Newbie looking for balancing help

[UKHoopsfan]

Opened the pool last week and water now looks very good. Received my test kit and here are my first test results:

Filter Pressure: 16
Water Temp: 57 F
Free Chlorine: 4
CC: 0
pH: 7.4
TA: 50
CH: 140
CyA: Less than 30 (too low to read)
Salt: 1300

I know I am low on the Salt, CyA, TA and slightly on pH. Assuming 60* F water is too low to generate chlorine, but my cell lights are all green and FC levels look pretty good.

Used the Pool Calculator to determine what to add, but need to know what order I should proceed. I am assuming you make 1 add at a time and then retest before proceeding due to the interactions on multiple parameters from adjustments??

Love the forum and have learned a ton from reading the posts.

Thanks for the help.

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

It sounds like you have a fairly clear understanding of what to do already.

I would raise the TA only a little, to around 70. You want TA fairly low with a SWG.

Don't worry about PH. It is alright where it is for now (even if CYA lowers it a little), and it will tend to come up on it's own over time. Just check occasionally and raise it a little if it goes below 7.2 from adding CYA.

Salt and CYA both need to come up, as you have already figured out. The main thing is to not overshoot, so be a little bit cautious about how much you add (say 2/3 or 3/4 of what you think you need), give it time to mix in (salt one day, CYA one week), test again to see where you are, and adjust from there.

PH and TA interact a fair bit, and CYA will lower PH a little. On the other hand, salt doesn't really interact with anything.

 

[UKHoopsfan]

Thanks Jason, I will take your advice and only add a portion of what the Pool Calculator calls for and then retest.

Couple of other questions. Does the low water temp have any bearing on low CyA reading (even though, I don't think any conditioner was ever added to the pool after it was constructed at the end of last year)? Also, should I be concerned that my salt strips show 1300 ppm but the green salt light on the IC-40 unit indicates OK salt? Again, is this a function of low water temp?

Thanks again for the guidance.

 

[jblizzle]

It is recommended to let the water come to room temperature before you test the CYA ... although I am not sure the cold makes it read high or low.

I think most SWG do not function with water < 60-65 degrees. I think maybe you are correct and the green light is not actually accurate given the temperature of the water. Seems like a pretty large discrepancy in salt reading, but I am guessing the strip is more accurate ... you could have a pool store test done to see where they put the level at.

 

[JasonLion]

Cold water can sometimes cause the CYA test to read lower than actual. The cold slows down the reaction, which can mean fewer of the particles that cloud the water are produced, the water is clear than it should be, and the reading is lower than actual.