What is 3EC?

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kimkats said:
Hayseed, You can and should test your house/fill water for pH and TA. That will enable us to tell you want you will need to do right away. I would not bother testing anything else right now.

I am going to give you a small shopping list to get your ready for your pool:

-2 2 cup PLASTIC measuring cups that has the oz. marked on them. One will be for the muriatic acid ONLY and the other one will be all other chemicals. I got mine at the Dollar Store

-muriatic acid-look at Lowes in the pool section (outside) for the 31%. Most of the time it comes in a 2 pack.

-CYA aka stabilizer-I get mine at Lowes or Walmart-Get one bottle for now. It will be on stand by.

Things to look for while you are running around town:

-Chlorine or bleach-check to see if a local, easy to get to pool store offers liquid chlorine (11%). If not then look in Walmart for their "pool shock". This will be inside by the pool stuff.

I think that is enough for right now.

One of us will be ready and willing to go over your two tests. We can/will help you with the tests.

Do you like apps for your phone?

Kim:kim: (I DO have some stuff saved like my new pool owner links but on the most part type my posts out on the fly...guess that is why there are so many mistakes :roll:)
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i don't use my phone as others may. I have one but, consider it an emergency device, and don't fool with it. I have very little data usage plan. But I live on my iPad. Thanks for the shopping list, finally something I understand, shopping.
 
Tell me if this is a bad idea. I was thinking to use the Taylor test kit I have, as if it were brand new. And flawless. And adding and subtracting needed product as the test kit calls for it. And judging by how the pool water looks or reacts will let me know if there is a big problem. If I notice the pool water seems not to be responding correctly, i.e. Cloudy, algae forms, or what not, I will get the t100 test kit delivered special order for quick receipt, or if pool store sells them go their immeadiately. Because I did just read in the Taylor test kit manual other kits reagents act differently an give conflicting shades of color for determination. I will attempt to test my tap, i.e., pool water today. I do remember someone mentioning something about after every drop added to wipe the tip of the bottle, for better measuring results, is this true? what I mean is, is this common practice thing to do, or only needed for certain critical test readings? As always thanks
 
Wiping the tip is for the TA test bottle. For some reason that one tends to get teeny tiny static so distorts the drop.

Okay for you ipad go here: Pool Math We have an app for the pool math. I don't know if that will be easier or harder than using the web based one. I just want to give you the option.

I like what you are saying about the using the test kit and "testing" to see if it still works. Here is a "test" we can do..........you say your house water is pH7.0....................get some more and shake it up good and then some more. Aeration is said to push the pH up so after shaking it up good the pH should be higher. I have not done this before so I am not sure how much, if any it will go up. When I get home I will do this as well.

Kim:kim:
 
Okay then!!! It looks like the pH regents are working! We will not worry about the rest until you have a pool full of water.

Oh you can also test your CH in the fill water. That is good to know even with a vinyl pool. You will not really need it but it will give you practice testing.

So lets do some pretending testing. We are going to say your pool is 11,400 gals like you say in your siggy. I am going to post some pretend numbers and what I want them to be. You will put both sets of numbers in Pool Math and we will see if we match. Remember we are just pretending so help you get used to Pool Math. I had quite a time really wrapping my head around it at first so know where you are coming from.

Now Target
FC 3 5
pH 7.0 7.8
TA 60 70
CH 100 200
CYA 0 30

For each of these look at what pool math tells you to do.

Oh I forgot something...............go down to the bottom of Pool Math and change it to "using TFP" or something like that.

We will use a bleach 6% for the FC or if you already know where you are getting your chlorine/bleach from tell me what % is it and we will use that.

Kim:kim:
 
For checking FC reagents, if you have City water, test it. Most City water has a tiny bit of chlorine in it, so should sure some reaction.

For CYA, you know your pool will start at 0ppm, so you can add enough cya to raise it to 40ppm, and then test a week later. If your result is anywhere near 40ppm, then reagent is probably good.

The TF-100 reagents are Taylor reagents, just different amounts of them optimized for a good number of tests based on the TFP method. Also, OTPirate is the lady that runs the TFTestkits website. She said she could get you a Taylor 2006 refill kit for the current sale price. If you did choose to get that, then you could test with both sets of reagents to make sure the results are the same, and then use the older reagents first until they run out.
 
kimkats said:
Okay then!!! It looks like the pH regents are working! We will not worry about the rest until you have a pool full of water.

Oh you can also test your CH in the fill water. That is good to know even with a vinyl pool. You will not really need it but it will give you practice testing.

So lets do some pretending testing. We are going to say your pool is 11,400 gals like you say in your siggy. I am going to post some pretend numbers and what I want them to be. You will put both sets of numbers in Pool Math and we will see if we match. Remember we are just pretending so help you get used to Pool Math. I had quite a time really wrapping my head around it at first so know where you are coming from.

Now Target
FC 3 5
pH 7.0 7.8
TA 60 70
CH 100 200
CYA 0 30

For each of these look at what pool math tells you to do.

Oh I forgot something...............go down to the bottom of Pool Math and change it to "using TFP" or something like that.

We will use a bleach 6% for the FC or if you already know where you are getting your chlorine/bleach from tell me what % is it and we will use that.

Kim:kim:
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Sorry according to results I obtained in one of these pool school or pool math things my new gallons is 10200. Until I find different calculator that says it is something else, don't know if this matters with this fictional run though
 
Hayseed said:
Sorry according to results I obtained in one of these pool school or pool math things my new gallons is 10200. Until I find different calculator that says it is something else, don't know if this matters with this fictional run though
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Do you have City water or well water?
 
If you would like to record all your test results and have automatic calculations for how much of each chemical to add to your pool, but don't want to use an app on your phone/iPad and would prefer a website, check out the link in my signature called Pool Logger. The dev has spent a lot of time tweaking his free webapp to make it awesome.
 

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Developer spent a lot of time tweaking, I can't even log in to it, gave all the information, tried to log in said password was wrong, I pressed forgot password then emailed me instructions to change password, with new password just set, returned to sign in stated again I had entered the wrong password.
 
kimkats said:
Okay then!!! It looks like the pH regents are working! We will not worry about the rest until you have a pool full of water.

Oh you can also test your CH in the fill water. That is good to know even with a vinyl pool. You will not really need it but it will give you practice testing.

So lets do some pretending testing. We are going to say your pool is 11,400 gals like you say in your siggy. I am going to post some pretend numbers and what I want them to be. You will put both sets of numbers in Pool Math and we will see if we match. Remember we are just pretending so help you get used to Pool Math. I had quite a time really wrapping my head around it at first so know where you are coming from.

Now Target
FC 3 5
pH 7.0 7.8
TA 60 70
CH 100 200
CYA 0 30

For each of these look at what pool math tells you to do.

Oh I forgot something...............go down to the bottom of Pool Math and change it to "using TFP" or something like that.

We will use a bleach 6% for the FC or if you already know where you are getting your chlorine/bleach from tell me what % is it and we will use that.

Kim:kim:
Click to expand...
I have no idea of what this means, not being familiar with anything on pool math web site, I had this app on my pad before and got rid of it, could not make heads or tails of it. Usually apps are easy to navigate and are self explanatory, I found
this to be neither of those. this all is harder than Chinese arithmetic. I found no place on pool app that asked or showed me to enter anything the most I keep getting is not logged in and do I want to buy the premium package
 
Found out why I had trouble signing in, whenever I tried to log in it would automatically fill in my information to access site quickly, for some reason this automatic style of entering was filling the information box with the wrong info, causing an error to occur. Something to do with this pads remembering passwords or something, but I will look at the app, hope it will explain how to use it.
 
If you have City water, write down the number of gallons before filling and after filling and the difference is how many gallons are in your pool. When filling, make sure nothing else in your house is using water. If you have to flush the toilet while filling, subtract 5 gallon for old toilets, and 1.5 gallons for a newer toilet.
 
For CYA, you know your pool will start at 0ppm, so you can add enough cya to raise it to 40ppm, and then test a week later. This statement tells me I can add enough to raise level to 40 ppm. How do I know how much to add.
 
kimkats said:
We can do it a step at a time when you are ready. Me? I use the web based pool math. I don't get along with apps to well :( Let me know when you are set up and ready to do the first step.

Kim:kim:
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Kim if you don't use this app I don't want to either. I am still searching and waiting to know what to put in my pool after it is filled. I have the gallons going into the pool and the ph and TA of the water going into the pool, so from these numbers can I get the amount of chlorine and stabilizer needed to add to the pool, so after that I can test to zero in the numbers?
 
Here you go. What I want you to buy to add to the water on the first day:

-CYA aka stabilizer as seen here: Shop Clorox PoolSpa 4-lb Stabilizer Pool Balancer at Lowes.com You need 43oz by volume. What that means is using the plastic 2 cup measuring cup I had you buy you will pour from the 4 lb bottle of CYA 43 oz of the CYA power into the cup then pour that into a couple/few socks (like you wear). Find a way to hang these socks over the edge of your pool in front of the return to let the pump help them dissolve. You can also squeeze them to help them dissolve even faster.

-chlorine/bleach-Did you find out if any pool stores near you sell liquid chlorine? You will need to add some chlorine each day. How much depends on many factors. I add just under a gal a day during the summer. Hot, sunny days will use more chlorine than cool, cloudy days. A large swimmer load will also use more chlorine than no swimmers. How much you add will also be influenced by the strength of the chlorine/bleach. We will work on that when you tell me what kind you will be able to get to easy.

How I figured out how much CYA to add to your pool:

-click on Pool Math at the top of this page
-Fill in SIZE with your gallons (10200) this is the first white box beside the word size (under Now)
-scroll down to the place for CYA. In the first box (Now) put in 0, in the second box (Target) put in 30.
-scroll backup to the top and click on Calculate
-scroll back down to CYA. You will see:

" Add 41 oz.by weight or 43oz by volume of stabilizer
or add 106ozof liquid stabilizer.
To lower CYA you replacesome of the water with new water.
Note: It can take solid stabilizer 24 to 48 hours to dissolve."

Ignore the part about "to lower CYA" part as that does not apply to you. I just wanted you to see everything is shows. Since you will be using the measuring cup you will be using the "by volume" part. IF you want to weigh it you can......I just use the measuring cup.

Does that help? I can/will tweak as needed to help you learn this!

Other than CYA and chlorine/bleach you will not need to buy any other chemicals yet. Do look for the muriatic acid as talked about in one of my above posts.

Kim:kim:
 
I was under the impression that the first chemical introduced would be chlorine.
Reading what you wrote, it sounds like I am going to add stabilizer in a sock to the pool first. If this correct I don't understand adding a chlorine stabilizer to a pool that has just been filled and has no chlorine to stabilize. I am missing something, thanks for your patience
I have not yet been to collect the items on the list. Tomorrow I think, Lowes is the only place around here to get muratic acid it's a half hour away. Only thing around here is walmart and ace hardware. I use to use muratic acid in my work washing brick after laying, this is very caustic in this form. I guess the Clorox is a good source but not the best value wise. I will make a list tonight and get back with what I have purchased.
is it not advisable to mix the chlorine stabilizer, with warm water to dilute then add to stream?
 
Opps sorry..............you can add them at the same time. You can start adding the CYA when you start adding the water by flowing the water over the sock. Just don't put it on the bottom of the pool. Hang it some how so the water can flow over it. Then as soon as the pool is filled (CYA may or may not be all dissolved at this point) and the pump can be turned on you can add the chlorine.

The only two chemicals you should not add at the same time is chlorine and muriatic acid (used to lower your pH IF you need to). They do not play well together (causes toxic fumes).

Don't add any more CYA than we talked about above. The only way to remove it is to drain and replace some of the water.

Kim:kim:
 

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