Small white flakes always

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Uhhello said:
Rainsoft EC-5
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So that’s a standard salt based water softener. All it does is remove mineral hardness (Ca and Mg). It won’t affect TA or pH.

Depending on the age of the resin and how hard your water is, you may need to change out the resin. Around here, softener resin lasts about 5 years or so before it needs to be changed.
 
JoyfulNoise said:
So that’s a standard salt based water softener. All it does is remove mineral hardness (Ca and Mg). It won’t affect TA or pH.

Depending on the age of the resin and how hard your water is, you may need to change out the resin. Around here, softener resin lasts about 5 years or so before it needs to be changed.
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Yup. Its same age as pool at just under 4 years now. I get it serviced every 12 months or so. Thanks for the info.
 
Uhhello said:
We have the tiniest bit softer water out here in Vail but its still crazy. Best investment I ever made was the water system.
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I'm not so sure of that, maybe a little. I haven't heard great things about Vail water either. CDT's "Tucson" water is its own wells and it is notably better than Tucson proper (but not as good as the northwest Tucson aquafers). The thing I forgot to mention is it's not really the CH that gets you here. It's the high TA of the water. If you don't have three dogs drinking out of your pool no matter how many times you tell them not to do that, then maybe look into Borates to help stabilize the water. I suspect it would help, but even though low levels should be okay for the dogs, I would rather not take any risks.

It's really difficult to keep TA down here. I was able to do it on the hot tub, but I controlled the top-up fill process on that.

Over the entire winter (I've yet to get in the pool this spring yet, but we are finally over 80F water temp, so we should) I have maybe two handfuls of flakes. So it's not a major issue, but it's there and unless I dose acid every day, I get some.

I do have a softener but the way the house is plumbed, it literally is on the opposite corner of the lot than the pool. I have a little shed for the equipment and honestly, I could put in a small second softener but it's not really a horrible problem, and I think that would be more trouble than ultimately it is worth. If you can fill from a softener then it's definitely a bonus.
 
Rancho Cost-a-Lotta said:
Return it and buy some unicorn beer floats.
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So going down the borate rabbit hole. Have searched here and found some great threads. Set my TA to 70 first, then PH to 7.4. Add 37 pounds of 20 mule team borax with a bit over 2 gallons of acid and run pump for 48 hours.
 
Uhhello said:
So going down the borate rabbit hole. Have searched here and found some great threads. Set my TA to 70 first, then PH to 7.4. Add 37 pounds of 20 mule team borax with a bit over 2 gallons of acid and run pump for 48 hours.
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Boric acid is way easier to apply. Just dump it all in and brush. It’s a weak acid so the pH drop is a few tenths at most.
 
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Well, I'm leaning towards draining and starting over. Went swimming last night and seeing the flakes really annoyed me. Going to be a long summer if I don't do it and start over. Anything I can do when it's completely drained?
 
Uhhello said:
Well, I'm leaning towards draining and starting over. Went swimming last night and seeing the flakes really annoyed me. Going to be a long summer if I don't do it and start over. Anything I can do when it's completely drained?
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Can you post a set of full test results. FC and CC are not so important, but the other levels are. Include water temp.

The CH test is the most important. When performing the test, keep the bottle completely vertical. Squeeze only enough to allow the drops to fall off the tip. Go slow between drops (about 1 second between) and watch closely for color changes. Keep the sample swirling. Keep adding drops until there is no color change. Don't count the last drop that results in no color change.

Find a sample and test the water you'll use to fill the pool. If you have an irrigation system, it should be straight muni water.

Have you tried to lower TA?

A water exchange is a good option, but as temps heat up you run the risk of drying/cracking plaster. If we can get you into fall, draining then carries less risk. Check out the Wiki page on draining and look into the no-drain water exchange process. @mknauss is our resident desert-dwelling expert and faces the same challenges you're experiencing.

Sidenote: If your kit is more than a year or two old, consider one of the recommended test kits (Test Kits Compared). Otherwise, you should add the Taylor K-1515A FAS/DPD FC/CC (drop-based) test kit. You need this accurate measure FC levels.
 
Rancho Cost-a-Lotta said:
Can you post a set of full test results. FC and CC are not so important, but the other levels are. Include water temp.

The CH test is the most important. When performing the test, keep the bottle completely vertical. Squeeze only enough to allow the drops to fall off the tip. Go slow between drops (about 1 second between) and watch closely for color changes. Keep the sample swirling. Keep adding drops until there is no color change. Don't count the last drop that results in no color change.

Find a sample and test the water you'll use to fill the pool. If you have an irrigation system, it should be straight muni water.

Have you tried to lower TA?

A water exchange is a good option, but as temps heat up you run the risk of drying/cracking plaster. If we can get you into fall, draining then carries less risk. Check out the Wiki page on draining and look into the no-drain water exchange process. @mknauss is our resident desert-dwelling expert and faces the same challenges you're experiencing.

Sidenote: If your kit is more than a year or two old, consider one of the recommended test kits (Test Kits Compared). Otherwise, you should add the Taylor K-1515A FAS/DPD FC/CC (drop-based) test kit. You need this accurate measure FC levels.
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My CH is at 650 a couple tests now.
Rancho Cost-a-Lotta said:
Can you post a set of full test results. FC and CC are not so important, but the other levels are. Include water temp.

The CH test is the most important. When performing the test, keep the bottle completely vertical. Squeeze only enough to allow the drops to fall off the tip. Go slow between drops (about 1 second between) and watch closely for color changes. Keep the sample swirling. Keep adding drops until there is no color change. Don't count the last drop that results in no color change.

Find a sample and test the water you'll use to fill the pool. If you have an irrigation system, it should be straight muni water.

Have you tried to lower TA?

A water exchange is a good option, but as temps heat up you run the risk of drying/cracking plaster. If we can get you into fall, draining then carries less risk. Check out the Wiki page on draining and look into the no-drain water exchange process. @mknauss is our resident desert-dwelling expert and faces the same challenges you're experiencing.

Sidenote: If your kit is more than a year or two old, consider one of the recommended test kits (Test Kits Compared). Otherwise, you should add the Taylor K-1515A FAS/DPD FC/CC (drop-based) test kit. You need this accurate measure FC levels.
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I have the tf100 on the way.
 

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Fill hose tests turns solid blue at one drop on the low level ch test. I added recommended acid yesterday to get to 7.2 and it’s back to 7.4 in less than 24 hours so I guess I’m adding a splash of acid daily.
 
Rancho Cost-a-Lotta said:
So that's softened water. Does your water softener have the capacity to fill 50% of the pool volume?
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I can't remember for sure but when it was filled, at least ONE of the hoses was softened water and I remember having to re-fill the salt quicker than normal. So it's was at least 50% softened at initial fill but the auto-fill is not softened. I got the new test kit in. PH rose .3 in 2 days. At this rate I'll be adding 8 oz of acid every day to keep it around 7.2?
 
Uhhello said:
I can't remember for sure but when it was filled, at least ONE of the hoses was softened water and I remember having to re-fill the salt quicker than normal. So it's was at least 50% softened at initial fill but the auto-fill is not softened. I got the new test kit in. PH rose .3 in 2 days. At this rate I'll be adding 8 oz of acid every day to keep it around 7.2?
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What's the plan? Lower TA and manage, maybe with borates? Water exchange? Inquiring minds want to know.
 
Rancho Cost-a-Lotta said:
What's the plan? Lower TA and manage, maybe with borates? Water exchange? Inquiring minds want to know.
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Softener hooked up to fill this week. Will dump the borates in when they come in. Hard to justify draining the pool again especially middle of summer.

FC test is so much more accurate. FC is at 7 :) Turned down the cell a bit and might give the pool a bit more sun during day
 
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