High FC and TA, What should I try to tackle first...

[todd.west]

FC-16.5
CC-0
pH-7.5
TA-260
CH-375
CYA-30
SALT-2000

New to all of this, not sure what I should go after first. Still pretty cold here WT=57f.

If I go for the TA seems like I need to raise the pH up and then use acid along with aeration to get that to come down. The app will calculate the pH up but what should I start with on the acid?

The pool place that opened the pool this spring told me to put the 3in pucks in the skimmers until that water warmed up, think that is still a good idea? or is the SWG taking care of that now? Would that be the reason for elevated FC?

Or should I get my salt levels up to 3000?

 

[Bperry]

FC-16.5
CC-0
pH-7.5
TA-260
CH-375
CYA-30
SALT-2000

New to all of this, not sure what I should go after first. Still pretty cold here WT=57f.

If I go for the TA seems like I need to raise the pH up and then use acid along with aeration to get that to come down. The app will calculate the pH up but what should I start with on the acid?

The pool place that opened the pool this spring told me to put the 3in pucks in the skimmers until that water warmed up, think that is still a good idea? or is the SWG taking care of that now? Would that be the reason for elevated FC?

Or should I get my salt levels up to 3000?

You really just need to manage the pH to keep it in the 7’s. With that high of a TA youll be adding acid frequently which will lower your pH along with the TA.

Dont put anything in the skimmer. If you need to use pucks , put them in a floater.

 

[mas985]

If I go for the TA seems like I need to raise the pH up and then use acid along with aeration to get that to come down. The app will calculate the pH up but what should I start with on the acid?

If your PH is not rising, I would leave TA alone. CSI is a little over 0 so scaling could become an issue with the SWG but with pucks, TA & PH will drop anyway fixing that problem.

The pool place that opened the pool this spring told me to put the 3in pucks in the skimmers until that water warmed up, think that is still a good idea? or is the SWG taking care of that now? Would that be the reason for elevated FC?

The pucks will raise both FC and CYA. Since you are low on CYA, that is a good thing. But as said above, you are better off with a floater.

Or should I get my salt levels up to 3000?

You will want salt at least at 3000 when you turn on the SWG.

 

[todd.west]

So I think I added too much salt. Right around 4000. The machine recommends 4000 or less. (I Knew I should have done less than the pool math Calc, only. Make that mistake once)


Do you think I should drain a bit and refill to get that number down or do you think it'll be fine with splash out and refills during the summer?

Wanted to get the ta and pH balanced but If I need to drain a bit and refill I might as well not waste the chemicals

New numbers as of Tuesday.

Fc 13.5
Cc 0
Tc 13.5
Ch 400
Cya less than 30
Ta 350
Ph 7.8
Cl br off the chart
Salt 4000
Wt 61f

Thanks again.

 

[Lake Placid]

Did you add anything to adjust alkalinity or PH? If not I’d retest. Your rise of 90 ppm in TA seems off.

Cl br off the chart

Is this from the OTO test? If so, don’t waste your time. The FAS-DPD drop test is telling you all you need to know for FC and CC.

 

[Mdragger88]

To lower ta you do not increase ph with a chemical to then turn around & lower it & ta with acid. As any chem that increases ph will also increase ta which is the opposite of your goal.
I suspect this is how your ta increased in 1 day.

You instead aerate the water which increases ph without increasing ta then use acid to lower ph to 7.0/7.2 which lowers ta some. Repeat until your ta is where you want it.
You can actively work on this or just let it happen over time as you manage ph.
Barring some acid accidental overdose you should never need any chem to increase ph or ta in your pool.

Your fc will go down on its own if you’re not adding any via swcg or manual dosing - if you have a cover leave it open for this to happen more quickly.
It is safe for swimmers & equipment for fc to be between min & slam level for your cya.
See—> FC/CYA Levels

Are you just opening the pool? If so - do an
Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to rule out anything funky brewing & if you pass you can add cya to 60ppm as recommended for a swcg (do it in stages as to not overshoot) and set your swcg to maintain target fc levels from the chart.
If you fail (have algae) you will need not exceed 30ppm cya so you can easily perform the
SLAM Process

 

[todd.west]

Did you add anything to adjust alkalinity or PH? If not I’d retest. Your rise of 90 ppm in TA seems off.


Is this from the OTO test? If so, don’t waste your time. The FAS-DPD drop test is telling you all you need to know for FC and CC.

No I didnt. It is my second time using the tf test kit so I was much more precise.

Cl br, is from the block that has ph on one side and the CLBR on the other. It is just orange and didn't correlate with any of the readings.

I am going to retest it all tonight now that I got my magnetic stir kit.

 

[todd.west]

To lower ta you do not increase ph with a chemical to then turn around & lower it & ta with acid. As any chem that increases ph will also increase ta which is the opposite of your goal.
I suspect this is how your ta increased in 1 day.

You instead aerate the water which increases ph without increasing ta then use acid to lower ph to 7.0/7.2 which lowers ta some. Repeat until your ta is where you want it.
You can actively work on this or just let it happen over time as you manage ph.
Barring some acid accidental overdose you should never need any chem to increase ph or ta in your pool.

Your fc will go down on its own if you’re not adding any via swcg or manual dosing - if you have a cover leave it open for this to happen more quickly.
It is safe for swimmers & equipment for fc to be between min & slam level for your cya.
See—> FC/CYA Levels

Are you just opening the pool? If so - do an
Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to rule out anything funky brewing & if you pass you can add cya to 60ppm as recommended for a swcg (do it in stages as to not overshoot) and set your swcg to maintain target fc levels from the chart.
If you fail (have algae) you will need not exceed 30ppm cya so you can easily perform the
SLAM Process

The only thing I did was add salt to the pool and potentially test more precisely. I will retest tonight.

I tuned down the SWG and I removed the pucks the pool company put in the skimmers and it has come down some. I will leave the cover open tomorrow when I am at home.

I opened the pool April 2nd but really just getting into balancing it now. I do that FC loss test next.


What do you think about the salt levels? Do you think a 6in drain and refill is necessary or do you think I can ride it out? Not looking to ruin my salt cell year one of owning.

 

[mas985]

So I think I added too much salt. Right around 4000. The machine recommends 4000 or less. (I Knew I should have done less than the pool math Calc, only. Make that mistake once)

Turn on the SWG and see if it alarms. The unit will shut down on it's own if it is too high.

Do you think I should drain a bit and refill to get that number down or do you think it'll be fine with splash out and refills during the summer?

I don't think it will be an issue at the current level but again, to test, turn on the SWG. But don't leave it on if you are still using the pucks.

Wanted to get the ta and pH balanced but If I need to drain a bit and refill I might as well not waste the chemicals

True. However, I would not really consider PH and TA "out of balance" especially for a vinyl pool. As I posted earlier, I think they are fine for now since the pucks will continue to lower both PH and TA for you without having to do anything.

I would measure TA again and make sure you are doing it correctly. If you really want to lower TA, first raise PH with aeration or just wait for it to rise on it's own. But if PH does not rise on it's own, then TA is fine were it is.

 

[Lake Placid]

No I didnt. It is my second time using the tf test kit so I was much more precise.

Cl br, is from the block that has ph on one side and the CLBR on the other. It is just orange and didn't correlate with any of the readings.

I am going to retest it all tonight now that I got my magnetic stir kit.

Ignore the block for testing FC. It's a quick go -no go test to verify chlorine in the pool. If you use it the left graduations are for chlorine and the right is for Bromine. Since you don't have a bromine pool, you'd ignore that column of numbers.

You're on the high side ragged edge of salt levels for a Jandy system. You will lose some (minimal) salt due to splash out and refilling (and backwashing if you have sand or de filter) but the most conservative approach would be to do some draining and refilling to lower to 3000 - 3500 ppm.

 

[todd.west]

Turn on the SWG and see if it alarms. The unit will shut down on it's own if it is too high.


I don't think it will be an issue at the current level but again, to test, turn on the SWG. But don't leave it on if you are still using the pucks.


True. However, I would not really consider PH and TA "out of balance" especially for a vinyl pool. As I posted earlier, I think they are fine for now since the pucks will continue to lower both PH and TA for you without having to do anything.

I would measure TA again and make sure you are doing it correctly. If you really want to lower TA, first raise PH with aeration or just wait for it to rise on it's own. But if PH does not rise on it's own, then TA is fine were it is.

I have the SWG on I don't seems to have any issues. No alarms or anything. Only have it set at 30% as I have high FC currently.

I also took pucks out of the skimmers and I an no longer using them. Was hoping that now that the SWG is on with better salt levels I would not need them. Hopefully that will help bring down my CYA too.


That is where I am confused on all this. Every where I read saying my TA is out of wack and needs to be brought down. The pool app says it should be within 50-90.



The most important question is after all of this balancing who do I know the pool water is safe?

 

[todd.west]

Ignore the block for testing FC. It's a quick go -no go test to verify chlorine in the pool. If you use it the left graduations are for chlorine and the right is for Bromine. Since you don't have a bromine pool, you'd ignore that column of numbers.

You're on the high side ragged edge of salt levels for a Jandy system. You will lose some (minimal) salt due to splash out and refilling (and backwashing if you have sand or de filter) but the most conservative approach would be to do some draining and refilling to lower to 3000 - 3500 ppm.

I think I am going to drain some and try to get the levels down. Just to be safe.

 

[mas985]

I have the SWG on I don't seems to have any issues. No alarms or anything. Only have it set at 30% as I have high FC currently.

With current FC levels, I would shut it off until FC drops. Without any alarming the SWG is fine, no worries. It will drop with rain overflow anyway.

I also took pucks out of the skimmers and I an no longer using them. Was hoping that now that the SWG is on with better salt levels I would not need them. Hopefully that will help bring down my CYA too.

With a SWG, CYA should be 80 ppm, not 30 ppm. I would turn off the SWG, leave the pucks in the pool via a floater and raise CYA to at least 60 ppm. I prefer 80 ppm as it saves SWG life.

Also, this will allow the rain to drop the salt level without draining and wasting both water and salt. Rain will also lower TA.

That is where I am confused on all this. Every where I read saying my TA is out of wack and needs to be brought down. The pool app says it should be within 50-90.

Those are recommendations, not absolutes. Nothing bad is going to happen with a high TA in a vinyl pool. As I said previously you might see some scaling in the SWG and if you do, then consider dropping TA but for now, I would just wait and see. But if the SWG is off, then no worries. Nothing catastrophic is going to happen immediately. But do remeasure the TA to make sure you are doing it correctly.

The most important question is after all of this balancing who do I know the pool water is safe?

I think the pool water is perfectly safe.

 

[Bperry]

But do remeasure the TA to make sure you are doing it correctly.

Id second this recommendation. 350ppm is really high and something not seen often. Maybe post a picture or video of the test for a second opinion.

 

[Mdragger88]

I have the SWG on I don't seems to have any issues. No alarms or anything. Only have it set at 30% as I have high FC currently.

I also took pucks out of the skimmers and I an no longer using them. Was hoping that now that the SWG is on with better salt levels I would not need them. Hopefully that will help bring down my CYA too.


That is where I am confused on all this. Every where I read saying my TA is out of wack and needs to be brought down. The pool app says it should be within 50-90.



The most important question is after all of this balancing who do I know the pool water is safe?

High ta doesn’t hurt anything or anyone- it is literally the last thing to worry about.
Chlorine is priority #1
Ph is priority #2
Fc anywhere between minimum & slam level for your cya & ph in the 7’s is safe for swimmers, equipment & surfaces.

Chemicals in the skimmers is a no no.
If you need to use pucks in the future buy a floater.

 

[todd.west]

I tested these twice now and used the magnetic stir for these new numbers. I feel pretty confident these are a good baseline. I turned the salt cell off to bring the FC levels down.

Think i was getting a false reading on the salt levels. I tested this many time and it has come back with 15 drops in the solution.

Fc 12
Cc 0.5
Tc 12.5
Ch 350
Cya less than 30, Filled the small tube up before I lost sight of black dot
Ta 230
Ph 7.8
Salt 3000
Wt 61f

 

[Mdragger88]

Just get your cya up to 50/60 and you’ll be golden
& follow the
FC/CYA Levels
Not sure about your location/uv exposure considering you have an auto cover but in the peak of summer you may need around 70 ppm cya to help protect the fc your swcg makes if you keep the cover off alot.
If you want the fc to fall more quickly just leave the cover open.