draining and balancing

[Threekids03]

I'm draining my pool again in an attempt to get the CYA down. If I'm successful I plan to balance today. I notice my recommended levels for alkalinity are much lower than the 80-120 I'm accustomed to. I notice that the recommended level goes up as CYA goes up. Does this mean that TFP uses the adjusted alkalinity that I read about in my new Taylor kit manual? And if this is the case, should I also use the corresponding boxes on the chart for ph and calcium?
To illustrate and for clarity, if my CYA is 50-60, should I go up the attached chart and make calcium between 550-650, alkalinity 80-90, and ph 8.0? And conversely, if the CYA comes down to 30-40, should my calcium be 0-50, alkalinity 50-60, and ph 7.2?

 

[HermanTX]

I think you are misinterpreting the chart. The recommended levels are based on 2 main criteria - do you have a plaster, vinyl or fiberglass pool and do you use a SWCG or liquid chlorine.

The GREEN area in the chart shown in your post is the ideal levels for the criteria you selected. If one chemical test is on the acceptable maximum, you do not move the others to the acceptable maximum. The goal is to move the one item back to ideal levels.

CYA levels only affect the amount of FC that should be in the pool. See the
FC/CYA Levels

 

[Threekids03]

I think you are misinterpreting the chart. The recommended levels are based on 2 main criteria - do you have a plaster, vinyl or fiberglass pool and do you use a SWCG or liquid chlorine.

The GREEN area in the chart shown in your post is the ideal levels for the criteria you selected. If one chemical test is on the acceptable maximum, you do not move the others to the acceptable maximum. The goal is to move the one item back to ideal levels.

CYA levels only affect the amount of FC that should be in the pool. See the
FC/CYA Levels

Thank you. I will try to keep them all within range. I do know that CYA levels will contribute to total alkalinity. Taylor provides a formula to adjust for this in the test kit, and I was wondering if TFP also adjusts for this as the recommended range for total alkalinity is lower than most recommendations.
Would you happen to know if there is a TFP calculator that tells what chemicals to add in what quantities to bring the pool to recommended levels. I thought there was somewhere to enter my current readings and get recommendations based on my pool size but I can't find it anywhere on the app?

 

[HermanTX]

Thank you. I will try to keep them all within range. I do know that CYA levels will contribute to total alkalinity. Taylor provides a formula to adjust for this in the test kit, and I was wondering if TFP also adjusts for this as the recommended range for total alkalinity is lower than most recommendations.
Would you happen to know if there is a TFP calculator that tells what chemicals to add in what quantities to bring the pool to recommended levels. I thought there was somewhere to enter my current readings and get recommendations based on my pool size but I can't find it anywhere on the app?

We recommend that a pool owner performs their own water tests. Do you have one of the recommended kits? See Test Kits Compared
The test at Leslie’s pool store will provide you Adjusted TA, the recommended test kit will provide you total TA. TFP uses Total TA in its recommendations.
There is a great app we all use -
PoolMath. It is free but if you wish to track multiple water tests, expenses, maintenance items, then the premium version is $8 per year which is an extremely great value.

 

[Threekids03]

We recommend that a pool owner performs their own water tests. Do you have one of the recommended kits? See Test Kits Compared
The test at Leslie’s pool store will provide you Adjusted TA, the recommended test kit will provide you total TA. TFP uses Total TA in its recommendations.
There is a great app we all use -
PoolMath. It is free but if you wish to track multiple water tests, expenses, maintenance items, then the premium version is $8 per year which is an extremely great value.

Thank you! I did get the Taylor kit that was recommended on this site, and I will use the Pool math app to adjust. Do you happen to know why TFP's recommendation for TA is so much lower than what I'm used to? It's just making me a little nervous.

 

[Donldson]

Do you happen to know why TFP's recommendation for TA is so much lower than what I'm used to?

The boilerplate TA recommendations used by pool stores are based on the assumption that a pool will be chlorinated with tablets. Trichlor (the type of chlorine used to make tablets) is very acidic and the high TA helps keep the pH more stable. In contrast a pool chlorinated with liquid chlorine or a Saltwater Chlorine Generator is close to pH neutral, so require a much lower TA level to keep the pH stable.

It's one of many places where the industry "one size fits all" recommendations falls short and TFP takes a more nuanced approach to dialing in the right levels for your pool.

 

[Threekids03]

The boilerplate TA recommendations used by pool stores are based on the assumption that a pool will be chlorinated with tablets. Trichlor (the type of chlorine used to make tablets) is very acidic and the high TA helps keep the pH more stable. In contrast a pool chlorinated with liquid chlorine or a Saltwater Chlorine Generator is close to pH neutral, so require a much lower TA level to keep the pH stable.

It's one of many places where the industry "one size fits all" recommendations falls short and TFP takes a more nuanced approach to dialing in the right levels for your pool.

Thank you. Do you happen to know if non-stabilized pucks are also acidic? I plan to switch to liquid chlorine, but I bought a bunch of cal hypo schock and non-stabilized pucks when I found out about CYA levels and why I could no longer keep chlorine in my pool. It was before I found this site and I wanted to use up what I have before switching. I notice that the Pool Math calculator allows for cal hypo chlorine but only as high as 73% and my shock is 78%, the pucks are 70%. Also, in what order should I be balancing my pool once I get the CYA down?

 

[HermanTX]

Thank you. Do you happen to know if non-stabilized pucks are also acidic? I plan to switch to liquid chlorine, but I bought a bunch of cal hypo schock and non-stabilized pucks when I found out about CYA levels and why I could no longer keep chlorine in my pool. It was before I found this site and I wanted to use up what I have before switching. I notice that the Pool Math calculator allows for cal hypo chlorine but only as high as 73% and my shock is 78%, the pucks are 70%. Also, in what order should I be balancing my pool once I get the CYA down?

We would need the specific product you purchased to confirm what it contains. But in general, non-stabilized pucks do not contain acid and are primary used for indoor pools which does not have any significant level of CYA requirements.
Cal-hypo is fine so long as you understand that it will significantly raise your CH level over time much like stabilized chlorine pucks raise CYA over time.

It is important to always maintain pH in the 7's and keep FC in range of the CYA level needed per the
FC/CYA Levels information. Obviously CYA has to be in in your target range.
TA takes time to lower as it relates to pH. You would use the cycle of raising pH by aeration to 7.8 or 8.0 then lower pH and TA with additions of MA. Target 7.2-7.4 for pH when calculating how much MA to add. Then continue to repeat this cycle until TA is 80 or lower. Most pools find a happy space for TA so just get it in range and see if that stabilizes the increase in pH
Then get CH in range. CH becomes stable once you have it in range, unless you have lots of rain or splash out and the fill is with low CH water. So CH can be tested every 3-4 weeks if there is no rain or other reason that CH could have changed. Obviously, the use of cal-hypo will increase CH so then it needs to be checked more often as the only way to deal with high CH is to drain water - just like CYA.

 

[Threekids03]

Thank you so much!