Another Newbie! First Pool and First Full Test

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R

RAILhead

0
LifeTime Supporter
Feb 25, 2012
61
South Texas
Hey all

We just got a 7300 gallon pool installed, and I'm the kind of guy that likes to know the numbers myself as opposed to relying on the pool store to tell me what's up. So, I bought me the Taylor K-2006 kit, and I just ran the numbers...

FC: .4ppm
CC: .2ppm
pH: 7.5-7.6
Alk: 110ppm
CH: 200ppm
CA: somewhere between 60ppm and 70ppm (I tested it twice)

We got some rain today, but the bigger issue is that they loaded the pool with way too much chlorine out of the starting gate. It wasn't even on the charts, so we've been slowly adding ChemOut over the last couple of days with the chlorinator off. Looks like we got the chlorine WAY down and it's time to start it up again. FWIW, this pool also has an ozonator.

Anyway, I'm glad I found this place and I'm looking forward to learning how to maintain my own pool! Any thoughts about today's readings would be much appreciated!

Maury
 
Hey, Maury,

Welcome to the forum. :lol:

Those numbers with the exception of the chlorine look pretty good. The chlorine you thought was excessive probably wasn't but that doesn't matter now. You don't tell us the city and state in which you live so I'm not sure of your current water temp but I would get at least 3-4ppm chlorine in your pool right away unless your water temp is still below 60......then you can wait.

The "chemout" was not needed as the chlorine will diminish on it's own

You will enjoy this forum. It is almost COMPLETELY about understanding your pool water chemistry by doing your own, accurate testing and then knowing what to do with the results......you're off to a great start with a good kit. :lol

The "chemout" was not needed as the chlorine will diminish on it's own. That's another thing this forum really emphasizes.....don't put anything in your pool that you don't need.

PS - lots to read on here about ozonators....yours is an outdoor pool, correct?
 
Welcome to TFP!

Since you already got it, we can't talk you out of your ozonator. :mrgreen: No big deal though. It won't hurt anything.

As duraleigh said, you need to get your FC up. Based on your CYA, you'll want to keep the FC around 6 ppm.

You have a good test kit that will do well for you. One other suggestion to you...based on your FC and CC numbers (base 2), it looks as though you are using a 25 ml sample for testing chlorine. If you follw the directions to test a 10 ml sample of chlorine as opposed to the 25 ml sample, you will save reagent and it will still be just as accurate. The results will be by 0.5 instead of 0.2 increments.
 
duraleigh said:
Hey, Maury,

Welcome to the forum. :lol:

Those numbers with the exception of the chlorine look pretty good. The chlorine you thought was excessive probably wasn't but that doesn't matter now. You don't tell us the city and state in which you live so I'm not sure of your current water temp but I would get at least 3-4ppm chlorine in your pool right away unless your water temp is still below 60......then you can wait.

The "chemout" was not needed as the chlorine will diminish on it's own

You will enjoy this forum. It is almost COMPLETELY about understanding your pool water chemistry by doing your own, accurate testing and then knowing what to do with the results......you're off to a great start with a good kit. :lol

The "chemout" was not needed as the chlorine will diminish on it's own. That's another thing this forum really emphasizes.....don't put anything in your pool that you don't need.

PS - lots to read on here about ozonators....yours is an outdoor pool, correct?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the welcome! I should have clarified more, but I was in a rush and wanted to post! Haha. Anyway, the chlorine was reading about 14+ according to the samples I was taking into the pool place. I'm in South Texas in Lake Jackson, but it's still pretty mild and not sunny much at all as of late. We have company down this weekend, so they wanted to go ahead and treat the high FC instead of waiting for it to do its own thing. Thus, the ChemOut. And yes, this is an outdoor pool, and it'll get 4-5 hours of sun on clear days. Temp has been holding right around 63° to 67°.
 
257WbyMag said:
Welcome to TFP!

Since you already got it, we can't talk you out of your ozonator. :mrgreen: No big deal though. It won't hurt anything.

As duraleigh said, you need to get your FC up. Based on your CYA, you'll want to keep the FC around 6 ppm.

You have a good test kit that will do well for you. One other suggestion to you...based on your FC and CC numbers (base 2), it looks as though you are using a 25 ml sample for testing chlorine. If you follw the directions to test a 10 ml sample of chlorine as opposed to the 25 ml sample, you will save reagent and it will still be just as accurate. The results will be by 0.5 instead of 0.2 increments.
Click to expand...

I'll start using the smaller samples -- thanks for that tip!

Regarding CYA, isn't my number a tad bit high? SHould I not be concerned with it at this point (or at all) until I get my FC up, etc.?

Also, I have turned on the chlorinator, and I'll test it tomorrow morn to see where it stands and whether or not I may have to turn it up more.
 
What is your chlorinator? Does it hold pucks/chlorine tabs? If so those are causing your cya to rise. Stop using them right away and start using liquid chlorine to chlorinate your pool. First thing though is to go read pool school - link at upper right on every page of the forum. Then re-read it. We will be here to answer your questions and help you manage your pool the trouble free way.
 
Echoing what carlscan26 said since you confirmed you are using tablets, Stop using them(tablets/pucks) right away your CYA will get up high enough where the only solution will be doing a partial water replacement. Since Texas still has restrictions in place on water I would assume that would be difficult. Using liquid chlorinator will not raise your CYA. You will see threads on here where people are spending hundreds of dollars and many different products trying to treat an algae bloom to no avail because of high CYA levels and eventually they all come to the same conclusion.

pool-school/types_chlorine_pool

pool-school/
 
Echoing Bones and carlscan, pull the pucks! :mrgreen:

You don't need ANY more CYA and should actually be running around 40-50 for a manually chlorinated pool. Take a look at the chart referenced above.
 

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Gotcha -- I'll shut it off when I get home, and use the chart and calculator to measure out liquid bleach to get the levels correct.

Being a total n00b, how often will I need to add liquid chlorine? I know it will all depend on weather and use, but is this something that means I'd possibly need to add some every day, every few days, once a week, etc.?
 
Small amounts every day is best (PITA, I know :mrgreen: ). Many people, as they learn their pools requirements, do it every other, some twice weekly.....difficult to stretch it any further than that.

Your usage will increase DRAMATICALLY as it gets hot this summer.....be prepared for the increase in consumption by monitoring it closely and do not your FC slip below the minimum suggested on the chart.
 
Yes it will depend on the pool environment and usage. At first you will probably be testing everyday as you get to know your pool and it settles in to its new routine you will find that there are things you don't have to do as often. Some people actually find out they need to do very little to their pool if they are lucky. But the answer to the chlorine section is daily if you want to do it right and you want sparkling clean healthy water and to prevent issues. If you are looking for something with a little less maintenance check out SWG (Salt Water Chlorine Generators) Where you maintain a certain ppm of salt in your pool which is much more forgiving than chlorine, and a cell generates your chlorine from the water automatically as your pump runs.

As far as your ozonator goes, Someone with more experience jump in but if its not a commercial pool with Industrial grade equipment they seem mostly pointless. Most residential pools cant tell a difference unless you have a unusually high amount of traffic in your pool it *might reduce your chlorine usage a bit. People have seemed to notice a benefit in spas though it could cut chlorine usage in half on something that small. Also depends on the size/quality of it.

Check this out also
what-we-need-to-know-to-answer-your-questions-t10341.html

It would allow for some more clarity in answering your questions ;)


*Edit son of a biscuit, I swear everyone around here sits by the pool waiting for people to post so they can race to answer :whoot: not that that is a bad thing!
 
Thanks for the welcome! I should have clarified more, but I was in a rush and wanted to post! Haha. Anyway, the chlorine was reading about 14+ according to the samples I was taking into the pool place. I'm in South Texas in Lake Jackson, but it's still pretty mild and not sunny much at all as of late. We have company down this weekend, so they wanted to go ahead and treat the high FC instead of waiting for it to do its own thing. Thus, the ChemOut. And yes, this is an outdoor pool, and it'll get 4-5 hours of sun on clear days. Temp has been holding right around 63° to 67°.
Click to expand...

Hi, Welcome to TFP! :)

With the POOL SCHOOL Instructions most agree that following the CYA chart here:
pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock
You can swim up to your shock level, at 60-70 CYA your shock level is 24-28 ppm, at 14 ppm your way safe to swim IF your readings are real and not from a pool store that may or may not be correct! This is WHY we use professional kits to test our own water and is the reason the math science of pool water chemistry taught here works so well!
If your hungry to learn pool water chemistry, your in the right place!
My pool is so easy to care and understand, I've made this link one of my favorites now from not wasting a lot of time and $$ at a pool store. :hammer:
become-a-tfp-supporter-f27.html

Keep us posted how you do! WE all love successful stories! I have one now and suffer from POOLSPARKLITS! :whoot:
I found TFP a year ago and this is the cheapest COLLEGE education I ever got! (FREE)
BUT I have to help this forum live on!
Chuck
 
Took some new numbers today after letting the chlorinator run. I'll be heading to the store to get liquid bleach tomorrow, so in the mean time, I figured it best to let the puck add chlorine. Just to test myself doing the tests, I performed them all twice. Here's what I got today:

FC: 4 (or 3.6) -- still need to raise that tomorrow
CC: less than .5
pH: 7.6
TA: 120
CH: 210
CYA: 60
 
Got some new numbers today, but I barely overdosed on the chlorine! Ha.

FC: 8
CC: .2
pH: 7.6
TA: 120
CH: 200
CYA: 60

Looking at the Chlorine/CYA chart, my target chlorine is right at 6.9/7 (depending on which chart I look at), so 8ppm seems to be just fine as it's way below the shock value.

I think I'm going to take a sample down to the pool store just for kicks and see what they say. I'm curious to find out if they know the relationship between CYA and chlorine. :)

All that said, do these numbers look pretty good? They seem to to me, with my very limited understanding of pool chemistry. TA is right on the edge of target numbers, though, right...?
 
They look pretty good. except for that pH of 120 !!!! :shock: :shock:

Since it's plaster you probably want the CH to be a bit higher. It's pretty good and nothing you need to worry too much about. Since it's a new pool I'll recind the recommendation. Leave it alone for a while and see if it rises a bit.

Since you've been using pucks, the TA is about where you would want it. Now that you're going to bleach you'll probably want it to be lower but don't worry about lowering it on purpose. It'll lower as you adjust the pH. Just keep a close eye on the pH and adjust it as required with Muriatic acid.

Your CYA is a little high, but again not so high as to be a real problem. Let it alone and it'll most likely come down durnig the season. The good news is that you found us before it got too high.
 

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