TA and CH problem

[Swami]

Hello,

Here are my pool water readings:
FC = 8
Ph = 7.2
TA = 40
CH = 480
CY = 50

From the attachment you'll see that TA keeps going down and CH keeps increasing. What should I do?

Thanks,
Swami

 

[bobodaclown]

What are you adding or doing on a daily basis? Are you adding MA?

 

[Swami]

Daily I add Chlorine and Muriatic Acid based on the Pool Calculator.

 

[bobodaclown]

OK. It's good to test your PH and TC daily but you don't need to test the TA/CH, you can get away doing it bi-weekly. The daily dose of MA is driving the TA down. What is you CSI index? At a quick look you're below -.6, your CH may be coming from the plaster.
Let your PH climb, you can keep it at 7.8, the range is 7.5 to 7.8. (These are recommendations.)
Looks like your keeping you PH too low. What's the reasoning there?
keep adding the daily chlorine, but stop the MA (wait till it gets above 7.8 or higher)

 

[Swami]

CSI did show to be-0.6 as you predicted. I will keep PH in the range 7.5 to 7.8 as you suggest.
What do I do about the CH?
And what range should CH be in?

 

[bobodaclown]

I don't worry about the CH, (mine is currently 475) and use it to balance out the CSI value. I like to run a slightly negative CSI value. It seems to minimize scale in my SWCG.

Sorry I'm kinda getting into advanced chemical balance stuff that you don't need to worry about.

How is the water looking?
Have you read pool school? There are great articles such as:
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/123-abc-of-pool-water-chemistry
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/131-basic-pool-care-schedule

Back to your original question

From the attachment you'll see that TA keeps going down and CH keeps increasing. What should I do?

Keep adding daily dose of chlorine, but stop the daily dose of MA and let the PH climb to 7.8 and don't let it go below 7.5.

 

[duraleigh]

The suggested range for all your parameters are found in Pool School.

What does your water look like?

What is the CH of your fill water?

For someone starting out, I would suggest you ignore csi and focus on the essential items that we test....

FC

pH

CC

TA

CH

CYA

Keeping those items in the correct ranges makes csi irrelevant.

 

[Swami]

The water looks clean and clear.
I have read things from the Pool School. And for the last 9 months I have been testing for:
FC and PH daily.
TA, CH, and CY once a week.

I will reread and study the articles you have suggested.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes, I am starting out. I joined the TFP site 9 months ago and have been following the suggestions in the Pool School. But, did not know what to do with the TA going down and CH increasing continuously. Thanks for your help.

 

[Swami]

To adjust CH the Calculator suggests to replace 19% of the pool water. I know this is the solution. However, where I am Ben Lomond California we have a drought and water is restricted. Is there another way to solve the problem?

 

[bobodaclown]

No need to change your water, if it's only your CH that is high. Your water looks good, you're maintaining a good FC level. You can probably get away with testing your TA, CH, and CYA to bi-weekly or monthly.
As long as your water is looking good, and you don't have any scaling forming around the water line I wouldn't worry about the CH.

 

[Swami]

Thank you,
Swami