High pH - low CYA - low calcium - New to balancing

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J

jmckee22

Member
Jun 19, 2024
11
mobile al
Pool Size
22000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Hayward Aqua Rite Pro (T-15)
Hey guys, need help troubleshooting my chemicals. I’m new to overseeing my pool. I have the Taylor test kit, salt pool, about 22k gallons, southeast US.

My pH and ALK were high. Over 8 and 130.
My CYA was non existent
My calcium was low at 180
My phosphates are high 204 (they told me wait 72 hours after calcium to add the phosphate remover so I’m waiting on that)
Salt level 3000
Free Chlorine 2.94

Leslie’s told me to add MA first to get pH down. I did that throughout the last few days and got it down to about 7.6 this morning.
I added the pool math amount liquid CYA yesterday.
At noon today I added the 18 lbs of calcium.
It’s been two hours and I just retested pH. Looks to be back over 8!
My question is, does calcium raise pH? I assume I just need to add more MA like before and get it back within range. Can I add MA now (two hours after I added calcium?)

Thank you!!!
 
Welcome to TFP.

Do not use the phosphate remover and stop listening to Leslie. Return the unopened phosphate remover and get your money back.

Calcium does not effect pH.

pH never stays stable and your TA of 130 causes a constant pH rise. Get used to it.

You can add MA now to lower your pH. Just always add acid and chlorine at least 15 minutes apart.

How much liquid CYA did you add?

You probably need more chlorine. How are you chlorinating your pool?

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Thanks for the reply.

I added 1.5 gallons of instant pool water conditioner yesterday. It read about 30 earlier today.

I added more MA after this post and got the pH back to 7.4

I have not added any chlorine or salt. I just started taking over my pool this month so I’m assuming the service I used added chlorine when needed. My free and total chlorine readings were 2.94.
 
With CYA of 30 you should have a FC around 5. Add more chlorine…

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Ok. I appreciate your time and insights!

Would I just add some liquid chlorine or would I turn on my super chlorinate to get that FC up?
Also, I still have some cya I held off on adding because I’ve read it’s better to be low than high. I should be aiming for 60 cya right?
 
jmckee22 said:
Would I just add some liquid chlorine or would I turn on my super chlorinate to get that FC up?
Click to expand...
Liquid. Use liquid to raise FC, SWCG to maintain.
jmckee22 said:
Also, I still have some cya I held off on adding because I’ve read it’s better to be low than high. I should be aiming for 60 cya right?
Click to expand...
60 is a fine level for cya.
 
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ajw22 said:
That does not mean CYA should be 0.



60 is the low end for the SWG.
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Hey! I’m following back up and have another question mainly about my FC.

My numbers today are now:
Cya 50
Free chlorine 10
pH 8 (added 2 cups MA after reading)
Alk 120
Calcium 330
Salt 3100

So I haven’t added any chlorine, yet my number went from 2.94 at Leslie’s test to 10 today from my Taylor Kit. I think I did it right but here’s what I did:
Fill large tube to 25 mL
Added two scoops of the R-0870 powder and swirled to dissolve
Added R-0871 dropwise. It took 50 drops before it went clear.
50 x .2 = 10.

So I went from 2.94 to 10. The only thing I did that would increase chlorine was run my filter an extra 6 hours last night because my dog jumped in the water so there was a lot of dog hair in it, and we also had a heavy rain storm. Could running my salt cell filter an extra 6 hours increase my chlorine by that much? Its a 22k gallon pool and the chlorinator is set at 75% to run 9 hours during the day.

Any advise?
 
Trust your testing. You did it correctly.

Use a 10ml sample for FC testing and multiply the drops by 0.5. That uses much less reagent.

What model salt cell are we discussing?
 

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jmckee22 said:
It’s a super pro 40k max
Click to expand...

Who makes that?

A typical 40K SWG running 3 hours/day at 75% in a 22K pool would give you 0.7 ppm of FC.

Running the SWG for 9 hours will give you 2.1 ppm of FC per day.

A typical pool in AL needs about 4ppm per day of FC. You need to run your pool 17 hours per day with your SWG at 75% for that.
 
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ajw22 said:
Who makes that?

A typical 40K SWG running 3 hours/day at 75% in a 22K pool would give you 0.7 ppm of FC.

Running the SWG for 9 hours will give you 2.1 ppm of FC per day.

A typical pool in AL needs about 4ppm per day of FC. You need to run your pool 17 hours per day with your SWG at 75% for that.
Click to expand...
Ok, but currently it’s at 10. That’s too high, right? Anything I should do to get it down?
 
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