1st Time Pool Owner Needs Advice

[MacMichael]

I am a newbie pool owner. The pool (see signature for details) is 6 months old. The pool installation company has been "taking care" of the chemistry up to now. I purchased a Taylor K2006 Complete FAS-DPD testing kit which I used yesterday for the first time. These are my readings:

FC: 3.0
CC: 0
pH: 7.9
TA: 70
CH: 420
CYA: <30 (I could still faintly see the black dot with the liquid above the 30 mark)
Water temp: 60 degrees
Very slight calcium mark at the waterline
Water very clear & sparkling

Based on the Pool Calculator, it looks like I need to add a lot of chemicals and replace a lot of water to get this in balance. Where to start?

Additional information: The concrete coping around the pool is stained from apparent soil moisture (approx 3000 psi concrete used with no moisture barrier). The pool company will be replacing all the coping in about a month with 4500 psi concrete and moisture barrier (my home builder is requiring them to do it). They will have to drain the pool, do the work, refill the water, and balance the chemicals.

Because the pool will have to be drained soon, I don't want to get carried away adding chemicals, etc. but just want to be sure I don't run into any algae or calcium buildup problems.

Any suggestions?

 

[Bama Rambler]

Those numbers don't look bad at all. pH is a little high. You could add some acid to bring it down. CH is a little high but you can manage it. I'm not sure there's anything you can do about it if your fill water is high in CH except R/O. I wouldn't do anything about it until they drain and refill.

I would test the fill water. If they're going to use your local water to fill the pool you'll have an idea of where you're starting. If they used cal-hypo to chlorinate, that would have caused your CH to be higher than your fill water. You can request that they not use that on the next round.

All in all, I wouldn't do much of anything to the water except adjust pH until they refill it.

 

[Richard320]

Actually, things look pretty good.

pH needs to come down a little, but a cup or two of acid - whatever Pool Calculator says - is easy.
CYA ought to come up, but you can take care of that easy, too. Buy "stabilizer," pour it in a sock and hang it in front of a return. This time of year chlorine loss is small, so there's no rush. If it takes a month to completely dissolve, you're still okay. Pool Calculator can tell you how much to add. As an aside, it's better to go low on CYA than high, because you can always add more, but there's no way to get rid of it besides draining.

You'll be fighting a losing battle if you try to keep CH in the "ideal" range. Our water is just too hard. The best you can do is not add any more via powdered "shock" or any other miracle product the pool store may try to foist off on you. Just keep plugging numbers into Pool Calculator and make sure you keep the CSI below .6. At some point you may need to drop TA or run pH below 7.4 to keep it balanced; that's when you can start partial drain and refills. I use pool water to water the lawn, then replace it with tap water during the summer. Same usage, just gets rid of some CH.

 

[MacMichael]

Thanks guys. I've added acid to bring the pH down. I will check it tomorrow after it gets all stirred up.