Chlorox brand PH down

Jump to latest Follow Reply
kimkats said:
Please use pool math. Joyfull gave you the link above.

You can buy baking soda at Walmart or Sams in the BIG bags. So much cheaper than by the box.

Kim
Click to expand...

Thanks guys and gals. That pool calc was RIGHT ON! It said to at 25 oz of baking soda to bring it from 60 to 70. The boxes of baking soda I got were under $2 each and I added a box and a half. Waited until the end of the day and now I'm at 70. woo hoo!

If not for this messageboard, I would have made 10 trips to the pool store and spent $100 in pool chemicals by now. Thanks again.

Got my new solar cover today and fence is almost done!

Solar1.jpg


Solar2.jpg


Fence.jpg
 
I agree PoolMath is an invaluable tool and I use it exclusively. One caveat with it though is that it does not calculate large changes in water parameters accurately. So if you need to adjust the pH units by a large amount (0.4 or more), it's best to use only 80% of the amount specified and then retest and recalculate dosages.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
For those of you following this thread, I want to say thanks again for all the free advice. Our pool water is so clear, clean, and smells great. If not for you guys, I would be relying on the pool store for everything.

A couple weeks ago, I added borax to the pool (and countered with m.a.) and followed the guide here on this site. The water feels great and has a shimmer that sparkles. Maybe it is my imagination, but I can see the dirt at the bottom even clearer now. ha ha ha
A side note.. I went to Leslie's pool store and said, "I need a test kit for borates". They said, "huh?" I said, "you know.... when you increase the borate level in your pool, you need to test to see where it is." There were 3 people working in the store, and not one of them knew what I was talking about. One of the 3 was actually interested and he said he would google it and educate himself. I did a lot of research on it before I did it, and I couldn't find a reason NOT to do it. My PH has not moved since!

Here are my test results at this time. All very consistent (except FC) over the last couple weeks.

CYA: 60-70
PH: 7.6-7.8
TA: 90-100
CH: 150-170
FC: Ranges from 1 - 4, depending on how long I leave the pump on, and where I set the SWG. This is where I need help.
Borates: ~50ppm
Phosphates: 100 (according to Leslies pool store)

Questions:

1. I don't have a phosphate test kit but I had the pool store (leslies) test it and they said the Phosphates are 100, and suggested a product to remove them. Is this necessary? I know when I had a saltwater reef tank, Phosphates can cause algae to grow. What do you guys use to combat this?

2. For my chlorine levels... they change rapidly, but I try to keep them in the 3-ish range. When I say "try", all I'm doing is running the pump longer or shorter, or adjusting the SWG % up or down. One day, I forgot to turn on the pump, and my FC dropped to .5. So then I hit the "boost" button on my SW chlorine gen. The next morning, chlorine was 4.5! So I'm still trying to find a happy medium here... a pump run time and a setting on the SWG that keeps the FC within range. For those of you who have pools with SWG, what is your routine for chlorine? Are you testing it every day? A few times a week?

3. My pool man says to aim for a FC level of 1. He claims nothing more is needed. That doesn't seem like I would have any margin for error as the chlorine gets depleted so quickly. What do you guys think about that? When I'm at 4, I still don't smell any chlorine and the water feels great.

4. When I adjust my SWG to a certain "%"... let's say I set it at 25%, when I come back the next day, it has changed itself. For example, it might be on 30% or 22%. Why is it doing that?

Sorry for so many questions in one post. Thanks in advance. For you regulars on here who have been helping me, I would love to see pictures of your pool, if you would include a link in your reply.
 
guytimes said:
For those of you following this thread, I want to say thanks again for all the free advice. Our pool water is so clear, clean, and smells great. If not for you guys, I would be relying on the pool store for everything.

A couple weeks ago, I added borax to the pool (and countered with m.a.) and followed the guide here on this site. The water feels great and has a shimmer that sparkles. Maybe it is my imagination, but I can see the dirt at the bottom even clearer now. ha ha ha
A side note.. I went to Leslie's pool store and said, "I need a test kit for borates". They said, "huh?" I said, "you know.... when you increase the borate level in your pool, you need to test to see where it is." There were 3 people working in the store, and not one of them knew what I was talking about. One of the 3 was actually interested and he said he would google it and educate himself. I did a lot of research on it before I did it, and I couldn't find a reason NOT to do it. My PH has not moved since!

Here are my test results at this time. All very consistent (except FC) over the last couple weeks.

CYA: 60-70
PH: 7.6-7.8
TA: 90-100
CH: 150-170
FC: Ranges from 1 - 4, depending on how long I leave the pump on, and where I set the SWG. This is where I need help.
Borates: ~50ppm
Phosphates: 100 (according to Leslies pool store)

Questions:

1. I don't have a phosphate test kit but I had the pool store (leslies) test it and they said the Phosphates are 100, and suggested a product to remove them. Is this necessary? I know when I had a saltwater reef tank, Phosphates can cause algae to grow. What do you guys use to combat this?

2. For my chlorine levels... they change rapidly, but I try to keep them in the 3-ish range. When I say "try", all I'm doing is running the pump longer or shorter, or adjusting the SWG % up or down. One day, I forgot to turn on the pump, and my FC dropped to .5. So then I hit the "boost" button on my SW chlorine gen. The next morning, chlorine was 4.5! So I'm still trying to find a happy medium here... a pump run time and a setting on the SWG that keeps the FC within range. For those of you who have pools with SWG, what is your routine for chlorine? Are you testing it every day? A few times a week?

3. My pool man says to aim for a FC level of 1. He claims nothing more is needed. That doesn't seem like I would have any margin for error as the chlorine gets depleted so quickly. What do you guys think about that? When I'm at 4, I still don't smell any chlorine and the water feels great.

4. When I adjust my SWG to a certain "%"... let's say I set it at 25%, when I come back the next day, it has changed itself. For example, it might be on 30% or 22%. Why is it doing that?

Sorry for so many questions in one post. Thanks in advance. For you regulars on here who have been helping me, I would love to see pictures of your pool, if you would include a link in your reply.
Click to expand...

1. Don't worry about phosphates, they are not important. Mine are over 500ppb and I have no problems. Why? Because of you keep your FC in the right range for your CYA, then dead algae don't eat ;) Phosphate removers are expensive, don't always work well and can cause lots of filter issues; you're better of just keeping your FC in the proper range.

2. I would suggest trying to run your pump at 6-8 hours per day and the SWCG at 50%. Then adjust the pump time up (or down) if you feel your pool is not clean enough. Adjust the SWCG % up or down to adjust FC level.

3. Fire your pool man. If you are doing TFPC Method of care then you don't need a pool dude.

4. I have seen this in other posts by people who have AutoPilot SWCG. I have no idea why it does this. Call the manufacturer and report back. That would help many.
 
See this post by @pinguy, apparently the AquaCal Autopilot SWCG's automatically adjust their output percentage by +/-10% for temperature compensation. SO if you set the output to 50%, the unit will decrease the output to as low as 45% or raise the output to as high as 55%. I did not think that water temperature changes caused a big enough change in the cell's efficiency to warrant automatic adjustment, but I guess the AquaCal guys feel like it's important. I don't know of any other unit that does that.

Personally, I would find that extremely annoying and I would hope that the AquaCal controller would allow the user to shut off that particular feature but I have no idea. You'll have to read the manual to see what's up with that function.
 
Most units can instead monitor the current to keep it constant by varying the voltage. That then accounts for salt level and temperature simultaneously. If one doesn't look at the current, then looking at temperature accounts for the 2%/ºC variation in conductivity so 10% would be 5ºC or 9ºF. Unless perhaps they are adjusting for temperature for some other reason such as higher chlorine demand at higher temperature.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply