water chemistry help

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Alacayo22

Active member
May 8, 2023
40
Miami, Florida
Pool Size
12000
Surface
Plaster
Hi guys, complete pool newb here and asking for your help. I just re-did my pool plaster on a 12,000 gallon pool in South Florida. I fired my previous maintenance guys and i'm going to start doing myself. So it's been a huge learning curve, frustrating at times, but challenging in a good way. Last Saturday the pool construction guy came over and started the pool up for the first time including chlorine. For reference, I have a SWG but for a month it's suppose to just be chlorine. During pool construction and with the help of endlessly reading r/pools and TFP, I ordered the TF-100-Salt test + PH meter. On Sunday I did my first test to try and get the hang of it. Results were as followed: FC - .9; CC: 0; TC: .9; CH: 300; TA: 80; CYA 30.

In the meantime I was cleaning the filter like crazy. On Tuesday, the pool construction guy came back and added more chlorine + stabilizer. Stabilizer clogged my filter and i learned that I should've used a sock.
Today, i re-did the test and got the following: FC: 37 (lol what!); CC: .1; TC: 37.1; CH: 325; TA: 70; CYA: 68; PH 6.6-6.7 (with the meter).
Since I was surprised by the FC I went to Pinch a Penny to Compare. I told pinch a penny to change our computer entry of us from SWG to Chlorine and he dismissed it saying it's the same Their results were: TC: 5; FC: 5; CC: 0; PH: 7.8; Acid Demand (?): 2 drops; TA: 100; CH: 270; Stabilizer: 90; Salt: 1000 (? even though there should be no salt and the SWG has been off). The guy at pinch a penny basically admitted that their FC results don't go above 5 even if there is more. He said my chlorine is fine and not dangerous to use but i'm completely skeptical of that. He basically dismissed by tests results, told me to add some acid to my pool, and thats it. I have a hard time believing that and not sure what to do at this point. So what should I do at this point?

Thank you all for reading and for your help.
 
Alacayo22 said:
FC: 37 (lol what!); CC: .1; TC: 37.1; CH: 325; TA: 70; CYA: 68; PH 6.6-6.7 (with the meter).
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Did you calibrate the meter? Did you do the drop test for pH? If not go do that and post a picture.

There is no way to get a CC result of .1. Can you describe how you tested to get 37 and .1?

Let's get a better picture on FC and pH before we do anything.

DON'T add acid.
 
PoolStored said:
Did you calibrate the meter? Did you do the drop test for pH? If not go do that and post a picture.

There is no way to get a CC result of .1. Can you describe how you tested to get 37 and .1?

Let's get a better picture on FC and pH before we do anything.

DON'T add acid.
Click to expand...

Thank you for response. I did calibrate the ph meter today using the suppose 6&4 powder. It took me a minute to get it right but i was comfortable with my calibration readings with a variance of about .1. After dipping in distilled water I headed to the pool and got the above number.

The cc .1 could have easily been my mistake. With the FC i did it until clear but think i might have called it too soon and left slight pink. I JUST re-did the FC test now before your post and to get completely clear it was only one extra drop. I did not go the step further to do CC. For reference, it took me 74 drops the first time and 75 just now.
 
Alacayo22 said:
After dipping in distilled water I headed to the pool and got the above number.
Click to expand...
How long did you swish the meter around in the pool before reading a result?

Alacayo22 said:
The cc .1 could have easily been my mistake. With the FC i did it until clear but think i might have called it too soon and left slight pink. I JUST re-did the FC test now before your post and to get completely clear it was only one extra drop. I did not go the step further to do CC. For reference, it took me 74 drops the first time and 75 just now.
Click to expand...
What size water sample did you use?
 
PoolStored said:
How much chlorine did he add?

Do the pH test with the comparator block and post a picture.
Click to expand...

Don't know how much he added. He had a big jug and added (I think) 1 1/2. I think he did that because my first test posted above was .9 and he threw in regeant drops into the pool and said my pool wasn't holding chlorine. I don't know.. all very confusing.

I will go ahead and do the ph test with the comparator block. I'm being sent a new one since it's cracked on the chlorine side and it's tinted yellow. The ph side is fine though.
 
Hi guys, just a bump to see if I can get anymore feedback. I just completed another test with the following results:

FC: 20.5
CC: 0
TA: 90
CYA: 68
CH: skipped since i'm not worried about it right now
PH: 8.2 - First with the PH meter getting low 7s. Then with the comparator block which clearly showed at 8.2 or higher. I recalibrated the PH meter and came up with 8.2 so I felt better than that.

We've had some rain in the last two days so I fully expected PH to go up. I'm happy to see FC go down quite a bit but still not where I want it. Pool Match tells me to put 2 cups of muriatic acid but with the FC out of whack I'm dubious.

Anything else I can do?
 

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Hi guys, back with another bump on my obsession to learn & get this learn.

Just did another chlorine test and came up with 10.5 & CC 0. That's half of yesterday. I'm happy to see it way down but now I have it in my mind of whether there is algae. Water looks clean to me except for some dirt and leaves that I've been trying to sweep since I can't vacuum yet. I was considering doing the OCLT. Is that too much & just my paranoia?

Also PH came up as 8.8 but that's because it's still raining. Not going to add acid since it was suggested to wait until the FC is 10 or below. CYA remained at 70. I didn't do the other tests.

Thank you :)
 
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