chemistry wacked out
- Thread starter Truman
- Start date
We have been trying to get our pool straightened out since we opened it 2 weeks ago. It is cloudy I received my TF-100 kit yesterday and tested it last night and tonight. I put in 4 lbs of shock last night along with 4 lbs of borax. Tonight I have no chlorine. When I put the scoop of powder in the vial for the chlorine test it never turned pink. I thought I made a mistake so I dumped it out and tried it again. Same result. My ph is 6.8 and alkalinity is 150. CYA is 30 to 40. I plugged in the results into the pool calculator and it tells me to put in almost 5 lbs of shock and 6 boxes of borax. Am I doing the right things?
We have a 18 X 36 inground, 27,900 gal, sand filter, vinyl liner, hayward 1.5 hp super pump, and an inline gas heater.
We have a 18 X 36 inground, 27,900 gal, sand filter, vinyl liner, hayward 1.5 hp super pump, and an inline gas heater.
We have been trying to get our pool straightened out since we opened it 2 weeks ago. It is cloudy. I received my TF-100 kit yesterday and tested it last night and tonight. I put in 4 lbs of shock last night along with 4 lbs of borax. Tonight I have no chlorine. When I put the scoop of powder in the vial for the chlorine test it never turned pink. I thought I made a mistake so I dumped it out and tried it again. Same result. My ph is 6.8 and alkalinity is 150. CYA is 30 to 40. I plugged in the results into the pool calculator and it tells me to put in almost 5 lbs of shock and 6 boxes of borax. Am I doing the right things?
Thanks, Truman
We have a 18 X 36 inground, 27,900 gal, sand filter, vinyl liner, hayward 1.5 hp super pump, and an inline gas heater.
Thanks, Truman
We have a 18 X 36 inground, 27,900 gal, sand filter, vinyl liner, hayward 1.5 hp super pump, and an inline gas heater.
First, get the PH up to something reasonable as soon as practical, even if that ends up taking more than 6 boxes of borax.
Second, what are you using that is called "shock"? There are several products sold under that name that contain different chemicals.
Finally, when you think FC is zero, the OTO chlorine test, included in the TF-100 as part of the inner K-1000 kit, is by far the most reliable way to check for chlorine or no chlorine.
Second, what are you using that is called "shock"? There are several products sold under that name that contain different chemicals.
Finally, when you think FC is zero, the OTO chlorine test, included in the TF-100 as part of the inner K-1000 kit, is by far the most reliable way to check for chlorine or no chlorine.
I put in the 6 boxes of borax and 4 lbs of sanitizer. It is granulated chlorine I purchased from Sam's before I found this website. It is sodium dichloro-s triazinetrione hydrated. 55% available chlorine. I will post the results tomorrow evening. Thanks for the help and advise. I did raise a few eyebrows this evening when checking out with 6 boxes of borax.
The pool is much clearer today. We can finally see the bottom of the deep end. We put in a 182 oz of chlorine in at 7 am this morning followed by another at noon. We just concluded testing and have the following results. FC .5, CC 3, TC 3.5, TA 180, CYA 40, PH 7.3. It appears that we are still consuming chlorine. Should we be concerned about the high TA? The calculator recommends 2 more bottles of bleach and 1.4 boxes of borax.
We have a 18 X 36 inground, 27,900 gal, sand filter, vinyl liner, hayward 1.5 hp super pump, polaris 360, and a raypak inline gas heater. We also have two maltese dogs.
We have a 18 X 36 inground, 27,900 gal, sand filter, vinyl liner, hayward 1.5 hp super pump, polaris 360, and a raypak inline gas heater. We also have two maltese dogs.
Disregard the pH and TA for now. You need to shock the pool by elevating the chlorine much higher than it is. read "How to Shock Your Pool" up in Pool School.
We have had some success. The pool is crystal clear. FC stays around 6, CC is .5 to 1.0, CYA is 60 to 70. My problem is TA which is currently 230. It was 250 an I put in 3+ quarts of muriatic to lower ph from 7.5 to 7.2. My ph has lowered to 7.2 but TA only dropped 20. I have built a pvc aerator and am running that all the time. This appears to be a very slow process of lowering TA. Is there anything I can do to help the process? At this rate I will use about 5 gallons of muriatic and aerate for the next few weeks.
Lowering TA does indeed take time. There isn't any way around that. You can lower the PH to 7.0, which will speed things up just a little bit, but no swimming while the PH is below 7.2.
IMHO, unless your PH rise is frequent, just add muratic acid to maintain PH at the 7.2-7.6 level, as needed. Over time your TA will drop on it's own. Lowering TA is only necessary if you PH rise is a constant issue or plan on running a SWG.
Now to answer your question...The more agressive aeration you introduce to your water, the faster PH will rise, hence allowing you to add more MA, which will lower TA.
I dropped mine from 340 to 80 in 3 days with a home built aerator and 6-7 gals of MA in a 13k gal pool.
pic of my aerator
Now to answer your question...The more agressive aeration you introduce to your water, the faster PH will rise, hence allowing you to add more MA, which will lower TA.
I dropped mine from 340 to 80 in 3 days with a home built aerator and 6-7 gals of MA in a 13k gal pool.
pic of my aerator
Thanks for the guidance and advice. I will work at bringing down my TA over the holiday weekend.
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