First of all, thank you in advance for help and advice.
Thanks also, for this website and all the ah-mazing information!!
This is totally THE best Pool School EVER!
We just recently completed a pool build. Had a good experience with the pool builder, up until the last bit...there are still a few loose ends that are lingering, and lingering, and lingering.....starting to get frustrated with that part, but we will work it out.
ANyway: He acted like balancing the pool was no big deal and just gave me the basic test kit and I've been using that and the AquaCheck strips....No one ever told me about CYA....or that Aereating increases PH...or any of the other million little things that go into Water Chemistry.
Seriously....thanks to you all, I now understand most of it and am determined to get this pool perfectly pristine and stop chasing the Ph down every stinkin' day!!
Here's the current scoop:
FC = 5.5
pH = 7.5
TA = 150
CH = 190
Salt = 3200
Aquapure was set on 48% and maintaining a 3200ppm level of salt....which is recommended by the manufacturer....
As you can see, things are a good bit out-of-whack. The pool looks good and the water is clear....but, I know that this is not a good balance for maintaining our equipment or for sanitary conditions in the pool.....
As per the TF-100 test kit results above and the Pool Calculator, as well as the BBB for beginners and the Water Balance for SWG articles on this website....Here is my game plan:
1) add 1 42 pound bag of salt tomorrow morning (TH), in order to boost the content up immediately, as well as adjust the SWG to a bit higher percentage so that it can maintain a level of about 3400ppm.
2) later tomorrow afternoon (TH), add 3 lbs, 2 oz of solid stabilizer into the skimmers to increase the CYA to 80
3) on Friday morning, add 3 cups, 3 oz of Muriatic acid to decrease the pH to 7.0.....then Aerate with the waterfalls on Saturday morning/most of the day to increase the pH back up to 7.6.....this is in order to adjust the TA to an acceptable level.
4) by Monday afternoon, I will add 25 lbs of Calcium Chloride to increase the Calcium Hardness to a level of 300. (and the pool builder told me that the pH was just way too high and that was what was causing scale on the waterfalls....!!)
5) after getting all of this balanced out, I will plan to add Borax to the mix according to the parameters given on this site.
I do have my filter pump running a good bit...it is a variable speed, and I do like to turn over the water a couple of times a day, at least. I have it running on low from 5:30am until about 12:30pm, then high from 12;30pm until about 6:30pm, then low again until 10:30pm. nothing is running at all from 10:30pm until 5:30am....
Please look this over and let me know what you think.
I've never owned a pool before, and as my husband is vision impaired and our kids are young....it is up to me. We live in an area where there are no pool companies and it isn't convenient to find someone to come out and take care of the pool...nor is it convenient to find chemicals...I know I can just order from Amazon, but....I really want to do the BBB method. It just makes so much more sense!! Besides....this has become a matter of pride for me...I WILL master this and make that pool sparkle! :-D
Thanks again for your help and expertise!!
This is my first time posting on here....I should post a pic of the pool sometime....it turned out really nice. We are happy with it....I got lots of ideas from people here!
Thanks also, for this website and all the ah-mazing information!!
This is totally THE best Pool School EVER!We just recently completed a pool build. Had a good experience with the pool builder, up until the last bit...there are still a few loose ends that are lingering, and lingering, and lingering.....starting to get frustrated with that part, but we will work it out.
ANyway: He acted like balancing the pool was no big deal and just gave me the basic test kit and I've been using that and the AquaCheck strips....No one ever told me about CYA....or that Aereating increases PH...or any of the other million little things that go into Water Chemistry.
Seriously....thanks to you all, I now understand most of it and am determined to get this pool perfectly pristine and stop chasing the Ph down every stinkin' day!!
Here's the current scoop:
FC = 5.5
pH = 7.5
TA = 150
CH = 190
Salt = 3200
Aquapure was set on 48% and maintaining a 3200ppm level of salt....which is recommended by the manufacturer....
As you can see, things are a good bit out-of-whack. The pool looks good and the water is clear....but, I know that this is not a good balance for maintaining our equipment or for sanitary conditions in the pool.....
As per the TF-100 test kit results above and the Pool Calculator, as well as the BBB for beginners and the Water Balance for SWG articles on this website....Here is my game plan:
1) add 1 42 pound bag of salt tomorrow morning (TH), in order to boost the content up immediately, as well as adjust the SWG to a bit higher percentage so that it can maintain a level of about 3400ppm.
2) later tomorrow afternoon (TH), add 3 lbs, 2 oz of solid stabilizer into the skimmers to increase the CYA to 80
3) on Friday morning, add 3 cups, 3 oz of Muriatic acid to decrease the pH to 7.0.....then Aerate with the waterfalls on Saturday morning/most of the day to increase the pH back up to 7.6.....this is in order to adjust the TA to an acceptable level.
4) by Monday afternoon, I will add 25 lbs of Calcium Chloride to increase the Calcium Hardness to a level of 300. (and the pool builder told me that the pH was just way too high and that was what was causing scale on the waterfalls....!!)
5) after getting all of this balanced out, I will plan to add Borax to the mix according to the parameters given on this site.
I do have my filter pump running a good bit...it is a variable speed, and I do like to turn over the water a couple of times a day, at least. I have it running on low from 5:30am until about 12:30pm, then high from 12;30pm until about 6:30pm, then low again until 10:30pm. nothing is running at all from 10:30pm until 5:30am....
Please look this over and let me know what you think.
I've never owned a pool before, and as my husband is vision impaired and our kids are young....it is up to me. We live in an area where there are no pool companies and it isn't convenient to find someone to come out and take care of the pool...nor is it convenient to find chemicals...I know I can just order from Amazon, but....I really want to do the BBB method. It just makes so much more sense!! Besides....this has become a matter of pride for me...I WILL master this and make that pool sparkle! :-D
Thanks again for your help and expertise!!
This is my first time posting on here....I should post a pic of the pool sometime....it turned out really nice. We are happy with it....I got lots of ideas from people here!
