I have completed day 3 of balancing the water of our new pool per the Pool School's directions for setting up "seasonal" pools. Yesterday was our first day in the pool
Essentially, because my pH has rested at the 7.8 mark until today, the only thing I have done is added two pounds of dichlor for each of the last 3 nights. I can only assume my CYA levels are slowly rising as they should because it does not show on the test for about a week, right? The two pounds are not quite as much as the formula prescribed, but I figured I could make up the difference on a 5th evening, after which I will soon know if my CYA is right.
But I find myself wondering if there is more I should do. Here are test results on my fill water from 6/29:
FC = .5
pH = 7.8
TA = 260 (way high?!)
CYA =0
CH = 300
The morning after my first dichlor dose, on 7/1, I was surprised to see almost no change. The only thing that might be worth noting is a good thunderstorm struck us overnight, but I wouldn't think overnight rainfall would deplete all one's chlorine. Yet:
FC = 0
CC = .5
pH = 7.8
TA = 240 (some change, but possible new tester error?)
CYA =0 (I realize it will not show)
CH = did not test
So I shocked it with my 2 pounds of dichlor the night before our big opening, and this time my chlorine was at 9 the next morning. I figured with my low CYA and nonstop sunshine we would be okay to use it. With 9 kids in and out throughout the day I became curious and tested the chlorine. There was NONE by 1:30 pm! I wondered to myself, is this normal?
So day 3, last night, I added my 2 pounds dichlor and tested this morn before they hit the water:
FC = 7.5
CC = 0
pH = 7.8 - 8.2 (somewhere between the two, but def higher than any time before)
TA = did not test, but now wishing I had, seeing it is connected to pH
CYA = still not showing
CH = did not test
With much less use (only 4 kids for maybe more than an hour), at 2:00 this afternoon I had 0 chlorine again. Is this normal start-up chemistry? Why would my TA, so difficult to lower, be so high right from the tap? I read not to lower for the sake of lowering, so I guess I'm just obsessing with my numbers and wasting reagent. But today showed the pH elevated, and I am too unsure of my newbie testing skills to believe what I see wholeheartedly.
Does it matter that my pool is only chlorinated (albeit super chlorinated) half the time? It would seem fruitless to run out there with my bleach in the middle of the day, but should I anyway? And what do you enter in the pool calculator to adjust pH when the test kit jumps from 7.8 - 8.2? It seems such a minute difference except somewhere I read that a pH above 8 = no swimming. I don't want to start a pH yo-yo here at go.
So this is a very long-winded way to ask if, in my effort to avoid a troublesome pool, I am looking for more trouble than I actually have? :blah:
Essentially, because my pH has rested at the 7.8 mark until today, the only thing I have done is added two pounds of dichlor for each of the last 3 nights. I can only assume my CYA levels are slowly rising as they should because it does not show on the test for about a week, right? The two pounds are not quite as much as the formula prescribed, but I figured I could make up the difference on a 5th evening, after which I will soon know if my CYA is right.
But I find myself wondering if there is more I should do. Here are test results on my fill water from 6/29:
FC = .5
pH = 7.8
TA = 260 (way high?!)
CYA =0
CH = 300
The morning after my first dichlor dose, on 7/1, I was surprised to see almost no change. The only thing that might be worth noting is a good thunderstorm struck us overnight, but I wouldn't think overnight rainfall would deplete all one's chlorine. Yet:
FC = 0
CC = .5
pH = 7.8
TA = 240 (some change, but possible new tester error?)
CYA =0 (I realize it will not show)
CH = did not test
So I shocked it with my 2 pounds of dichlor the night before our big opening, and this time my chlorine was at 9 the next morning. I figured with my low CYA and nonstop sunshine we would be okay to use it. With 9 kids in and out throughout the day I became curious and tested the chlorine. There was NONE by 1:30 pm! I wondered to myself, is this normal?
So day 3, last night, I added my 2 pounds dichlor and tested this morn before they hit the water:
FC = 7.5
CC = 0
pH = 7.8 - 8.2 (somewhere between the two, but def higher than any time before)
TA = did not test, but now wishing I had, seeing it is connected to pH
CYA = still not showing
CH = did not test
With much less use (only 4 kids for maybe more than an hour), at 2:00 this afternoon I had 0 chlorine again. Is this normal start-up chemistry? Why would my TA, so difficult to lower, be so high right from the tap? I read not to lower for the sake of lowering, so I guess I'm just obsessing with my numbers and wasting reagent. But today showed the pH elevated, and I am too unsure of my newbie testing skills to believe what I see wholeheartedly.
Does it matter that my pool is only chlorinated (albeit super chlorinated) half the time? It would seem fruitless to run out there with my bleach in the middle of the day, but should I anyway? And what do you enter in the pool calculator to adjust pH when the test kit jumps from 7.8 - 8.2? It seems such a minute difference except somewhere I read that a pH above 8 = no swimming. I don't want to start a pH yo-yo here at go.
So this is a very long-winded way to ask if, in my effort to avoid a troublesome pool, I am looking for more trouble than I actually have? :blah: