Getting all my levels accurate

[jfotter]

Hello,

New pool owner here. Bought an intex 12ft X 30in Deep pool for my young kids. After realizing that the people at leslies were giving me a lot of conflicting information I decided it best to research on my own. After looking over this website and using poolcalculator I think I have a pretty good handle on what's needed. I have a few questions that I will list below after my latest readings.

Here's my current reading

~1700 Gallon Pool (Water is clear and I learned early on that I need to run the filter every day)
FC = 11ppm (We were out of town a few days and I shocked it so the chlorine would not all go away. Kept the cover on. Took it off now to let the sun do it's thing to bring the FC down)
PH = 6.9 (I know that's low. Using Chlorbrite (dichlor) for chlorine. I guess that brings down the PH according to what I've read)
TA = 130
CA = 160
CYA = 42
Temp = ~90 degrees Fahrenheit (It's a small pool and it's been almost 100 every day here so it heats up real fast)

My Location is Los Angeles.

I'm using the Taylor Complete FAS-DPD Pool Water Test Kit K-2006 to do my testings. Chlorbrite for chlorine and I have Soda Ash from Leslies to bring the PH up. Now here's my questions

1. I just put 4oz of Soda Ash in the pool. Should I assume this will be a regular thing based on the fact I'm using dichlor?
2. Looks like regular bleach is the reccomended choice from this site. If I switched would I not have the lowering effect of the PH that the dichlor does? I just bough a full tub so I'm probably going to stick with that
3. When should I worry about the PH / TA ratio? Is it bad if I need to keep adding soda ash? Does that mean I have a bigger problem?
4. Should I bring up the CA any higher?
5. If I keep using dichlor it seems like my CYA will eventually get to high? I plan on draining and storing the pool sometime late september so I'm assuming I don't neet to worry about this?

Thanks for any replies / suggestions you might have. I'm enjoying the "science" behind figuring out how to best maintain a pool

Jason

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

1) If you are using dichlor regularly, your PH will go down rapidly, and you will need to add soda ash constantly. The CYA level will also be constantly going up, which will get to be a serious problem after several weeks.

2) Bleach is essentially PH neutral, so far less adjustment of PH required.

3) As long as you are using dichlor, try to keep TA around 120 to 150 and PH between 7.4 and 7.8. Soda ash is a great chemical to use with dichlor as it will tend to raise both of them more or less the correct amount.

4) It sounds like you have a vinyl pool, so adding calcium is not needed.

5) Dichlor will raise CYA way more quickly than that, so you do need to worry about it.

 

[jfotter]

Wow thanks for the quick response. Yes vinyl pool. I think I will start using bleach to keep the chlorine around 5ppm once it drops from it's current level.

What's a high CYA level? If I start using regular bleach will the CYA stay at it's level?

Jason

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!

The CYA will stay basically constant when you switch to bleach. Have you found and read Pool School yet? We recommend the CYA stay in the 30-50ppm range ... So you are good now.

 

[jfotter]

Bleach is working out great. Ph is staying right in line. Thanks for the recommendations. Much appreciated.