Helping a neighbor..now need your help!!

[lsbarkley]

Trying to help my neighbor with his pool water. Using my Taylor 2006 kit here are his numbers:

FC = .5...adding bleach for him
PH = less than 7...its yellow guessing its 6.5-6.8...will add soda ash

Alk= this one is where I need help. I did the test twice and when I add the 2nd step of the 5 drops the water immediatley turns red. Does that mean its too high or too low? Is it a false reading due to low Chlorine and low pH?

Thanks for your input. I didnt test for CC ..forgot but will do again later today...thanks.

LS

 

[waste]

Ls, how's everything in the Garden State?

I'm going to assume that your neighbor has been using trichlor pucks for quite some time Chem_geek had a post somewhere discussing the same thing and I hope I'm remembering it correctly -- Because of the low (~2.5) pH of the pucks, the pH of the water is well below 5 :!: (I think Richard said that the alk test reagent changes below 4.5 [or maybe 3.5] and goes to red instead of green - he named the reagent and what it becomes at low pH - but my memory isn't THAT good)

What you want to do is get a couple of boxes of Borax in the pool ASAP!!! Even the couple of boxes probably won't get you a pH reading (your kit only goes to 7.0), but is a good start - off the cuff and with no calculations, I think you'll need at least 6 boxes to get somewhere that will register on your tester, but go slow... add 2 boxes, wait a few hours (with the pump running), test again and add 1 box at a time until yo can get a reading of at least 7.2. You could probably add a couple of lbs of baking soda, odds are that the alk has been airated off, but without being able to accurately test it, I woldn't add too much until you can get a reading.

Possible bad news for neighbor: if there's a heater, the heat exchanger may have gotten trashed by the acidic water - if it's a liner pool, the liner has lost a few years of life from the acid, if it's a 'crete pool the finish may have deteriorated and become rough Please keep us abreast of the progress and we'll do as much as we can via computer