New pool owner trying to understand test strip reading

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Well last year the April showers showed up in July IIRC. No two years are the same but a wet spring is moderately common then the summer is drier. Unless its not.
 
24-48 hours. I used to wait 48 hours because I was surprised (low) once at 24 hours.
Now I don't test after adding for a couple weeks. If it's in there it's in there.
Granted, I use the same brand, and my pool volume is accurate.
 
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Thoughts on this morning’s test? I lowered the SWG to 6% and I added more muriatic acid to bring down the pH to bring down the TA.
 

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Pas_pool said:
I am going off of what I have been told on here and on the pool math app to have it in the 60-90 range
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There seems to be no reason in your pool to force down your TA.

Keep your pH in the high 7s and your TA will come down naturally as you adjust your pH.

Pool chemistry is not simply about matching numbers. It helps to understand why you need certain levels and when it does not matter for your pools health.

If you do not have a “why” then don’t do unnecessary work.

TA - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
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110 is way close enough IMO but we are split as to which would bother us more. If you leave it be........

The good : TA will continue to fall on its own as you maintain PH in the 7s.

The not perfect : it will pull the Ph up and you'll need to dose muriatic acid a little more often (but not tons).

The Even Steven : slightly increased MA doses will lower the TA for you.

If you go out of your way to get the TA down.......

The good : Ph rise will slow sooner.

The bad : More work now and then you still have to maintain the Ph between now and however long it would have taken to do it the slow way.

The Even Steven : One less thing to think about.
 
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So it sounds like it’s either do the work now and have a little less later or continuous work throughout the season. I would prefer to do a little bit more work now, but I’m not using the pool and get it good then just maintain.
 
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One other factor to consider is that if you have high TA/PH fill water and rely on that fill water fairly often, there will be a tendency for the pool water PH & TA to rise anyway. This is why I don't bother with manual dosing anymore and went with an automatic acid dosing system.
 
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Pas_pool said:
I would prefer to do a little bit more work now, but I’m not using the pool and get it good then just maintain.
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There is no wrong way to skin this cat. For some with crazy high TA (like 200+) they need to force it or it will take all season if even then. Or for those with high TA fill water and lots of evaporation, they'll want to get ahead of it. But vinyl in the northeast is pretty much hands off for most of us so you dont have the pressing concerns to lower the TA. Walk or run to the finish line, its up to you.
 
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Pas_pool said:
So it sounds like it’s either do the work now and have a little less later or continuous work throughout the season. I would prefer to do a little bit more work now, but I’m not using the pool and get it good then just maintain.
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mas985 said:
One other factor to consider is that if you have high TA/PH fill water and rely on that fill water fairly often, there will be a tendency for the pool water PH & TA to rise anyway. This is why I don't bother with manual dosing anymore and went with an automatic acid dosing system.
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PAS. You got it. and @ajw22 is right. I went through the same thing. I had to have my TA down, so I built an aeration rig, that now sits dormant as I've learned.

Create another pool in pool math called Fill Water. Test the pH, TA, CH of your fill water and save it as a record in Fill Water.

Post those results here (we can only see your default pool)
 
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PoolStored said:
PAS. You got it. and @ajw22 is right. I went through the same thing. I had to have my TA down, so I built an aeration rig, that now sits dormant as I've learned.

Create another pool in pool math called Fill Water. Test the pH, TA, CH of your fill water and save it as a record in Fill Water.

Post those results here (we can only see your default pool)
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I will do that when I get a moment after work one of these days coming up. Haven’t had to use my well water for fill yet. I’ve only been doing the opposite with all this rain 🙄
 
Liquid said:
So it has been two years since my original post. I thought adding a few comments might help speed up the lerarning curve or give some other new pool owners more confidence that they will figure out the testing procedure. If I did, anyone could.

It did initially take me a few weeks to get comfortable performing all the tests and some are more interpretive than others. Within a few months I had the testing procedures memorized as to how many drops of each agent and testing is pretty efficient. Now, on a normal basis I test pH and Chlorine every few days, TA once a week, CH, CYA & Salt every ten days/two weeks. If there is severe weather or a significant change to the water level I will test more frequently. Now, I think I understand my pool better, anticipate what it needs and when based on usage, temperature, weather and changes in water level.

I changed some of the testing equiptment which made a difference for me. First off, I threw the pH test block in the trash. The colors faded and my pH was way off, which caused me a lot of headache in trying to balance the pool and all along it was a shoddy test block. That story is here. I now use the Taylor pH Test Block, which is also more granular than the block that comes with the TF test kit (.2 v.s .3 if I remember correctly), helping me better interpret the pH level. You have to use R-0004 in the Taylor block and not R-0014 that comes with the TF kit. I also replaced both the test cylinders as the lines faded on them quite quickly. I bought glass beakers, a 25 ml for 10ml tests and a 50 ml for TA. It gives plenty of room to swirl the contents well. I don't use a Speed Stir, though you could find a dozen threads on TFP and the benefits/debates of using one. I opted not to go there.

The one test method I changed around was CYA. Rather than filling with pool water to the bottom of the label and agent to the top of the label, I just measure out equal parts of each and add them individually to the test bottle. For me that works better than using the label as a guide.

I will say it was pretty easy getting initially established but is a constant learning process. I have so much more to learn just about pool chemistry, not to mention all the other aspects of maintaining a pool, but TFP is a HUGE help!
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Might be a stupid question. But what does CH stand for when you said you test that once every two weeks or so. Is that calcium?
 
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Haven’t turned the heat pump on yet since the pool was built about a month ago. My wife wants to use it potentially this weekend with decent weather.

If this was your forecast when would be a good day and time to turn it on so that the temp can get up to 80 degrees. Our pool is 22,800 gallons and you can see our type of heat pump in my signature line. Our water temp currently has a around 65 degrees

Thanks
 

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