Waterlink data mate results:
pH 7.6
FC 7.73
Total Chlorine 7.83
CH 151
CYA 135 (or 108)
Water is clear, but with a few spots of yellow algae.
Now, briefly, new pool owner. Just bought the house with the pool. They left behind the granules (sodium dichloro). During the house closing, they reported using about 1 cup of the granules a night with a weekly shock during the pool season. I couldn't find any left over shock bags but I presume it came from Walmart.
When we opened the pool, we had to put in, I would estimate 20-some-odd thousand gallons. The corners of the vinyl liner actually pulled out and had to be fixed because there was so little water. Re-filled with city water.
I hadn't found this website yet so I just wung it. Went to a pool store and they used small vials for testing. "Everything is good" (direct quote) and that I had "zero chlorine in the pool." That made sense to me as I hadn't put anything in it and I replenished a very large quantity of water. They suggested I pour in twice the normal nightly dosage to get going. I did, and then did 1 cup for the next two nights.
We had the algae show up (the pool really did look "perfect" at this point). We had quite the clump of leaves at the bottom during opening, but they had been removed. Poured in one container of the clearview poly 60 and "shocked" the pool. I diligently went to Walmart, grabbed four bags, mixed it up with my broken umbrella rod and dumped it in. I then brushed all over the floor of the pool. The algae was only in spots so it was not out of control.
The algae seemed to go away but I wanted to test the water before Memorial Day. Went to a different store and they had the waterlink software. Yeah, I ended up leaving with $120 worth of calcium flakes and baking soda..........
Otherwise, "everything was fine!" I went from 0 chlorine to 13.1 FC. They simply said, let it dissipate over night, you'll be fine. The normal range was 1-4.
They wanted me to add 30 pounds of this and 40 pounds of that. I didn't. I put less than half of each in after starting my serious pool research.
It was at this point that I started to read this forum and see the relationship between CYA and FC. This Waterlink test showed CYA of "OVR 149ppm."
Yikes.
After the holiday, I had the water tested again but at a different store. They too used the Waterlink. FC dropped to 8 and CYA was now at 108ppm.
? I didn't understand this wild swing and I asked the person. She gave a wild guess but told me the CYA was fine (within the normal range of 30-150). I asked if the CYA was keeping my FC high and she replied, "the CYA has nothing to do with the chlorine."
She told me to let the FC dissipate over night but "everything is fine!"
At this point I'm frustrated and my TF kit has not arrived yet. I can only rely on these (what now seem to be) erroneous readings. I will say that my FC and pH levels all remained the same between tests.
I had one more test done this morning at ANOTHER STORE with a waterlink tester. The results are what you see at the top of this post. "Everything is fine!" just let your FC drop to the 1-4 level.
Why does everyone say my pool is fine?
I apologize for the long post but every time I went to a store, I tried to tell this story and they would only half listen.... and then only to be told that my pool is good to go.
Does my FC level drop slowly because I have CYA in the pool? Or, what appears to be, a lot of CYA?
Secondly, will the TF-100 test show my FC levels higher than 10 if I really do have a high CYA level? I would be disappointed if I couldn't read a higher FC level as draining the pool is less of an option right now. I'm surprised that it would be that high after a serious re-fill. Unless they've been dumping those granules in for so long.
Thank you for any insight.
pH 7.6
FC 7.73
Total Chlorine 7.83
CH 151
CYA 135 (or 108)
Water is clear, but with a few spots of yellow algae.
Now, briefly, new pool owner. Just bought the house with the pool. They left behind the granules (sodium dichloro). During the house closing, they reported using about 1 cup of the granules a night with a weekly shock during the pool season. I couldn't find any left over shock bags but I presume it came from Walmart.
When we opened the pool, we had to put in, I would estimate 20-some-odd thousand gallons. The corners of the vinyl liner actually pulled out and had to be fixed because there was so little water. Re-filled with city water.
I hadn't found this website yet so I just wung it. Went to a pool store and they used small vials for testing. "Everything is good" (direct quote) and that I had "zero chlorine in the pool." That made sense to me as I hadn't put anything in it and I replenished a very large quantity of water. They suggested I pour in twice the normal nightly dosage to get going. I did, and then did 1 cup for the next two nights.
We had the algae show up (the pool really did look "perfect" at this point). We had quite the clump of leaves at the bottom during opening, but they had been removed. Poured in one container of the clearview poly 60 and "shocked" the pool. I diligently went to Walmart, grabbed four bags, mixed it up with my broken umbrella rod and dumped it in. I then brushed all over the floor of the pool. The algae was only in spots so it was not out of control.
The algae seemed to go away but I wanted to test the water before Memorial Day. Went to a different store and they had the waterlink software. Yeah, I ended up leaving with $120 worth of calcium flakes and baking soda..........
Otherwise, "everything was fine!" I went from 0 chlorine to 13.1 FC. They simply said, let it dissipate over night, you'll be fine. The normal range was 1-4.
They wanted me to add 30 pounds of this and 40 pounds of that. I didn't. I put less than half of each in after starting my serious pool research.
It was at this point that I started to read this forum and see the relationship between CYA and FC. This Waterlink test showed CYA of "OVR 149ppm."
Yikes.
After the holiday, I had the water tested again but at a different store. They too used the Waterlink. FC dropped to 8 and CYA was now at 108ppm.
? I didn't understand this wild swing and I asked the person. She gave a wild guess but told me the CYA was fine (within the normal range of 30-150). I asked if the CYA was keeping my FC high and she replied, "the CYA has nothing to do with the chlorine."
She told me to let the FC dissipate over night but "everything is fine!"
At this point I'm frustrated and my TF kit has not arrived yet. I can only rely on these (what now seem to be) erroneous readings. I will say that my FC and pH levels all remained the same between tests.
I had one more test done this morning at ANOTHER STORE with a waterlink tester. The results are what you see at the top of this post. "Everything is fine!" just let your FC drop to the 1-4 level.
Why does everyone say my pool is fine?
I apologize for the long post but every time I went to a store, I tried to tell this story and they would only half listen.... and then only to be told that my pool is good to go.
Does my FC level drop slowly because I have CYA in the pool? Or, what appears to be, a lot of CYA?
Secondly, will the TF-100 test show my FC levels higher than 10 if I really do have a high CYA level? I would be disappointed if I couldn't read a higher FC level as draining the pool is less of an option right now. I'm surprised that it would be that high after a serious re-fill. Unless they've been dumping those granules in for so long.
Thank you for any insight.