TA and CH - one issue, one maybe?

[jm1]

Hi all -

I just did my first full blown test of everything, having replaced filter and pump recently. My chemistry looks pretty good, I think, and now that I can filter properly, we have clear water and happy kids. However, I have one item out of range, and one that I'm not sure about. Here's what I have:

CL - 3
PH - 7.5

CYA - 30 (or slightly lower, I'm still a little rough on using this test)
FC - 3
CC - 0
TA - 180*
CH - 200*

The recommended TA is 70-90+ so have this as a "maybe" -- is this too high and/or do I have something to worry about?
The CH is low for my plaster, and I need to bring that up, and I wouldn't have even thought to ask if the TA was closer to 100, but with 2 items off center, I thought I better ask for a gut-check before I started anything crazy.

FWIW, I have to travel next month, and will have to go with the cake chlorine, which I know is not the preferred route, but since my CYA is on the low range, I think it's OK.

So - summary:
I believe my CH is low for my pool - agree? I plan to buy some calcium chloride to bring it up.
MY TA bothers me -- do I have anything to worry about?
My CYA will come up in the next 4 weeks - any concerns, esp as it relates to moving CH up?

 

[cj3737]

There are two reasons to lower your total alkalinity (TA) right away, because you want to slow down the rate that the PH rises, or if high TA is contributing to a high calcium saturation index (CSI) which puts you at risk of calcium scaling. You shouldn't lower TA just to reach a target number. Make sure you actually have one of the above issues before lowering your TA.

Is you PH climbing too fast?
How is your CSI according to pool math?

 

[jm1]

Thanks. PH has been stable. Although this was my first full battery of tests, I have been running the "daily" tests pretty much every 48 hours. I had one bounce, but I think it was bad testing, since it was a single outlier, and the rest of the tests have been 7.5.

Pool Math tells me my CSI .18, and it propagated a target of -.09. So, a little high, but certainly inside the range.

I'm reading this, and your advice, to say no reason to worry, and I can go after the CH and CYA issues in due course.

Thanks Again!

 

[cj3737]

Don't take cya too high.. check the chart for the recommended levels, target the low one and work up from there...
Same goes for your ch... you are on the bottom end so be careful with that too

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk