Water testing

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While the pool school outlines a basic guideline of how often to test each of those levels (daily, weekly, monthly), your pool will begin to tell you as well. As long as there are no significant water exchanges, CYA and CH should remain relatively stable throughout each month. FC and pH will be your most critical levels subject to changes followed by TA. You're doing good to check FC and pH each day. Check TA at least weekly, then based on your pool's history you might get by on CH and CYA every 2-4 weeks. Keep a log of your testing to reflect back on if needed.
 
Good Start on the pool, Pat mentioned keeping a log of your pool chemistry, below is one line of an excel spreadsheet that I created for my pool ...


Date F.C. C.C. T.C. PH TA CH CYA Salt Borate Temp Filter Comments
06/04/16 6 0.5 6.5 7.5 80 25 50 N/A N/A 90 15 Noon Test, Raised the Liquidator up to 4 from 3 as the CL was at 3

Not able to keep the numbers in line, when I post.
 
Yea, I answered my own question shortly after I asked. I have another question, I am adding a little liquid chlorine daily to my pool to keep the chlorine at correct levels. I am thinking this is normal because I know chlorine gets used up but just wanting to make sure that is normal.
 
Yes, that is normal. Incidental organic matter (skin cells, leaves, bugs, etc) will use up FC and sunlight will also burn off FC.

CYA helps stop the sun from burning off the FC, but it also lowers the effectiveness of the FC against organics. Its a balance. You want enough CYA so that your FC does not all burn off in the sun, but you also want to keep the CYA low enough so that your required FC levels for effectiveness against organics are reasonable.

You will start to "learn" your pool. For example, I know that with a normal day, with normal usage, my pool consumes about a quart of 8.25% bleach per day. If we have a large bather load, or some other factor, that amount may change. However, if on a normal day, my consumption goes up significantly, then I know something is amiss, and it means its time to run a full battery of tests, and figure out just what is going on before it becomes a huge problem.

-dave
 
Make sure when adding, go for the TARGET # to make sure that you have enough to cover burn off by sun and usage during the day. I test when I get home from work, and add to be just above my target because there is still daylight left on the pool. I have a timer and its set to turn back on at least a half hour before I get home. The minimum is what you don't want to ever go below.

You might want to use the FAS/DPD daily, with your target number of 5, you might want to go to 6 or 7 until you see how your daily usage turns out.
 
Just wanted to give an update. My pool has been up for a month now and once I got all of my levels up to where they needed to be, I am only working on the pool about 10 minutes a day. Clean all the baskets, test PH and Chlorine levels and add about 1/4 a bottle of liquid chlorine. Just wanted to stop in and say thanks again for all the help and I can't believe how easy it has been so far maintaining my pool and how crystal clear my water has been.
 

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