Hows my Numbers

[george171]

I have an inground 18 by 36 vinyl pool with 4 foot roman ends on each end. so technically 18x44 3 1/2 feet in the shallow end to 8 feet in the deep end. The pool company that installed said it holds 31000 gallons of water. I have an auto pilot SWG and a mod media cartridge filter. No heater. I used a 6 way test kit from wlamart, its all I can afford at the moment since both my wife and I lost our Jobs 2 years ago. I know its not the best but I hope the test results are accurate with it. Here are my numbers with the test kit.

CL 1-2
PH 7.5
TA 70
CH 110
CYA 50
SALT 2800(although hard to read the test strip wasnt completely white from 5.2 to 6.0 scale so could be anywhere from 2600 to 3300)

Just for fun, i had my water tested at 4 different pool stores with varying readings. they all stated i needed to raise ta and ch. and also got a range of salt from 2500 to 3000 ch tested between 86 to 201 and ta was 51 to 68 and cya 43-110 ph was from 7.4 to 7.8. My test kit is from last season. oh and they all tested for phosphates with each store different saying 100ppm. 300ppm,500ppm and 1000ppm. they said to add phosphree one company said to add backup. DO I go by my readings? How are my numbers? should i add anything? My SWG company, auto pilot recommends these levels. ta 80-120 ch 200-400 and cya 60-80 salt 3000-3500.

 

[Bama Rambler]

You need to bump your CYA up a little and raise the percentage on your swcg a little.

Trust your own testing.

 

[elwood58]

You need to bump your CYA up a little and raise the percentage on your swcg a little.

Trust your own testing.

What Bama said. Get CYA up to about 70, and either increase the % on SWG, or increase run time of the pump. You do not say what time of day you ran the test, and what time of day you run the pump. Your TA could use a little bump, but CH should not be a consideration for your vinyl pool.

 

[george171]

i took the readings this morning at about 10 am. The pump runs from 11:45 am to 6:45 pm daily. The SWG is at level 2 and usually says purifier 100% or purifier 90%. The sun is over the pool from around 11 am to about 5 pm. it gets pretty much sun all day . there are no trees to give shade. the pool is lenghtwise east to west so when the sun comes up till it goes down, the pool gets full sun. When is the best time to test the pool water? Before the pump turns on or towards the end of the day when it has been running all day and just about to shut down?? By the way, the pool is sparkling clean. I just picked up some baking soda from bjs. Do i mix it with the pool water in a pail before putting it in or just broadcast it over the deep end? How much should i use to raise the alkalinity? Thanks for all the help.

 

[Bama Rambler]

With a swcg I wouldn't raise the TA. Raising it will most likely cause your pH to rise at a faster rate and you'll have to use acid to bring it back down which will lower your TA, so you'd wind up yo-yoing and if you wanted to do that you'd still be listening to the pool store!

 

[george171]

So then my numbers are good other than raisng the cya a little. When should I be testing the water. according to my above post. Before the filter turns on, while its running for a while or right after it turns off?? Please let me know. Thanks!!

 

[Bama Rambler]

It should be running about 30 minutes to an hour before testing. It doesn't matter if it's longer than that, and whether you test morning or evening is your choice.