Low CH - recommendations?

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D

DanaSC

Well-known member
May 16, 2012
150
Lexington, SC
I should have done a full test on my pool when we opened, but all looked good, and, well...here goes:

FC: 4
CC: 0
TC: 4
pH: 7.5
TA: 70
CH: 120 (yikes!)
CYA: 20-30 (I could just call it 25. It's hard to tell. Did the test a few times. We've had a lot of rain and we vacuumed to waste recently so it makes sense that it's low).

Sooo clearly I need to increase CH. It's been a while since I've had to increase CH. What do you recommend I get? I know walmart sells some stuff, just not sure if that's best or not. And can we swim pretty soon after? I have a friends coming to swim tomorrow morning.

Thank you so much! Pool looks great, though, aside from what looked like something happening to the bottom of it (leaching or something?), which led me to do the full test and become concerned about CH. No algae or anything, either, by the way.
 
Don't add anything until your party is over.

After that, add Calcium chloride to bring your pool up to 250 ppm.

Increase your CYA to around 40-50 ppm

Out of curiosity, what is the CH of your fill water?
 
duraleigh said:
Don't add anything until your party is over.

After that, add Calcium chloride to bring your pool up to 250 ppm.

Increase your CYA to around 40-50 ppm

Out of curiosity, what is the CH of your fill water?
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I just tested the fill water because I've never tested it to see what the CH is for it (or anything else for that matter - just tested CH this time), and it's at 30. Is that good/bad/anything?
 
DanaSC said:
I just tested the fill water because I've never tested it to see what the CH is for it (or anything else for that matter - just tested CH this time), and it's at 30. Is that good/bad/anything?
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I'd say it's good. Once you get CH up to snuff, it won't climb very fast from evaporation and refilling.

Do what Dave suggests: wait until after the party to add. It's not uncommon for Calcium to cloud the water for a day or two after it's been added. You don't want that.
 
Bought the calcium hardness increaser (calcium chloride) from Walmart. Instructions say to split the amount needed into three separate applications, spread 6 hours apart. From my calculations I need about 16 lbs, so I just bought 15 lbs. Do you agree that I should do the 5lbs at a time with six hours apart? Thanks! And can I do the stabilizer at the same time?
 
DanaSC said:
Bought the calcium hardness increaser (calcium chloride) from Walmart. Instructions say to split the amount needed into three separate applications, spread 6 hours apart. From my calculations I need about 16 lbs, so I just bought 15 lbs. Do you agree that I should do the 5lbs at a time with six hours apart? Thanks! And can I do the stabilizer at the same time?
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Yes to all of it. Stabilizer will be sitting in the skimmer or just hanging there slowly dissolving. Calcium can cause cloudiness in the pool. I'd bet it will. Splitting the dose up should minimize the clouding and give it time to dissipate between doses. Brushing will help get any that settles out back into suspension. Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
 
Commenting on this thread again since it's along the same lines. Calcium is low again. Granted, we just had 15+ inches of rain in 3 days, but I still would like to know if there is anything other than that record-breaking rain (and draining the pool 5 times because of it to keep it from overflowing) that could be causing my calcium to get so low? Current readings:

FC: 5.5
CC: 0
TC: 5.5
pH: 7.2
TA: 60
CH: 110
CYA: 40
 

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