Test results back!

[jrocksinc]

Alkalinity 51 (added 16 lbs of baking soda)
pH 6.9 (added 2 lbs of pH increase)
Calcium Hardness - 54
Total Chlorine 0
Free Chlorine 0
Chlorine Stabilizer 9 ( adding 3 lbs of shock tomorrow) does it matter what kind of shock I add??
Salt 2900

 

[jrocksinc]

fyi -i was advised to use calcium hypochlorite shock and I will be adding 5 oz of clarifier tomorrow when I wake up.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Too soon for clarifier, hold off. Yes, the "kind of shock" matters...
Shock is something you do to your pool - not something you buy - despite the labels on the pool store chemicals.
Have you read Pool School?
What does your water look like?
What are these tests from, your own kit or a pool store?

 

[duraleigh]

YOu certainly need chlorine but do you need to shock the pool? What does your water look like? Clarifier may or may not help if your water is murky.

 

[jrocksinc]

results are from a pool store in my neighborhood. the water does not look bad, its a little green from the pollen and rain yesterday but it was looking good before that. I do not plan on using the clarifier for a few days until the water clears up a little more. Running the filter all night in hopes the water will be clearer in the AM. I read over pool school but was a little confused about which shock to get.. is the stuff at wal mart just as good as anyplace else? Also are there different types of shock?

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Sounds like you still have some more reading to do....

You need chlorine. Liquid. And Stabilizer (CYA) or you will lose any chlorine you add to sunlight. Did you purchase the cal-hypo? You can use it since you have it. Do you know how to use the pool calculator?

Filtering alone won't clear your pool if your FC is really zero.

I recommend you purchase a TF-100 or Taylor 2006 if you haven't already done so.

 

[jrocksinc]

did not purchase cal hypo. not 100% sure on the pool calculator. I am in the process of purchasing one of the test kits

 

[jrocksinc]

when do i add the chlorine?

 

[257WbyMag]

When you are able to test the water in your pool for FC, CC, pH, and CYA, you can commence the process of adding chlorine and shocking your pool. You can't really do much until your test kit gets here other than maybe dump a jug of bleach in there each evening. Gotta be able to test to carry out the process.

 

[jrocksinc]

so what I got from the pool store is no good??

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

so what I got from the pool store is no good??

Do you mean test results? Or advice?

I get this is overwhelming... especially the articles in Pool School if you read them all at once. You need to read How to Shock your Pool....as well as the more intensive Green Swamp article...

Yes there are different kinds of chlorine in various forms which can be used to Shock your pool and/or for daily chlorination purposes.

What we want is for you to take control of your pool, and gain the knowledge to use the test results you obtain from your own test kits, and put the knowledge to use in the form of daily maintenance of your pool.

Your test results aren't necessarily "no good" We just tend to be skeptical of pool store results (for good reason).

You do need to shock your pool - with Liquid Chlorine - and you need to increase your CYA/Stabilizer level. You will need to learn how to use the Pool Calculator (article in Pool School) as well - this tells you how much of each chemical you need to add.

Does this all make sense? Take a deep breath - we are here to help - don't want you to feel overwhelmed at all. We were all new here, once. Including me. How do you think I got my screenname?

 

[jrocksinc]

which pool test do you suggest I get? I know there are the two.. which is better

 

[duraleigh]

If one was CLEARLY better, that's all we would suggest. They are both quite similar with most folks thinking the TF-100 is a better value for quantity reasons. Pick me! Pick me

 

[jrocksinc]

read through the "Shock Process" again and I cannot see where it states which type of shock to get, just has the process and steps to take.

 

[duraleigh]

Liquid chlorine is ALWAYS the best. All other forms have chlorine have side effects that may (but not necessarily) cause problems.

 

[jrocksinc]

pool testing kit ordered (TF-100)

 

[ouachita]

You are not looking for "shock" as in a bag of powder. You want to use liquid chlorine whether you get it at the pool store or use bleach. I buy generic 8% bleach from dollar general. You then add enough of this to shock the pool.

 

[jrocksinc]

and based off of my test results, I, or someone will be able to help with how much liquid shock or bleach goes into my pool?

 

[Richard320]

and based off of my test results, I, or someone will be able to help with how much liquid shock or bleach goes into my pool?

Yes. You just plug in the values and the pool size and Pool Calculator does the math.

 

[jrocksinc]

test with my tf-100

the r-870 did not turn my pool water pink at all, it remained the same color (clear)
FC- 0
CC- .5
TC .5
TA-160
CH-280
CYA 20 (maybe a little lower then 20 I could still barely see the black spot on the test tube)
ph 7.8