High alkalinity, conditioner.

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Now with fresh water and CYA @30 a pattern has developed:
Additions of Chlorine and Acid are required every other day, otherwise everything is pretty good.

  1. Is that chlorine and acid requirement within an average of others?
  2. Feels as if I can go with daily quick tests, and weekly T-100. Cool?
  3. TA is stable @ 150. Do i need to address?

Most importantly, THANK y'all and the site for empowering me to exit the pool store and go it alone, with TFP of course. Since signing up I've gained the knowledge and confidence to do so. I am saving lots !!!!!
 
IS IT REALLY THIS EASY?

With fresh water, the pool only needs 12oz Muriatic Acid 30.45% and 4oz Chlorine daily to keep numbers in range.
(using up last of CaHypo, then i'll go to bleach).
Numbers at 7AM:

Temp: 88
Ph: 7.5
FC: 3.5
CC: .5
TC: 4
TA: 110
CH: 350
CYA: 30
Besides daily additions of chems, daily brushing, weekly sweeping, and monthly cleaning all returns, is my plan. Am I missing anything?IMG_0333.jpg
 
DesertPete said:
IS IT REALLY THIS EASY?

With fresh water, the pool only needs 12oz Muriatic Acid 30.45% and 4oz Chlorine daily to keep numbers in range.
(using up last of CaHypo, then i'll go to bleach).
Numbers at 7AM:

Temp: 88
Ph: 7.5
FC: 3.5
CC: .5
TC: 4
TA: 110
CH: 350
CYA: 30
Besides daily additions of chems, daily brushing, weekly sweeping, and monthly cleaning all returns, is my plan. Am I missing anything?View attachment 39925
Click to expand...

You say you are going to use up your CalHypo but that will add calcium and the numbers you posted indicate you are at the high end of the recommended level now. Recommend you switch to bleach now.

But yes, TFP really is THAT EASY :)
 
Richard320:
Brush everyday. Thats one of the reasons I sent the photo, the grass is dead now but you can see how much plant material is in our and everyones yards. Plus we are in a wind zone and there's stuff in it every morning so skim n brush daily.
CYA to 50: That makes me really nervous as said. Hmmmm.... FC goes from 5 to 1 or 2 every day...... in light of that I'll up the CYA SLOWLY. Don't know how long we'll have water restrictions, so don't know when/if I'll be able to drain again. Plus there no CYA in anything I put in the pool so it should stay pretty steady.
??what about evaporation/concentration of CYA???

Swoopman: did not think one bucket would matter, take your advice go to Bleach today.
 
Last edited:
DesertPete said:
With fresh water, the pool only needs 12oz Muriatic Acid 30.45% and 4oz Chlorine daily to keep numbers in range.
Click to expand...

Your numbers don't add up. In your signature it says "15000 gal play pool", but adding only 4 ounces of even 12.5% chlorinating liquid in 15,000 gallons is only 0.26 ppm FC. Did you mean 1500 gallons for the play pool size? Also you wrote "(3.5" either end n 5.5" in middle)" but I believe you meant feet (') not inches (") for the depth, correct?

The amount of acid you are adding is very high, possibly because of your higher TA. You could consider lowering your TA, but your fill water based on this water quality report may have 130 ppm TA so with evaporation and refill your TA will tend to rise. 12 ounces of acid in 1500 gallons would lower the TA by nearly 30 ppm and lower your pH substantially. Are you sure you didn't mean 1.2 ounces instead of 12 (assuming a 1500 gallon pool)?
 
That pool looks great!

I second raising CYA to 40 or 50 to help with chlorine loss to the sun.

It is this easy and will get even easier because as you add acid to lower you PH your TA is slowly dropping too. Eventually TA and PH will reach homeostasis and you won't even have to add acid. :)

More here about Lowering Total Alkalinity
 
chem geek said:
Your numbers don't add up. In your signature it says "15000 gal play pool", but adding only 4 ounces of even 12.5% chlorinating liquid in 15,000 gallons is only 0.26 ppm FC. Did you mean 1500 gallons for the play pool size? Also you wrote "(3.5" either end n 5.5" in middle)" but I believe you meant feet (') not inches (") for the depth, correct?

The amount of acid you are adding is very high, possibly because of your higher TA. You could consider lowering your TA, but your fill water based on this water quality report may have 130 ppm TA so with evaporation and refill your TA will tend to rise. 12 ounces of acid in 1500 gallons would lower the TA by nearly 30 ppm and lower your pH substantially. Are you sure you didn't mean 1.2 ounces instead of 12 (assuming a 1500 gallon pool)?
Click to expand...

Correct, meant 3.5 feet x5.5 feet.
Until today I have been using Calcium Hypochlorite 73% for sanitizer, after advice will switch to Sodium Hypochlorite 10%, as it is cheaper than bleach here. The measures I stated were 4 dry ounces of Calcium Hypo 73%. By experience 4 dry oz of 73% will raise TC by 4-5 ppm depending on water temp. and adding 120z Muriatic Acid 31.45% will keep the PH at 7.5
 

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pooldv said:
That pool looks great!

I second raising CYA to 40 or 50 to help with chlorine loss to the sun.

It is this easy and will get even easier because as you add acid to lower you PH your TA is slowly dropping too. Eventually TA and PH will reach homeostasis and you won't even have to add acid. :)

More here about Lowering Total Alkalinity
Click to expand...

I will slowly raise the CYA.
The TA of the Palm Springs tap is 160, as was the pool after filling. Have kept the Ph at 7.5, and it is getting lots of aeration by use and running the spa 1 - 2 hours per day. TA has been steady @ 110. Do I need to lower it more?
 
Nope, there is no reason to lower TA other than to stabilize PH. If the PH is happy then the TA is happy. If the PH rises more than you want then lowering TA will help to slow the PH rise.
 
Temp: 85
Ph: 7.5
FC: 4.0
CC: .5
TC: 4.5
CH: 350
TA: 80
CYA: 40
Holding FC better, Ph more stable. Was adding 12 oz Muriatic Acid per day, now 6oz to keep Ph steady. Lowered TA with aeration.
Daily additions of 1.5 cup twice a day of 10% Chlorine.
 
7-30-15
Temp: 88
Ph: 7.5
FC: 2.0
CC: 0
TC: 2.0
TA: 80
CYA: 40
Yesterday was the first time I did not add acid to pool, and the Ph and TA are the same. Will check daily for a while, but is this what was meant by the Ph and TA would reach homeostasis?
Added 4 cups 10% Chlorine last night. With cover on the FC dropped by 2 overnight. Read somewhere on site to keep FC between 3-7. So pool seems to need enough chlorine to raise FC by 3ppm AM & PM. By chart in basic kit it's 1.2 pint per 1ppm (about 2 1/4 cups). For increase of 3ppm that's 6 3/4 cups twice per day. Is this correct? Can I add that much 10% chlorine at one time?
CYA is @ 40, should I bump it up to 50 to hold chlorine better? But wouldn't a CYA of 50 require more chlorine?
 
Yes. Technically the pH could still rise with a TA of 80 ppm and at a pH of 7.5, but it may be slow enough to be tolerable.

Yes, you can add that much chlorine per day. Just add it slowly over a return flow with the pump running and brush the side and bottom of the pool after you've added it to ensure thorough mixing (though that's more important in a vinyl pool as far as chlorine is concerned; for acid addition brushing should be done for all pool types).

The absolute FC loss is lower at higher CYA levels in spite of the proportionally higher FC level to keep the FC/CYA ratio constant. This is due to a non-linear CYA shielding effect. In a hot sunny area it is quite reasonable to have the CYA level be higher and have the FC level higher along with it.
 
Thanks for the explanations, the written word is great, but not as great as knowledge + experience. Y'all have given me the confidence to care for pool "on my own".

This AM, 48 hour after last acid addition, Ph went from 7.5 to 8.2. Think I'll go back to adding 8oz of muriatic acid daily. That seems to keep it at 7.5.

Should I take CYA up to 50? Sounds like it might have a good effect for me here in the Desert. By raising the FC level from CYA-40 @ FC 3-5, to CYA-50 @ 4-6 would give higher average FC. Would that give us better sanitization? Since our Boxer swims with us, and gets in on his own to cool down, would it be helpful to try and maintain a FC at the higher end? Or does it not matter what species swims?
 
The disinfection and oxidation rate from chlorine depends on the active chlorine level and that is proportional the FC/CYA ratio. So a higher FC with the higher CYA doesn't change your sanitation. It just protects the chlorine more from breakdown from sunlight so that it lasts longer.

Unless you thoroughly clean your dog, they generally act like 5 people in the pool. Even so, every dog-hour in a 15,000 gallon pool would be expected to consume around 0.35 ppm FC so not that much.
 
6PM on 8-8-15
Temp: 89
FC: 1
Ph: 8
added 8oz 10% muriatic acid and 5 cups 10% chlorine.
6AM on 8-9-15
Temp: 81
Ph: 7.5
FC: 4.5
CC: 0
TC: 4.5
CH: 350
TA: 80
CYA: 50
Got CYA up to 50. TA is stable at 80.
Ph needs 8oz Muriatic Acid every other day.
FC fluctuates depending on temp and sun. At 6PM FC is usually .5ppm to 1ppm, add 5 cups of 10% chlorine after sunset, and it goes to 6ppm. At 6AM its 5ppm.
Guess I'm in a high chlorine zone with Noon temps at noon around 112*F. Is there any better way to keep chlorine in pool longer? Any other thoughts or direction?
 
Since my pool needs 4-6 cups chlorine I'm shopping for cheapest product, but want to make sure I get it right.

10% pool chlorine states, sodium hypochloirte and 90% other, don't know the other stuff.

Regular/concentrated Clorox contains:
Sodium Hypochlorite
Sodium carbonate
Sodium hydroxide
Sodium polyacrylate
Is this the right stuff?
 

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