High Cyanuric Acid and phosphates

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In Phoenix you should be able to get a two gallon box of MA at Home Depot. They will have both 31.45% and 14.5%. Economically the higher concentration is better.
 
mknauss said:
In Phoenix you should be able to get a two gallon box of MA at Home Depot. They will have both 31.45% and 14.5%. Economically the higher concentration is better.
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Thank you will do. I was wondering if the MA I had left outside that shows some signs of evaporation even though the bottle was sealed may now have a higher concentration than it had when purchased due to the evaporation?

Going to Lowes and dollar store to get all I need 😊
Thanks
 
VargusAZ said:
Regarding MA, can the concentration be higher now or onky lower than the orginal 29%?
Not sure what is the cost of MA, is it even worth trying to use it, if not how do I dispose of it?
Thank you all
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I would just use it assuming the concentration on the bottle. you will be able to gauge it when you test your pool and see what effect it had on your pH. Its not really that critical, IMO.. I inherited a bunch of bottles of MA from the neighbors when they moved out and just did the same thing.
 
You will want to store the MA outside. Not in the garage or a shed. It can corrode any metal items nearby.

Get a small plastic trash can (mine is a 20 gallon rubbermaid) with a lid that snaps on the top. Put the MA bottles in the trash can. You want to keep the sun off them. The heat does not matter.
 
I added enough MU to reduce the pH to 7.2 (confirmed 30 minutes later by test kit). I brushed and added enough LC to raise the FC to 24ppm per the chart and my CYA of 60.
The slam steps calls for the pump running 24/7 as in non stop for the entire slam process which could take days, correct? Any concerns on running the pump for days non stop?
Any recommendation on rpm?

I plan on measuring the FC tomorrow morning and adding as much as LC that is needed to maintain an FC of 24.

Any other recommendation during slam?

Finally, I quickly realized the free pool calculator is limited. I typically use a notebook to track test results and chemicals. Thoughts on the premium version of the app?
Thank you
 
I love the premium version of the app. If you click on my username, you can see my Poolmath logs for the last several years. Try it later as the system is having issues with that today.

You should be testing and adding chlorine several times per day. If possible, do it one more time tonight. Then at least 3 or 4 times per day.
Run the pump at 1200-1500 rpm so you get decent skimming flow. If you want to run the in floor you will have to turn it up. 24 hour operation is of no consequence to the pump. Monitor your filter pressure.
 
mknauss said:
I love the premium version of the app. If you click on my username, you can see my Poolmath logs for the last several years. Try it later as the system is having issues with that today.

You should be testing and adding chlorine several times per day. If possible, do it one more time tonight. Then at least 3 or 4 times per day.
Run the pump at 1200-1500 rpm so you get decent skimming flow. If you want to run the in floor you will have to turn it up. 24 hour operation is of no consequence to the pump. Monitor your filter pressure.
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Should I test just the FC or should I also test the CC. I am hoping I can do it at night without daylight.
 

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Tested FC, it was at 23 ppm vs my intended goal of 24ppm. Assuming my calculations were correct when I added the needed amount of LC to reach the SLAM FC level, I bascially lost 1ppm of FC (24 to 23) in 2h and 30min.
I added enough LC to raise the FC back to 24ppm.

Thanks
 
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How long does the slam take on average?
And when everything is balanced and back to normal, how oftem do you usually measure your FC and adjust/add LC?

I will be checking the FC 4x/day during slam: 7am, 11:30am, 4pm, 8pm
Thanks
 
SLAM process can take a few days to a couple weeks. You do not have a swamp so I suspect it should be less than a week.

I would suggest you test FC and pH every day for awhile. You will then get a feel for how your pool is reacting. You will be adding liquid chlorine every day until October when it should be able to go a couple days or so between additions.
 
Good afternoon,
I am still in the slam process and have a few questions:
  • Between last night and this morning I lost 2.5ppm, I guess I am getting closer. How early should I measure the FC in the morning? Sunrise is at 5:20AM.
  • When I measure the FC, I noticed that after I get a clear liquid, if I let the liquid sit for 15 minutes, it goes back to a light pink, is this normal and is my measurement still correct?
  • During FC testing, can I start off with 25 drops and then go one drop at a time?
  • At 30 to 46 drops per test x 4 times / day I am going through that R0871 bottle pretty quickly, how many drops does it contain and should I consider buying a new bottle now? If yes where is the best deal since I plan on testing FC and Ph daily
  • For some reason I noticed more "dust like" particles floating at the surface of the water, is it possible that the high FC during slam is affecting the water and particles are floating more vs sinking? It may be a coincidence lots of wind last couple of days.
  • Lowes ran out of LC, should I consider buying a higher concentratio than 10% at a pool store or go to home depot? Not sure if cost wise and for stock availability I should consider a higher concentration. Lowe's had 2gal of 10% LC at about $7.25 before tax. How many gal should I get, I am down to 2 gal.
  • Finally, after all balanced and done with slam, if I am using LC daily to keep the FC up, what amount of LC should I always have on hand or monthly? And wha do you do if you are out of twon for 3 days to 5 days?
Thank you all for your help, I know it's a lot of questions...
Thanks
 
VargusAZ said:
Good afternoon,
I am still in the slam process and have a few questions:
  • Between last night and this morning I lost 2.5ppm, I guess I am getting closer. How early should I measure the FC in the morning? Sunrise is at 5:20AM.
  • When I measure the FC, I noticed that after I get a clear liquid, if I let the liquid sit for 15 minutes, it goes back to a light pink, is this normal and is my measurement still correct?
  • During FC testing, can I start off with 25 drops and then go one drop at a time?
  • At 30 to 46 drops per test x 4 times / day I am going through that R0871 bottle pretty quickly, how many drops does it contain and should I consider buying a new bottle now? If yes where is the best deal since I plan on testing FC and Ph daily
  • For some reason I noticed more "dust like" particles floating at the surface of the water, is it possible that the high FC during slam is affecting the water and particles are floating more vs sinking? It may be a coincidence lots of wind last couple of days.
  • Lowes ran out of LC, should I consider buying a higher concentratio than 10% at a pool store or go to home depot? Not sure if cost wise and for stock availability I should consider a higher concentration. Lowe's had 2gal of 10% LC at about $7.25 before tax. How many gal should I get, I am down to 2 gal.
  • Finally, after all balanced and done with slam, if I am using LC daily to keep the FC up, what amount of LC should I always have on hand or monthly? And wha do you do if you are out of twon for 3 days to 5 days?
Thank you all for your help, I know it's a lot of questions...
Thanks
Click to expand...
-I would measure before the sun hits the pool, especially if you are doing an OCLT.
-Yes that is the effect of the chemicals changing. That is why you want to test immediately after you pull the sample from the pool
-You can order the XL option separately and get more of those reagents from TFTESTKits
-probably wind. There is nothing I can think of that would create flakes in the water
-Check Walmart and Home Depot. If you use the higher concentration CL from your pool store just adjust for that in your PoolMath
-If you are out of town many will switch to CalHypo or Trichlor tabs.. Or have a friend chlorinate the pool.. OR put in an SWG

Keep at it.. looks like you are making progress (y)(y)
 
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Good morning,
Last night around 8pm I measured the FC and I was down 4ppm from erlier that day and I added some Liquid Chlorine to get it back to 24.
Even though I didn't measure again later that night, I did this morning at 7:15am and I am at 24ppm!!
Would that be a valid OCLT?

I plan on buying the XL bottle of 0871 and 0870 today. Anything else I should include as in what else may be the first itme I may run out of besides these 2 items.

@mguzzy I was not specific enough in some of my questions, sorry, here some clarification:

- I did the test as soon as I got the water from the pool. When I was done with the FC test and I got to a clear sample. I forgot to rinse the tube. When I came back 15min later the pool water in the tube was back to a light pink color. Normal? Test still valid?
- I didn't meant something is creating the flakes, it is dust and particles from the air, it just seems that they now stay at the surface and float vs sink in the water. Not sure if that is normal and I just didn't notice it before. Almost like the density of the water has changed or the chemical change may be the reason? I am probably wrong, thought I would ask just in case.
Thank you!
 
Sounds like things are going well. I would stay at SLAM level today and this evening test your FC once sun goes down. Whatever it is (even below SLAM level) leave it. Test again tomorrow morning for the OCLT.

I would think those reagents would be all you need. You might consider more R0013 as CYA testing will need to be done monthly until winter.
 
-I understood what you meant by letting the test cell stand after you ran the test. I remember this concept from chemistry class and later when learning sampling techniques in the field. The chemical equilibrium of the sample is not static. Once you pull it from from its environment (the pool) it starts to change to fit its new surroundings. During my stint as a limnology tech we used to run sample stability tests to see how long a particular sample would stay stable for a given test, so we knew how soon a given test needed to be performed when designing our experiments. That way we could figure out the optimum order to do the tests, this one first since its the most volatile , this one last since its the most stable. and so on. Some tests you can watch them change in front of your eyes. Take some phenol red (the same stuff from your test kit) and put a few drops in a vial. Use a cocktail straw to blow in it. The solution will turn yellow as the carbonic acid forms in the solution from the carbon dioxide in your breath. Same thing can happen to a sample that is pulled from underwater as is now exposed to the air, or warms to the ambient temp. I'm not sure which test you were running but that's the concept. Link

-Maybe the surface tension changed with the increased pH.. Now the stuff floats instead of sinks. I would have to look that one up.

BTW, Good job on the SLAM I presume you met the other two criteria as well. Woo Hoo.
 
Thank you @mknauss I will do that.
@mguzzy love the explanation, bringing back memory from high school and engineering school. Yes I assumed the stability of the liquid will change with time and the environement. I was also directly referring to the surface tension or maybe density.

Water is clear but I have not tested CC since I started slam, I will later today, does it matter when I measure it?

If I am done with slam, what should be my target FC (7ppm), TA, and Ph (7.5?)?
For FC, do I just let it come down to that target?
And do those target change for winter?

Thanks
 

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