at least a half hour apart. Let me send this, my apologies, and then look at your numbers and get back to you!!
 
I did the 25ml test so you would be right. I would still need to lower pH and increase FC?

- - - Updated - - -

MarianParoo said:
Oh gah! Good catch, Max! I was in a hurry. Max is totally correct. You need some chlorine too, but MA and chlorine need to be at least a half hour apart. Let me send this, my apologies, and then look at your numbers and get back to you!!
Click to expand...

Sounds good, I'll wait. Thanks for the help guys, much appreciated.
 

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Ok sounds good. I'll work on FC first. As far as low MA, I thought you are only supposed to add it in increments because you don't want to add too much.

So if my FC is 2.2, I should add 81oz to get to 5ppm of FC to match the CYA of 40 correct...?

***Update... So I just tested the chlorine now using the 10ml method. My FC is .5ppm (1 drop) and my CC is .5ppm (1 drop). I'm confused as to what I should do. Is that the normal FC usage during the day? Seems kind of high.

Thanks
 
Last edited:
MarianParoo said:
What is the strength of your chlorine?
Click to expand...

Just making sure you saw the update: ***Update... So I just tested the chlorine now using the 10ml method. My FC is .5ppm (1 drop) and my CC is .5ppm (1 drop). I'm confused as to what I should do. Is that the normal FC usage during the day? Seems kind of high.

As for my Liquid Chlorine, it's the HASA liquid chlorine gallon jug from a local pool store. I believe it's 12.5%, it doesn't show on the bottles but I read somewhere it should be 12.5.
 
Again, my apologies! I should not have gotten involved while cooking a dinner that I've never made before... Dinner is done and I am done eating. I will stay focused on you now!

Go back to PoolMath and to the right of where it gives you the ounces of chlorine, go to the next box and enter 12.5%. You should get 64oz to go from 0.5 to 5.
 
MarianParoo said:
Again, my apologies! I should not have gotten involved while cooking a dinner that I've never made before... Dinner is done and I am done eating. I will stay focused on you now!

Go back to PoolMath and to the right of where it gives you the ounces of chlorine, go to the next box and enter 12.5%. You should get 64oz to go from 0.5 to 5.
Click to expand...

Ah man, dinner is important. Thank you so much for helping me. So 64oz I'll add. How long should I run the pump for to mix in the 64oz?

Thanks again!
 
Did you verify the 64oz add? I want to make sure you have PoolMath down.....

How long will you be up tonight? If you have time, run the pump for a half hour after the chlorine add. Then add the MA, then keep it running at least another half hour. That is the minimum.

Since your FC was low to start and even dropped lower, if you will be up for at least that long, and can test FC one more time, AND can get up around sunrise (or soon after) in the morning, an OCLT would be super! If not tonight, soon. Here's how:


Pool School - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT)
 
Last edited:
MarianParoo said:
Did you verify the 64oz add? I want to make sure you have PoolMath down.....

How long will you be up tonight? If you have time, run the pump for a half hour after the chlorine add. Then add the MA, then keep it running at least another half hour. That is the minimum.

Since your FC was low to start and even dropped lower, if you will be up for at least that long, and can test FC one more time, AND can get up around sunrise (or soon after) in the morning, an OCLT would be super! If not tonight, soon. Here's how:


Pool School - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT)
Click to expand...

I did verify 64oz was correct. I'll be up for a while so I can watch it. I'll add the MA in about 20 mins which will align with the half hour wait time. I work at 7am tomorrow so I should be able to check it before I leave. I live in CA.
 
Perfect! I am very glad that you verified the addition. Getting PoolMath working correctly is very important to eventual independence! I love it when newbies verify with us before they make additions to make sure they are on track.

I assume you are reading about the OCLT now. Here are a few tips based on errors people sometimes make:

-Make sure you do your final FC reading after dark (or really close) and at least a half hour after your last addition of chlorine.
-If by some chance your chlorine has dropped below (in your case) 3-4, either start over or stay up later....
-Run the pump overnight so that you can test right away when you wake up. If you don't, you have to run the pump for at least a half hour before testing.
-Test both FC and CC
 
Sounds good, I might as well run it overnight and do the OCLT test. I have a couple of follow ups:

1. Would the addition of MA impact the OCLT test?
2. At what point would you say it'd be safe to swim (FC, CC and pH levels based on my readings)
3. Should I switch to bleach? It seems as though the price per gallon is about the same. $11 after taxes for 2 gallons of HASA liquid chlorine 12.5%, Lowe's shows bleach at $5.98 for 121 oz, seems like the HASA is a better deal, but seems high compared to what others are paying for bleach?

Thanks
 
1 no
2 it is safe to swim when
FC is above minimum and up to shock level for your CYA, [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]
PH Is betwe3n 7.2 and 7.8
Water is clear
3 any liquid chlorine or bleach is good, it is all the same chemical, whatever gives you the most ppm per dollar spent
 

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