Good evening yall! My name is Brea and I'm brand new to pool ownership/maintenance. We finished our new build in May 2022 and after the PB started up the pool, I've been maintaining the chemicals on my own. I so wish I had found TFP prior to our build, as we would have most certainly gone with a SWG. Alas, I didn't find it until after our pool was completed. Hoping to convert to a SWG next summer, if not sooner. When we went through pool school, we were told to put 2-3 Tri-Chlor tabs in a skimmer basket each week. 
I knew no better, so did that for the first few weeks. After some online reading, I realized that was terrible for the equipment, so changed to putting the Tri-Chlor tabs in a floater. After finding TFP, I realized I needed to ditch the tabs ALTOGETHER! We just got our first few gallons of liquid bleach today to use going forward.
I ordered the TF-Pro kit yesterday and it should be here on Thursday. In the interim, I have access to a Home Depot test kit and some HTH test strips. I just now did the testing with both and here are my results:
HD test kit
FC: 3.0
pH: 7.4
TA: 100
HTH test strip
FC: 2.0
pH: 7.2
TA: 80
CH: 200
CYA: 85
I have very little faith in these numbers, but it's all I have to go on until I get my TF kit on Thursday. Question -- my CYA is obviously high from using the Tri-Chlor tabs. I'm guessing with that (assumed) CYA number, my FC needs to be much higher? In looking at the Chlorine/CYA chart, am I reading it correctly that I need a minimum FC of 6-6.5? And I'm assuming that I'll need to do some draining to get the CYA down...but I'm waiting until I get my proper kit to know the full story of what I'm dealing with. At this point, should I just start adding my liquid bleach to get the FC level up? Pool Math app says I'll need to add 134 oz of 10% bleach to raise the FC by 4.0 -- am I calculating this correctly?
Super huge thanks to all of you who volunteer your time and expertise to help us newbies! I was HAPPY to become a supporter and subscribe to the Pool Math app too!
I knew no better, so did that for the first few weeks. After some online reading, I realized that was terrible for the equipment, so changed to putting the Tri-Chlor tabs in a floater. After finding TFP, I realized I needed to ditch the tabs ALTOGETHER! We just got our first few gallons of liquid bleach today to use going forward.I ordered the TF-Pro kit yesterday and it should be here on Thursday. In the interim, I have access to a Home Depot test kit and some HTH test strips. I just now did the testing with both and here are my results:
HD test kit
FC: 3.0
pH: 7.4
TA: 100
HTH test strip
FC: 2.0
pH: 7.2
TA: 80
CH: 200
CYA: 85
I have very little faith in these numbers, but it's all I have to go on until I get my TF kit on Thursday. Question -- my CYA is obviously high from using the Tri-Chlor tabs. I'm guessing with that (assumed) CYA number, my FC needs to be much higher? In looking at the Chlorine/CYA chart, am I reading it correctly that I need a minimum FC of 6-6.5? And I'm assuming that I'll need to do some draining to get the CYA down...but I'm waiting until I get my proper kit to know the full story of what I'm dealing with. At this point, should I just start adding my liquid bleach to get the FC level up? Pool Math app says I'll need to add 134 oz of 10% bleach to raise the FC by 4.0 -- am I calculating this correctly?
Super huge thanks to all of you who volunteer your time and expertise to help us newbies! I was HAPPY to become a supporter and subscribe to the Pool Math app too!
