- Aug 10, 2010
- 4
I’ve been enjoying this board (all the helpful people, wonderful advice, and fantastic pool pictures) for a while now. We have graduated to a “big” pool from a blow up 12’ by 36” Intex and now I’m the one needing some advice! We filled our pool from our well (used for gardening) in phases starting Wed night when the build was complete, finally finishing up the fill on Friday about noon.
I started out with just the results from Ace Hardware’s pool testing service on our well water:
FC 0
TC .3
pH 6.2
TA 16
CYA Not tested
Total Hardness 87 (Is this their equivalent of CH?)
As soon as the pump could be turned on, I added pool calculator amounts of my chemicals in this order: 56 oz chlorine, ran the pump for 30 minutes, added 1.7 boxes 20 mule team borax dissolved in water, ran the pump for an hour, during that hour I filled a sock with 3 lb stabilizer for my CYA and put it in front of the return to dissolve (still more to add today), and finally added 12 lbs. baking soda. Last night I was beat and only did the daily test for FC and pH but it showed
FC 2
pH under the 6.8 that would register on the test
This morning I got up and tested again, using my TF 100 for the very first time! I felt like a chemist, which in my case might be a bad thing I didn’t do so well in college chemistry class
FC 3.5
CC .5
TC 4
TA 90
pH 6.8
CYA (assuming it’s 25-30ish since I have added 3 lb stabilizer with more to add today)
Sooooo… here are my questions… hope they don’t give away just how badly I did in chem class
1. Is the total hardness from their test a measure of my CH and if so, is it ok to assume that’s fine and not worry about it from now on?
2. Does the .5 CC mean that the extended time to fill up our pool got us into some troubles with something icky in our pool … and if so, does that mean I need to shock?
3. And here’s the biggie that has me worried! How can my TA be 90 (seemingly near the top of my range) when my pH is sooooo low (at the bottom of my range) Aren’t they in some way dependent upon one another ?
4. In the pool calculator when I put my TA of 90, I am leaving my borates number at 0. Is that no longer accurate when I have added 1.7 boxes of borax ? It’s saying I should add 2 MORE boxes of borax to move my pH from 6.8 to 7.5 ---which is more than originally told me to add to take it from 6.2 to 7.5, a much higher jump. Is that amount correct or am I doing something wrong? Is that because of the CYA that has now been added? And if I do add that much more borax to raise my pH... what will that do to my TA? Will it go though the roof if it's already at 90?
5. We shop in a small town. I have about 1.5 boxes of borax remaining. If I can’t find more borax in the local stores, can I add a mixture of washing soda and borax… and if so how would I determine the amounts of each? Or should I just switch to washing soda for the full amount?
I have read Pool School many many times and I’m sure the answers I need are probably in there somewhere, but I can’t seem to locate them at the moment so I am in need of a bit of personal reassurance that I really DO need to add 2 more boxes of borax to my pool and that I won’t be skewing my TA way over the top and messing up everything else.
Sorry for the long first post .. and THANK YOU in advance for all the help and advice!
Mimi
I started out with just the results from Ace Hardware’s pool testing service on our well water:
FC 0
TC .3
pH 6.2
TA 16
CYA Not tested
Total Hardness 87 (Is this their equivalent of CH?)
As soon as the pump could be turned on, I added pool calculator amounts of my chemicals in this order: 56 oz chlorine, ran the pump for 30 minutes, added 1.7 boxes 20 mule team borax dissolved in water, ran the pump for an hour, during that hour I filled a sock with 3 lb stabilizer for my CYA and put it in front of the return to dissolve (still more to add today), and finally added 12 lbs. baking soda. Last night I was beat and only did the daily test for FC and pH but it showed
FC 2
pH under the 6.8 that would register on the test
This morning I got up and tested again, using my TF 100 for the very first time! I felt like a chemist, which in my case might be a bad thing I didn’t do so well in college chemistry class
FC 3.5
CC .5
TC 4
TA 90
pH 6.8
CYA (assuming it’s 25-30ish since I have added 3 lb stabilizer with more to add today)
Sooooo… here are my questions… hope they don’t give away just how badly I did in chem class
1. Is the total hardness from their test a measure of my CH and if so, is it ok to assume that’s fine and not worry about it from now on?
2. Does the .5 CC mean that the extended time to fill up our pool got us into some troubles with something icky in our pool … and if so, does that mean I need to shock?
3. And here’s the biggie that has me worried! How can my TA be 90 (seemingly near the top of my range) when my pH is sooooo low (at the bottom of my range) Aren’t they in some way dependent upon one another ?
4. In the pool calculator when I put my TA of 90, I am leaving my borates number at 0. Is that no longer accurate when I have added 1.7 boxes of borax ? It’s saying I should add 2 MORE boxes of borax to move my pH from 6.8 to 7.5 ---which is more than originally told me to add to take it from 6.2 to 7.5, a much higher jump. Is that amount correct or am I doing something wrong? Is that because of the CYA that has now been added? And if I do add that much more borax to raise my pH... what will that do to my TA? Will it go though the roof if it's already at 90?
5. We shop in a small town. I have about 1.5 boxes of borax remaining. If I can’t find more borax in the local stores, can I add a mixture of washing soda and borax… and if so how would I determine the amounts of each? Or should I just switch to washing soda for the full amount?
I have read Pool School many many times and I’m sure the answers I need are probably in there somewhere, but I can’t seem to locate them at the moment so I am in need of a bit of personal reassurance that I really DO need to add 2 more boxes of borax to my pool and that I won’t be skewing my TA way over the top and messing up everything else.
Sorry for the long first post .. and THANK YOU in advance for all the help and advice!
Mimi