2nd season with pool, getting things balanced

[Omnipotent]

Guys and gals...last year after pool was installed balance was pretty consistent with the exception of PH which climbed like crazy every other day or so.

This year had to have pool drained and acid washed (long story but was planned with PB), and had fresh water dumped in. I've spent a couple of weeks trying to get everything balanced out again but it's still not ideal...or maybe I just don't think they are ideal.

Test results

5/17 tested at 9am

PH 7.8
FC 1
CC 0
CYA 20
TA 70
CH 180

SWG was set for 30% with a run time of 4 hours early in the AM at 1750 GPM

I increased SWG to 60% with same run time and speed....added jugs of MA every couple of days (gone through 4 128oz jugs in the last week or so), also added 4 lbs of stabalizer to increase CYA. Logic was, sun was eating Chlorine, so needed to up CYA to protect against, and PH was rising so much because of new water combined with recent acid wash.

Results today...a week plus later (wanted to give CYA chance to mix throughout the pool, added via sock and skimmer method.

5/25 tested at 9am

PH 8.2+
FC 1.5
CC 0
CYA 20
TA 90
CH 250

I'm not sure why 4 lbs of stablizer didn't do much...other than the fact that maybe CYA was actually 0 and I assumed the lowest gradient of 20....so perhaps 4 lbs more (pool calc says 120oz) is needed. However on the CC/FC....not sure what I can do to increase this...or should I leave this alone while I adjust CYA to correct levels? Also, PH is still kicking my butt.....it was 7.2 3 days ago and today sky high (pool was used yesterday by 6 kids for a couple of hours and water features were on).

Anyway, any input appreciated....I'm thinking I will adjust PH and CYA and leave everything else alone for another week (except PH which I will test daily) and see where I'm at. Does this sound like a reasonable approach?

Thanks

 

[Defgufman]

Cya takes a week or so to show up on your tests

 

[Omnipotent]

It's been 8 days...so it should have increased somewhat by now, wouldn't you think?

 

[tim5055]

Yes, if you just had an acid wash you really should test and adjust the pH daily. You have exposed new plaster and it's like a new finish curing again.

I test weekly for everything (except CYA) and every few days for FC & pH. But, I have a automated system adding chlorine. For other folks reading, if you add manually - check and adjust daily...

 

[duraleigh]

OP,

Are you using PoolMath to calculate your dosages?

 

[Omnipotent]

I am.

 

[Omnipotent]

Ok another week and I'm back.

SWG is at 65% for 4 hours

6/1
FC 1
CC 0
TA 100
CH 250
CYA 45
PH 8.2+

As has been stated PH bounces every day so I'm adding 32oz of MA every two days, I tested before adding this morning.

My big question is FC, I still can't get it to rise much at all. When adding cya and running pump for 24 hours FC is in the 4-5 range but as soon as I go back to normal pump setting FC drops to barely 1. I figured raising cya would address this loss but it still hasn't done much. Pool calculator wants me to raise cya a bit more to ~70 which I will do but now I'm wondering if something else is going on with the FC?

Thoughts.

 

[scott39]

What does the water look like? Crystal clear?

 

[Dan P]

We have the same SWG and Jandy pumps are similar. You might have to bump up the RPMs, I have mine set at 1800, and also bump up the percentage on the SWG. I called Jandy for tech advice and their is no set RPM and SWG percentage run times. If your water is clear, get CYA up a bit and play with the settings. You will eventually figure out what works for you.

 

[Omnipotent]

Water is crystal clear.....added for stabilizer today so will perform the whole test set again next week.

I talked about rpm last year and several on here said gpm didn't matter, which I didn't believe as more water flows if your still at the same % you have to chlorinate more water but others here said nope so I left it at 1750. Might try increasing run time a bit as well.....funny thing is last year it ran at the same settings (actually ran at 30%) and had no FC issues so we'll see.

Thanks again.