new onwer of both pool TF-100 test results..YIKES!

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88rxn/a

88rxn/a

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LifeTime Supporter
Jul 7, 2011
36
ludlow, PA
i recently (2 weeks ago) put up a 24FT round X 4FT deep with an overlap vinyl liner. i started with basic walmart kit and i knew it wasn't working. after searching i found my new home! trouble free pool!

so, without further adieu....

PH- 7.2
TA- 90
CH- 40
CYA-0
FC-0
CC-0

my pool is in need of serious help and i feel im in the right place! i would like to go the BBB method so thats why i am here...

i have the pool calculator setup and going (its saying 13500 gallons)

my question is....
where do i start? im heading to walmart tomorrow to pick up my supplies and not sure what i should be getting and how much of it?
i read some chemicals raise this, change that...so i figured maybe i could get some guidance from the pros?

BTW, i love this test kit! VERY professional...
 
Welcome to TFP!

What does the water look like right now?

If the water is clear, you want to raise CYA to between 40 and 50, and add chlorine daily, and you should be set. If the water is cloudy/full of algae it is time to shock the pool and start adding CYA at about the same time.

Your PH is a little low, but nothing to worry about. It will probably come up on it's own. TA is fine. CH is acceptable for a vinyl liner pool. CYA should be 30 to 50. And you need some chlorine.
 
You need bleach and lots of it. Start with about 8 jugs. As soon as you can put enough in there to get to about 3 ppm (about 2½ quarts). How does the water look?
You need some CYA I'd get 2 jugs of that (5 lbs is what you need).
I wouldn't buy anything else yet. Wait to see what you're going to need.
 
I would say the quickest way to get things lined up is to buy some Di-Chlor powered shock, Wal-Mart here does not carry Di-Chlor shock, only Cal-Hypo shock. If you have a Lowes the one here sells Di-Chlor shock in 1 pound bags, with and without copper algaecide, one is marked super or ultra, you always want to avoid copper (lots of the Wal-Mart products have it so read labels carfully). Di-Chlor raises both Chlorine and CYA so requires careful use to not raise CYA too much, for every 5ppm of FC added it will add 4.5 ppm of CYA. Per pool calculator 1 pound of Dichlor will raise your FC by about 5 ppm, so a total of 7 pound of Di-Chlor slowly added as needed to maintain target FC over the next several days will raise your CYA to about 31.5. At which point you can switch to using bleach for chlorine. Alternatively you can get stabilizer and add it now, but note common powered stabilizer can take over a week to show up on tests, and use bleach for your chlorination from the start.

Ike
 
thanks for the quick help! and thanks for the welcome.

the water is clear. feels horrible to me though. to me it feels as if it dries me out and has a slippery/slimy feeling to it. along with the walls. no cloudiness though. im guessing the slimy feeling is algae starting to bloom?

we do have a lowes here. never looked at the pool supplies so im not sure what they have.
you say 7 pounds of Di-chlor will fix me up the fastest?
(if i find it, how much of it do i add each day?)
i can go to lowes first and check for that.
if not, its off to walmart.
CYA is just stabilizer at walmart correct? it should say something on the package about raising the CYA i guess.
so 8 jugs of bleach from walmlart and 5lbs. of CYA. if im buying 2 jugs (5lbs. worth) should i just start with 1 jug until dissolved from the sock? i read the part about putting it in the basket in a sock, but im not sure how much and when to add it?
same with the bleach, how much of the 8 jugs in a day should i be adding? example: 1 jug for every 3 hours?

good to know the rest of the test turned out ok!

1 more thing, should we/I be staying out of this pool in the mean time? even the days im pouring in the chemicals?
 
88rxn/a said:
CYA is just stabilizer at walmart correct?

same with the bleach, how much of the 8 jugs in a day should i be adding? example: 1 jug for every 3 hours?


1 more thing, should we/I be staying out of this pool in the mean time? even the days im pouring in the chemicals?
Click to expand...


CYA aka Stabilizer/conditioner :goodjob:

A 1.42gl jug of great value unscented bleach will raise FC in a 24' round pool by about 6-7ppm. Half the jug would get you to about 3ppm.

Stay out of the pool until all the chemistry is in check.
 
Well it sounds like you may be about to get an algae outbreak, so the first of the Chlorine you add will likely be used up fairly fast:

If you refer to the Chlorine/ CYA chart here chlorine-cya-chart-t2346.html you can see the suggested levels of Free Chlorine for any given CYA level based on that:

1 Lb Dichlor shock will result in a CYA of 4.5 and an initial FC of 5
if you have algae this will burn away quickly, so retest FC in an hour or two
When FC drops down to about 2.5 ppm add a second pound of Dichlor
This will hopefully shock it long enough to kill off anything starting to grow, you will be able to tell if you need to continue to shock after the first night by doing an overnight chlorine loss test.
If the FC drops by less than 1 ppm from dark at night until first light in the morning you will be good, if not, you will need to continue adding dichlor shock to maintain shock lever per the chart adding 4.5 ppm CYA to your count for every pound of Dichlor you add.
you will not want anyone swimming until you get 2 Lbs of DiChlor in (CYA level of 9, or about 10) and the FC level drops to under 4.5 (see CYA chart for shock level)l

Using the CYA chart you can see that the shock level for a CYA of 10 i s 4.7 and for a CYA level of 20 it is 8.3, etc.

From there just slowly add the Dichlor over a number of days until all 7 pounds are gone while targeting the target FC for your running CYA level count. As you build up CYA the FC should last longer and longer in sunlight.

I hope this makes sense.

Ike
 
Just popping back in to say follow the above advice and you'll be swimming in a sparkly pool before long.

I prefer to keep it simple using bleach and adding CYA separately. To me it just makes it easy to figure one chem at a time rather than trying to figure how much of this adds how much of that.
 
thank you all for such great and helpful advice!
i may take the simple route of buying them separate. id rather not have to dump water out for getting my CYA to high.
i was looking at that chart. i assume as my CYA rises, i keep my FC at the recommended levels..
sounds simple enough (i hope!).
jotting down my chemicals needed and headed to wallyworld!
 

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ok, i put 4lbs. of stabilizer in the pool over the last 2 days and i can already tell my FC is holding MUCH better.
i tested it this morning and got a 2.5 and raised it to 3. so far so good. i have not bothered to test the CYA because i know it takes at least a week to show up.
also, the walls are no longer slimy and feel great!
so once i get my CYA up and FC passes the over night loos test, what do i do next? should i bother raising the PH any, or anything else need attention?
thanks for the help and cleaner pool so far!
 
How much CYA ppm's did you add? What ppm were you aiming for? 4 pounds recently, plus none before? I could calculate your volume and answer that question but you know better than I so I'll let you do it.

I ask because I assume you added enough to get to a minimal 30ppm CYA if not higher. If so, this means that 3ppm FC is minimum and if you loose any chlorine today you will fall below minimum.

With 30ppm CYA you'll need to target 7ppm at day start (or night before) and expect to be no lower than 3ppm at the end of that day. Then you dose back to 7ppm for the next day's use. You can assume whatever CYA you have added is in there, so then enter that number into the now column in the pool calculator and dose chlorine in relation to that number from now on.

If your CYA is 40 or higher, you'll see that increases your minimum and target yet again.
 
frogabog said:
How much CYA ppm's did you add? What ppm were you aiming for? 4 pounds recently, plus none before? I could calculate your volume and answer that question but you know better than I so I'll let you do it.

I ask because I assume you added enough to get to a minimal 30ppm CYA if not higher. If so, this means that 3ppm FC is minimum and if you loose any chlorine today you will fall below minimum.

With 30ppm CYA you'll need to target 7ppm at day start (or night before) and expect to be no lower than 3ppm at the end of that day. Then you dose back to 7ppm for the next day's use. You can assume whatever CYA you have added is in there, so then enter that number into the now column in the pool calculator and dose chlorine in relation to that number from now on.

If your CYA is 40 or higher, you'll see that increases your minimum and target yet again.
Click to expand...

Just a correction, but 7ppm is a bit on the high side if you add chlorine daily. A 24ft round pool (in the OPs sig, holds about 13-14K gals) With CYA at 30ppm, your FC target should be about 4-5ppm. The minimum is 2ppm. If you find yourself losing more than half your FC in the sunny summer day, then it is time to raise CYA a bit, perhaps 40 or 50 :wink:

As long as you follow the FC/CYA relationship chart, you should be golden :goodjob:

pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock

To the OP...adjust PH as needed :lol:
 
thanks friends!
i app. understanding the learning curve in this. most others (forums) get disgusted and act out. i know all the information is already here, i just need to know where to look and find it.
 
lol you're after my butt today huh?

Yes, dork here forgot that when the calculator is set at 35ppm CYA it's 3-7ppm. But 30ppm CYA is 2-6ppm (which I remembered later today, but you got me on that one too :~} ).

FWIW, in between 30 and 34 the minimum changes from 2ppm to 3ppm.

As I've been working with 30-40ppm this year with the calculator after overdosing to 40ppm upon opening, remembering minimum would always be 3 even if I managed to get near 30ppm this summer and that apparently stuck with me and told my old brain that 7 was relative to 3.

I really should plug numbers in more often to check myself if I'm gonna post huh?
 
is it ok to keep it at that level or should i raise it to 40 or more?
Click to expand...
Based on where you live and the time of year, I would suggest simply leaving it where it is and enjoying the rest of your summer with a stable pool.

Boosting the CYA to 40-50ppm would save you a little chlorine but perhaps not enough to offset the cost of the additional CYA.

Additionally, just keeping your pool stable like it is for another month or so is very gratifying and allows you to really fine tune your FC demand and all the other nuances of your pool.

Either way is fine but I would leave it if it were my pool.

Sounds like you are developing a good understanding of your pool.....it's a good feeling, huh?

Nice work!! :lol:
 
I agree with Duraleigh ... but, if you are a "kid in the candy store" with your TF-100 you MAY want to think about adjusting pH. I say MAY because, for me, here in the Northeast, we get acid rain that slowly creeps my pools pH downward. Twice this season I have added Borax to get my pH back to 7.5. You may not have this same experience and your pH may actually slowly rise over time. Just a thought.
 

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