High TA, chronicle of 1st pool season

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Update:
Pool has continued to use approximately 1.5 ppm of FC per day except for that one occasion where I believe there was a fluke. (Probably forgot to add the chlorine!) CC is almost always 0.
Now that I am fairly certain I have at least 30-40 CYA, I am going to bump up my target FC to 6 or 7 so that in case another "fluke" happens or if we must be gone over night, FC should not drop to a dangerous level before we return. I picked up a new supply of bleach last night at the store, so hopefully I will get that bumped up tonight.

Since I last checked my TA and it was at 300, we have added another 60 ounces or so of MA. Stuff is too toxic to be concerned about being off by a few ounces. I just did another addition last night, so did not retest the TA yet. I will need to do that soon to hopefully get some encouragement that it is worth messing with the MA! Seems like pH raises about .2/day. Ugh.

Around midweek, I should be good to go on repeating my CYA test. That will be one week since my last addition. I don't want to waste reagent and test to quickly.

We got the vaccuum hooked up for the first time Sunday morning. I was pretty thorough with it, making sure to block any wind or water ripples so that I could clearly see the bottom of the pool. Possible good side effect to us missing a few creases during install is that all the sand seemed to accumulate at them. My one surprise that the vaccuum picked up? Lots of tiny dog hairs!!

Went ahead and replaced the filter. It ran for the first few days without the skimmer basket hooked up and got a few bugs in it. Started trying to clean it up and then decided to just toss it and replace it.

Appearance - Sparkly, sparkly, sparkly!

Last nightly full test.
FC=2.5
CC=0
pH=7.8
TA=300 (more MA has been added since this was tested.)
CH=300
CYA=20? (too low to measure, but could tell it was close. Have not retested since additional CYA was added.)
 
Just wanted to add what I would stress to anyone getting a pool and thinking about BBB.

1. Read this article so you get a good overview of BBB and water tests.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/bbb-for-beginners-t5208.html

2. Order a test kit. The Taylor K-2006 can be had for around $60 with shipping from various sources. Test strips, although initially a cheaper expense, are just a waste of money. If you go with BBB and hang out on this site, a real test kit is a requirement.

3. If you will be using liquid bleach, start stocking up at any time. Do not buy any borax or baking soda until you have your test kit and are certain you will need them. You may need MA instead.

4. Do lots of reading on this forum, but skip the most recent topics. Instead, look for threads from last summer with lots of posts. You have a better chance of getting a question, lots of suggestions with feedback on how that worked, and a resolution. Many times you will also get to read about their mistakes, and hopefully this will keep you from making the same ones.

5. And finally, consistency and dedication are a must. You have to stay on top of chlorine levels and testing. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And that refers to time, money, and frustration level!!
 
Update:

TA has decreased from 325 to 250. pH still climbs pretty fast. Back up to 8.0 when I tested tonight, so more MA added.

FC target now 6-7 with my CYA of 55. After not adding any chlorine Friday night and estimating last night to double my daily dose (2 cups) my FC was 3.0 when we got done swimming tonight, so I am pretty confident in my skills at adapting when we have to miss a night and can't test the next night. Think maybe I am ready to settle into a routine of adding 2 cups of bleach per night and testing every other night. As long as nothing changes and the pool continues to look great, I think this will be a good start.
 
Bama Rambler said:
You have a good plan but I'd keep a close eye on the pH for a while until it starts settling down some. As you add more acid the TA will come down and the pH will become more stable.
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Oh, yes, that I know! pH has been steadily averaging a .2 rise per day. It has actually been the easiest thing to predict! I have about 1/3 gallon left over now, and we already have a trip planned this afternoon to Ace to pick up 2 more gallons. I didn't mean to imply that I was going to ignore the pH. Should have clarified that what I said was my "chlorine plan". :)

When I tested on Thursday, I was around 7.5 - 7.6. I added my bleach and fully intended on coming out later to add the MA, but I got sidetracked. Plan was to add the MA on Friday or Saturday. We ended up being gone most of the weekend and Saturday night when we got home was just a quick dump of chlorine before we crashed.

If the MA were easier to work with, I would just add it every 2-3 days, but since I hate working with it so much, I procrastinate until I get up to the 7.8 range.... :oops:
 
Allison said:
I didn't mean to imply that I was going to ignore the pH.
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Nor did I mean to imply that I thought you would. Just wanted to cover it again for emphasis. :) Everyone has their on tolerance level and while MA doesn't bother me in the least, it does some people and I fully understand that. There's nothing wrong with letting the pH get to 7.8 before you adjust it down again.
 
Well, it has been a few weeks now since my last post. Pool care is going pretty easy. Bleach and occasional MA is all I am using. Trying to vacuum weekly. I have really figured out that there are two types of "dirty pools". You have one kind of dirty pool where the water and pool surface is just nasty. That is a dirty pool. And then you have a second kind, where the water is so clear and sparkly that you can see every spec of sand or dirt that gets tracked in and settles on the bottom, waiting to be vacuumed up. I have the second kind!
 
Pool is still doing great. We've done a couple of water additions, so I remeasured my CYA. Did it multiple times. I figured out a much better way for me to do the CYA test. When I watched the dot the entire time I was adding, I couldn't tell if it was really still there or if my eye just knew it was there. So, I looked at the outside of the tube, added the mix to reach CYA of 70, and then looked for the dot. Very clearly visible. Repeated at 60 and at 50. Starting to get harder to see at 50, but I could still see it. Repeated at 40 and no dot. So, I knew I was between 40 and 50 for CYA. I repeated a few times at different levels in between 40 and 50, but just decided to call it 45. Not looking at the dot the entire time really helped me be certain my mind wasn't playing tricks on me!

I had been using a target FC of 7 since my original CYA was 55. I think I am going to stay with that same target since it is pretty often that I will miss a day of adding bleach. After a few more water additions, I may consider adding another sock with enough CYA to raise me 5-10ppm.

Good news is that my pH is rising much slower now. Last time I checked, my TA was under 200.
 

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Bama Rambler said:
Staying the course has it's rewards. :goodjob:
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Except it gets a bit boring!

But I almost got to a bad point! Happened last week. Can't remember if I added chlorine on Thursday. Didn't on Friday, but came home and had a drunk swim fest in the middle of the night. Left pool light on. Too hung over on Saturday to do much besides lay in bed or kneel down in front of the toilet.

Finally got out there on Sunday. Pool light still on. Found my ring and swim suit top :oops: in the pool. Tons of moths and other small insects in pool. A bit of cloudiness. Pool noodles had floated over and were blocking the skimmer.

So, I got in and started vacuuming. Got up all the dust on the bottom. Used a net to get out everything on the surface that I could. Cleaned out the filter. Dumped in a good amount of bleach and let the filter go to work. Went out a couple of hours later and cleaned out the filter again. It had a lot of the little bugs and little big pieces in it. Seems to have worked just fine. Bleach usage has increased a bit, but it had been slowly going up already due to the warmer water temps. CC has remained 0 except for once when it had just a slight tinge and one drop cleared it up (so less than .5).

Missed adding bleach on Wednesday night since we were gone from 7am - 11pm that day and we crashed when we got home. Tested last night and my FC was at 2. It got down a little lower than I like it to go, but since I have had to add water and haven't added any more CYA yet, my CYA is 40 now, so 2 is okay. Added enough to bring it up to around 9 last night since I know I won't be able to add any tonight.

The plan had been to add more CYA last weekend or this week, but after the pool clouded up, I was scared I mgiht need to shock and wanted to keep my CYA low for that. I think the pool cloudiness was mostly due to all the insects that were attracted to the light burning all night long for two nights in a row (and the noodles blocking the skimmer). But since the cloudiness cleared up within 24 hours and no CC, don't think I am in any danger of needing to shock. So, hopefully I will get some more CYA in there this weekend. Also, the clouding up we got wasn't like what I see on the pictures here. It is more like = normal would be to tell if the coin was heads or tails, with this, probably only able to tell what type coin it was without really starring.

So, false alarm, but I did think I might get some excitement there for a bit!
 
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