Adding Muriatic Acid to bring TA down

[rogerbrks]

Need help in getting my TA down. Here are my reading this afternoon
FC .3
ph 7.5
TA 130
CYA 40
My test kit does not have CC and CH testing. I'll have to get to the pool store on Sat for that. better yet get the test kit sold here.
From reading other post I now understand that I need to add Muriatic Acid to get the TA down and then aerate to get my ph up. My question is, do I need to have the pump on to circulate the water? and if so for how long? In what order should add the muriatic acid, shock and add CYA. My pool gets sun all day. It has western exposure with no shade.

 

[JasonLion]

You need to have the pump on when you are adding the muriatic acid and for at least 30 minutes afterwards. Muriatic acid should be poured slowly in front of a return jet. It will mix fairly quickly that way. If you add acid with the pump off it can pool on the bottom and damage the pool surface.

Shock and CYA depend on the water temperature. If the water is cold, below 50 degrees, I would hold off on both of those. Even if the water is warm, you may not need to shock if the water is clear and algae free.

By the by, Trouble Free Pool and TF Test Kits are separate places. Everyone here who recommends TF Test Kits (give or take duraleigh ) does so because they believe it is a great product, not because of the similar names.

 

[rogerbrks]

Thanks JasonLion. I will aplly your steps.

 

[Guest]

What test kit are you using? If you are using anything besides a titration or meter for your TA do not try and adjust it because the resolution of your test most likely is not precise enough to make water balance adjustments.(particularly if your "test kit" is strips, which I suspect it might be because of what you are able to test for.)

 

[rogerbrks]

The test kit are used with drops and a color chart by Pentair. I went to the local poolstore in Round Rock and had do a water test.

He are their results
FC 8ppm
CC 2ppm
TC 10ppm
PH 7.6
Hardness 280pm
TA 120ppm
CYA 30ppm

Their recommendation was to superchorinate the pool to destroy chloramines. Add 3 lbs of 6oz Super Zappitt (Cal-hypo).

Also they said my stabilizer level is ok and my phosphates is 750. They recommended Phos free. It was $60 for the bottle. My reaction is first check with TFP and I'm glad I was on my motorcycle and couldn't carry it.

You input/feedback is greatly appreciate and will be used.

 

[JasonLion]

When CC is above 0.5 it is a good idea to shock (super-chlorinate). I would use bleach to add chlorine, not cal-hypo. You already have enough calcium in the water. To shock you bring the FC level up to 15 (given your CYA level), and keep it there until the CC reading goes back to zero. Doing all of this is much simpler if you have a top quality test kit.

I would stay away from Phos Free. It can get rather expensive and isn't needed as long as you maintain an appropriate FC level.

Your TA is just a little high, there isn't any rush to bring it down (though that is worth doing eventually). All of your other numbers look good.

 

[Guest]

The test kit are used with drops and a color chart by Pentair.
Pentair kits are not the best quality but are usable if you know their limitations. The TA test you have should be a titration (drop counting) test. The pH test in some of their kits does not give accurate results when the chlorine levels are around 5 ppm or higher.

Also they said my stabilizer level is ok and my phosphates is 750. They recommended Phos free. It was $60 for the bottle. My reaction is first check with TFP and I'm glad I was on my motorcycle and couldn't carry it.

You input/feedback is greatly appreciate and will be used.

PhosFree is NOT needed. Phosphate removers are a great way for pool stores to make money. If you keep your CYA and FC in proper relationship you will not have any problems. I have seem many, many pools with orthophosphate levels above 3000 ppb (mine included) that have NO problems with algae growth. In fact, I have yet to come across a pool from any of my customers where orthophosphates was the limiting factor in algae growth.

 

[rogerbrks]

Jasiolion and waterbear,

Thanks for the feedback. I'll return the cal-hypo and get the bleach. I've never used bleach before. I'll read back over some of the nuggets you two have dropped in past post to do it right.