First Tests using TF-100 and I'm all out of balance!

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A

acrodragon

0
May 14, 2015
10
Gulf Breeze
Hi Kind Folks!

My salt water pool was sort of completed around October 2015, but had some quality issues/leaks for the past year, so the pool builder was taking care of the testing/balancing. I had ordered a TF-100 kit last year, but this is the first time I am using it!
Looks like I have barely any chlorine, super low CYA and super high PH. What do I do first? Should I just add a couple bags of salt and moniter? Do I add liquid chlorine and monitor? Do I add other stuff at the same time?

FC = .5
CC = .5
TC = 1
CH = 150 ppm
TA = 160 ppm
CYA < 20 (could see the black dot even when vial was full)
PH > 8.2 (darker pink than the 8.2 level)
Salt = 2950 ppm (definitely on the border of low)

Thanks so much for your help!
 
Welcome, congrats on your test kit first time. First, what is your pool type; plaster, vinyl? Maybe I keep missing it in your signature, but I'll assume plaster. Second, how does your pool water look now, clear? Lastly, how was the builder adding FC?

1st - Get muriatic and lower pH stat. Dose per pool math to get to 7.5 from 8.2. Wait 30 minutes, retest and repeat. This may take multiple additions as it might be much higher than 8.2
2nd (and third) - Raise CYA by 30 ppm and then raise FC to ~ 4. Add the CYA by hanging a sock in front of a return and squeeze occasionally. It should fully dissolve in a day or two and then retest CYA in 3-4 days. Note, your total CYA will likely be over 30 since there's a little in the pool.
3rd - Balance the first two steps while adding a bag of salt to keep the SWG happy.

Later, if you suspect algae, raise FC to 12 and conduct OCLT to verify algae presence. CH might have to come up and TA will come down adding MA. Good luck.
 
Hi Pool Tool!

Appreciate the quick reply! Yes, Plaster pool. The water right now is completely clear. I did see the builder occasionally adding FC by throwing a couple of chlorine tabs in the spa (it's a spillover).

Your steps are exactly what I needed to get started. I will immediately add the muriatic acid and go to walmart and get stabilizer and salt.

One thing I don't understand is why I can't rely on the SWG to produce the needed chlorine? Do you recommend I supplement with tabs/liquid bleach?

Thanks again!
 
Your cell is sized large enough to produce enough chlorine to sanitize your pool, but at the low, low CYA levels I am assuming that the sun's UV rays are depleting it basically as fast as it is being produced. Do you have a cover, even a cheap one? If so put it one for a day and run the SWG. Then see if you can measure an appreciable increase in the FC.

Also, what is your run time / cell percentage setting?

Lastly, organics is the pool, i.e. algae, leaves may be hurting your FC but your clear water and low CC leads away from that. I would get some bleach and raise the FC ~8 or 12 then do an OCLT. This is the only way to rule out algae. Pool School - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT)

From there, we can help you get it trouble free.
 
I do not have a cover. I may need to think about devising one for my pool shape.

Run time is all the time except 1pm - 6pm every day. My cell percentage is 55%. Perhaps I need to raise that?

Also, you are saying that even if I can get the water balanced properly, there may still be an algae problem?

Thanks!
 
acrodragon said:
I do not have a cover. I may need to think about devising one for my pool shape.

Run time is all the time except 1pm - 6pm every day. My cell percentage is 55%. Perhaps I need to raise that?

Also, you are saying that even if I can get the water balanced properly, there may still be an algae problem?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

SWG is sized to compensate daily FC loss caused by the Sun. It is not powerful enough to handle wide FC adjustments. I'd turn off your SWG for now and manage FC 'manually' with liquid chlorine to simplify things. Since you just started I'd do OCLT right after you make adjustments already recommended above. The point of OCLT is to see if your FC is consumed by the Sun only or you already have algae eating it. In the latter case SWG won't be enough to compensate either and you'd need to complete SLAM before start using SWG: water must be in tip-top shape for SWG to be used efficiently.

How long ago did you replace cartridge in the filter? Did PB used any metal treatments- Nature X, Blue this or that, ionizers, etc?
 
Hi Max2k

Thank you for your input. The cartridge was new as of September last year (2015). It has been taken out and cleaned within the last month or so. I don't know of any metal treatments that have been added.

Just to be clear -- you recommend completely turning off the pump during OCLT only (we'd want it to run to properly disburse the chemicals, I'd imagine..)
 
acrodragon said:
Hi Max2k

Thank you for your input. The cartridge was new as of September last year (2015). It has been taken out and cleaned within the last month or so. I don't know of any metal treatments that have been added.

Just to be clear -- you recommend completely turning off the pump during OCLT only (we'd want it to run to properly disburse the chemicals, I'd imagine..)
Click to expand...

No, pump must be running in usual mode but SWG cell must be off to eliminate additional source of FC.
 
I just noticed that the intellichlor flow status light is red and the salt indicator lights are flashing red and green. I've seen other posts by ppl with the same problem but no definitive solution. It would explain the almost 0 chlorine though. I may need to call Pentair.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 

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Sounds like your filter is clogged. The most common thing that clogs filter is algae. The most common cause of algae is FC below minimum for your CYA. When FC drops below minimum the pool is unsanitary with increased risk of person to person disease transmission and algae growth.

I think you should clean your filter and do an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. If it fails then SLAM Process the pool to kill the algae.

It is important to maintain PH between 7.2 and 7.8 at all times. Keep adding acid every 30 minutes until PH shows up on the test.
 
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