New guy saying hi!

[Truevil]

Hello all, I am new to pools and new to this forum. I am so lucky that I found this site as soon as I did(2 days after pool was set up). I wanted to thank everyone for what they contribute, and how helpful you all can be. Pool was set up on 7/12/15 and here are the numbers so far. I am still working on them. I forgot to add in my sig that this was filled with well water, and that so far has been the biggest problem.
TC=5
FC=3.5
CC=1.5
PH=7.5
TA=200
CYA=<10

I am still in the learning process with the test kit and the with the abrv. I keep getting TC and CC confused.

 

[singingpond]

Welcome!

What kind of trouble is the well water giving you?

Do you have some stabilizer (CYA) dissolving at the moment? As you probably realize, your measured CYA levels are still lower than suggested.

How does the water look?

 

[Texas Splash]

Happy you found us, and welcome. Very pleased to see you have the TF-100. . Yes, as you already know, well water can present some challenges. Just in case you haven't already seen some of the pages/links, here are some to refresh your memory: Pool School - Metals in the Water and Metal Stains.

Once you've added chlorine to the water, it oxidizes nearly all the iron to ferric iron that then forms iron oxides. So now the approach is to physically remove these precipitates either through vacuum-to-waste, through sweeping to get to the filter (or to skimmer socks or batting material) and then you'll be left over with a smaller amount of iron in the water. At that point you can either use a metal sequestrant or physically remove it with something like Metal Free that tries to capture and precipitate more into the filter.

As for your readings above, here is what I would suggest:
- For a SWG, you need your CYA higher ASAP (70-78 ppm)
- While waiting for your CYA to increase, ensure you keep that FC higher here in our TC "blazing" sun to prevent an algae bloom. Always refer to the Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart
- You didn't post CC specifically, but TC - FC = 1.5. That exceeds our recommended CC of <= .5. You may be on the verge of an algae situation already. I would suggest you bring your FC up higher than the normal (target) level for a couple days and retest. Perhaps do an Pool School - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT), and ensure you are at SLAM level when you do the test. If you fail the OCLT, then you know you need to hold your FC at SLAM level until that CC goes down to <=.5.

I hope that helps give you a good direction forward. We're very happy to have you join us, and hope you have a great summer. If you have any more questions, please ask.

 

[Truevil]

Thanks for the replies and the welcomes. I made a mistake when I said TC I was stating my CC. I know it is high at the moment and I am working on that. I have not turned on the saltwater system yet. I just got it installed yesterday and poured in the salt. 10 hours later I got a salt reading of 3,250. I will be adding the stabilizer today. I got a little freaked out when I first started reading this forum about CYA. For the first two days I was using the Triclor pucks, so I went and pulled them out of the pool and stared using bleach. My TF-100 came in this last Monday so I was finally able to measure the CYA. Like I said I will be adding some today.
The only real issue I have with the well water is sediment. I filled the pool using a whole house filter, and still got a light tan colored water. After adding the sand filter and changing out cartridges daily on the cartridge filter, I was able to get crystal clear water. The water has looked great for the last 7 days or so.

 

[zimm]

You can use the pucks until your CYA is on target.

 

[lefty51]

Hello Truevil and welcome to TFP ,
Well as you can see, responses and advice come quickly around here. And it's good advice too. Like zimm stated you could use Trichlor pucks to augment your stabilizer increase and add the chlorine you need. Just remember to double check pool math so you don't overshoot your CYA goal.

That's great if all you have to worry about is sediment from well water(as far as pool is concerned)

Yeah it's only necessary to post FC & CC. That's one of pool store and test strip problems when testing chlorine. They tell you TC, and that doesn't tell what's going on with your chlorine.

Your on the right track and we're here if you have any questions. Glad to have you aboard !

 

[Truevil]

You can use the pucks until your CYA is on target.

Thanks, that is what I have been doing since last Friday, because I had to go out of town until Monday. Tested yesterday and CYA was about 10 or less. Getting stabilizer in there today. I will go slow and double check Poolmath just to be sure.

 

[otter86753]

Welcome. You probably already have read, but if you are using granular stabilizer (it is much cheaper than the liquid), the results will not show accurately until a week after adding them. You know to put the stabilizer in a sock in front of a return and give it a squeeze to help it dissolve?

Folks here are great about helping.

 

[Truevil]

Welcome. You probably already have read, but if you are using granular stabilizer (it is much cheaper than the liquid), the results will not show accurately until a week after adding them. You know to put the stabilizer in a sock in front of a return and give it a squeeze to help it dissolve?

Folks here are great about helping.

Thanks, that is exactly what I was planning to do today as soon as I get home.

 

[Truevil]

Todays numbers.

TC=3
FC=3
CC=0
PH=7.5
TA=200
CYA=40
Temp 86

Is this sounding about right?

 

[Texas Splash]

Okay, so your TF-100 tells us:
- For a SWG system, you'll want to increase CYA to 70-80 for best efficiency with FC.
- You are at the minimum FC for a SWG system (target 5), and with low CYA (sunscreen) that's dangerous for algae. I'd increase FC right away either by SWG boost or a little liquid (regular) bleach to keep FC AT LEAST at 5, maybe even 7-ish to protect from this crazy heat.
- TA could come down a bit, but perhaps not your most urgent issue if the PH is stable. I'd focus on the FC and CYA first.

Hope this helps.

 

[Truevil]

Todays numbers taken right now, 4:23 am.

Temp 86
TC=5
PH=7.5
FC=6.5
CC=0
Salt=3,300
CYA=50

I just added the CYA on Weds so I am going to wait a week to see if anymore starts showing up in the results before adding anymore.
I think I got this thing dialed in.