new pool water balance, questions

[bobby1017]

Here is my 1st real set of #'s for my pool water. It will be saltwater but there is none in yet for approx 1 week. I've added chlorine and some muratic acid to keep things "normal" but this was the first time I used the tf-100.

fc 3

cc 0

tc 3

ph 7.5

ta 160

ch 400

cya 45

temp 79.9

The ch seems high? what is your expert opinions.

thks Bob

 

[zea3]

Yes the CH is a little high but still manageable as long as you keep your TA and pH low. Don't let the pH get any higher than 7.5, keep it around 7.2 if you can and try to lower the TA to around 70. With fresh plaster your pH will want to rise so you will need to stay on top of it. A SWG will also tend to make pH rise.

 

[bobby1017]

Thanks, used the pool calc and it said to add 500+ oz of baking soda to lower ta from 160 to 70. Thats approx 40 pounds, does that seem right? Also lower the ph to 7 / 7.2. Where do I get that much?

 

[Bama Rambler]

I'm sure the PC didn't say to use baking soda to lower TA. That would raise TA. You use muriatic acid to lower pH and TA. Did you put 160 in the NOW column and 70 in the Target column?

 

[bobby1017]

Oops, I had them reverced, I saw the word "goal" above the box so I put 70 in the wrong coulmn. I'll add muratic acid to lower ph.

thanks.

 

[bobby1017]

fc 1
cc 0
tc 1
ph 7.5
ta 100
ch 310
cya 40
temp 79.7

I used the pool calc and added 1 gal of clorine and approx 1/2 gal of muratic to get to fc 3 & ph 7.2.

The t/a level is dropping to a better level after adding acid and areating.

 

[JasonLion]

TA and CH numbers look better than last time, but your FC level is too low. With CYA at 40 you want to keep FC between 3 and 7, and never below 3.

 

[bobby1017]

It's up to 5 now that I added clorine. I'm getting better at testing and it will be nice when I remember what to do without looking at the instructions. That speedstir helps alot, I didn't use it the first test.

 

[bobby1017]

Latest set of numbers from this morning, had'nt checked in 4 day's, that may be too long, fc was really low.

fc 4.5

cc 0

tc 4.5

ph 7.5

ta 100

ch 350

cya 42

temp 81.5

salt 3200

For some reason the salt cell is saying low salt and the clorine level this morning was only .5 ppm. not sure whats up there, but I added what chlorine was required to get to a good level.

I was also surprised that my cartrige filter really needed to be cleaned after only 2 months, the waterfalls flow was diminishing but the "gauge" on the filter did'nt indicate it was time to clean. It needed it, and after everything weas flowing normally.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Four days is too long to go without testing. You should test every day until you get very familiar with your pool and even then you should test at least every other day.

Have you cleaned the cell. With your numbers you may have to clean it more often. Also your CYA is low. How'd you get a 42 on that test?

I'd turn the swcg off and run the OCLT to be sure there's nothing growing in there that's consuming your FC.

 

[bobby1017]

Since the cc are at 0 does'nt that mean that nothing is growing? Water is crystal clear. I'll check the oclt procedure and do that tonight.

I hav'nt cleaned the swcg yet but I will look into that also, I read the manual last night and I'll try hosing it out 1st. then acid if that fails.

The water level was slightly below the 40 mark on the cya tube so I "guestimated" it was 42. I've been wary of adding more but have read that most swg systems should have 50 / 70 so I guess I'll add a little.

 

[Bama Rambler]

You can have zero CC's and still have organics growing in the pool. That's why there are 3 steps to passing the OCLT.

 

[bobby1017]

At 8pm the cl level was at 7.5 ppm, after alot of kids swimming yesterday and this morning's disscussion I added a little too much clorine. I disabled the swcg system at 5pm today. Lets see what happens by am.

I bought some more cya powder today and will add some in a sock after my test tomorrow. I wanted to get liquid but the pool supply only had dry cya, they had "water conditioner" that sounded simalar but the ingredients wer'nt cya but something else, cant remember now.

 

[Bama Rambler]

That's a good plan.

The granules are good to use. There's usually no use in using the liquid. You're not in that big a hurry to raise it anyway. If it doesn't have nearly 100% Cyanuric Acid you don't want it.

 

[bobby1017]

Thanks for the help Bama.
Oclt test looks good, as of 7am the cl was at 7ppm with 0 cc, water looks great.
Added 28oz cya in a sock, pool calc said 60oz but I figured I'd sneak up on it by just adding half and see where it is. I guess it will take up to a week for the new cya to register on the test?
I also added 20lb of salt to bring that up to 3300 ppm.

 

[bobby1017]

The swcg is back to reading "good" salt level now, I am going to clean it soon.

 

[frogabog]

Remember to squish the CYA sock frequently. That will help it dissolve.

 

[bobby1017]

Got it, thanks.