Taking Over Pool Duties!

[Tobylee13]

Started with 26 pounds of salt, 2 Arm & Hammer Clear Balance tablets aka:baking soda
(Arm Hammer Clear Balance Pool Maintenance Tablets - Walmart.com)
Initial Reading; SALT 2430, FC 8.5, CC 0.5, PH 6.8, TA 30, CYA 230, CH 50

A little about me. I live in the humid state of Louisiana, and the temperature is slowly rising outside. I'm new to do the pool duties,taking over for my husband. So be kind to me. I know the salt is somewhat low and the TA is really low. I'll need to adjust that along with the PH. Husband texted me that he added another tablet of Baking Soda this morning.
Time to go figure out your pool calculator. Any help will be appreciated.
FYI: For the last 3 years of owning our pool we've never used Borate.

:queen:Toby

 

[carpenter333]

Welcome aboard!

Depending on what test you used to get your numbers, it is time for a water change over.

Your CYA is 3X higher than it should be. So I would drain approx. 65% of the water to start before dropping in your salt if your CYA is really at 230.

 

[wrems]

What test kit are you using?

If your CYA is that high your primary concern and first objective is draining the pool and refilling it with clean water. Don't worry about anything else until your CYA is in control.

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

Yeah, I'd double check that you didn't get the abbreviations crossed. CYA 230 and CH 50 seems reversed.

The baking soda pills won't help much with the pH. 6.8 is as low as the tester reads, so it could be lower than that. Given the low TA, I'd bet on it. Borax or Washing Soda will raise it up to the safe zone.

How's the water look?

Poolmath is pretty simple. The tutorial explains it well. Take a gander down at Effects of Adding Chemicals, and you can see what gets affected when you add each chemical - notably how much or how little pH and TA adjustments affect each other. Too often people look at each parameter independently and raise both and then wonder why they went over.

 

[Scuba_Steve]

BTW, did your pool already have salt in it? 26lbs is a very small amount of salt and shouldnt have raised your pool to that level. I have the same pool and used 160lbs to get to ~3000ppm.

 

[Tobylee13]

Corrections as of today 6/5/15: SALT 2430, FC 5, CC .05, PH 6.8, TA 30, CYA 0, CH 50
My mistake on the CYA it was 25 then but is now 0

 

[Tobylee13]

I must have had lack of sleep when my husband told me how much salt he initially said he added. Sorry. Talked to my husband, when I asked him how much salt he added, he thought I asked how much salt he needed to add thus the confusion.
Initially he added 3 bags 40 lbs each, total= 120 lbs

 

[Scuba_Steve]

CYA normally doesn't just disappear. The only way that happens is if your pool has ammonia. That is not the case though because your pool would also not be able to hold FC at all.

Regardless, double and triple check your CYA. Adjust it to 50 ppm to start, then in a few days test again. After it has been in there for a week test once more, then add any extra needed to bump you up to 70.

Add salt anytime to get you to at least 3000ppm.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, make sure you fix your pH before adding that CYA. CYA drops pH, and yours is already very low. Do not want it to go even lower!