I may be a chemist... but the pool is smarter than I am!
SO, this is my first pool that I get to setup all by myself - YIKES!
Wish I had started looking for setup information and started here... would have saved me some money on chemicals!
SO, Saturday, setup the pool, everything looking good, the kids are excited... yea - then I crush their hopes as the pool isn't full nor ready for swim.
- Sunday, finish filling the pool, to the first checks: pH=7.5;CH=100;TA=hmmm... well, high, very high;Fc=0;CYA=0
- Being a chemist... I went to the store, pulled the pool chemicals out (HTH stuff), targeted around a 6.5 to 7.0pH to drop the TA and added what should have been enough chlorine to shock the pool
- so Monday morning, the pool is nice and clear, pH=6.9; CH=100; TA=well, 300; Fc = 0.63; CYA = 0 (now these were on a dip-strip; however, I tested the water in the lab using a real pH meter and good HACH tests :-D with basically the same results. So, imagine... [after work] walking up to the pool to skim things off and to add more chlorine to the pool... and you guessed it, the water is rust brown. So, suspecting iron I started searching as to what to do about it - found the HTH Metal Control, followed the directions and added like 16oz of the product. The pump has been running like the squirrels chased by my blk-lab, or the kids... for the last 6 hours. I also added another dose of chlorine about 3 hours ago to try and get to the shock levels.
Now, it looks like the rust has started settling out and clinging to the walls of the pool and my current numbers are (as of 23:15 my time) pH=6.8;CH=100;TA=between 180 and 240;Fc=10; CYA=0 (need to find an old sock as I do have the stabilizer). I'll pull another sample in the morning and run it in the lab to see where things actually sit.
As for the iron... I've a hunch that I need to purchase a brush or something to get this stuff off the pool? I think the pool is winning!
Am I at least going in the right direction ?
-wc
(yes I get the joke... if you saw the color of the pool this afternoon, sigh)
SO, this is my first pool that I get to setup all by myself - YIKES!
Wish I had started looking for setup information and started here... would have saved me some money on chemicals!
SO, Saturday, setup the pool, everything looking good, the kids are excited... yea - then I crush their hopes as the pool isn't full nor ready for swim.
- Sunday, finish filling the pool, to the first checks: pH=7.5;CH=100;TA=hmmm... well, high, very high;Fc=0;CYA=0
- Being a chemist... I went to the store, pulled the pool chemicals out (HTH stuff), targeted around a 6.5 to 7.0pH to drop the TA and added what should have been enough chlorine to shock the pool
- so Monday morning, the pool is nice and clear, pH=6.9; CH=100; TA=well, 300; Fc = 0.63; CYA = 0 (now these were on a dip-strip; however, I tested the water in the lab using a real pH meter and good HACH tests :-D with basically the same results. So, imagine... [after work] walking up to the pool to skim things off and to add more chlorine to the pool... and you guessed it, the water is rust brown. So, suspecting iron I started searching as to what to do about it - found the HTH Metal Control, followed the directions and added like 16oz of the product. The pump has been running like the squirrels chased by my blk-lab, or the kids... for the last 6 hours. I also added another dose of chlorine about 3 hours ago to try and get to the shock levels.
Now, it looks like the rust has started settling out and clinging to the walls of the pool and my current numbers are (as of 23:15 my time) pH=6.8;CH=100;TA=between 180 and 240;Fc=10; CYA=0 (need to find an old sock as I do have the stabilizer). I'll pull another sample in the morning and run it in the lab to see where things actually sit.
As for the iron... I've a hunch that I need to purchase a brush or something to get this stuff off the pool? I think the pool is winning!
Am I at least going in the right direction ?
-wc
(yes I get the joke... if you saw the color of the pool this afternoon, sigh)