Brand new pool person, water parameter question

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MrsDoolittle

MrsDoolittle

0
Jul 26, 2015
4
Maydelle, TX
Howdy!

We just set up our very first pool today! We have a SWG, so today was adding the salt and turning on our sand filter. I have not turned on SWG, as it recommended waiting 24 hours before doing so.

So I am brand new at pools, but I owned aquariums for many years. Our water is very soft (almost zero hardness), but the total alkalinity is high, and pH is usually around 8 or just above. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't this create the issue of when you try to lower pH, it climbs back up again due to the high alkalinity? Something in my rusty brain is telling me that this was an issue I had with my fish tanks. I did test our tap water with a dip strip, and looks like the same old story I dealt with years ago. I will order the recommended test kit, by the way! I'll get it coming this week.

So after I get salinity where it needs to be, then run my SWG and I also assume add my CYA to get it to a good level, what steps should be taken to get that pH to a more neutral state? I did read the article on reducing TA. :) Oh, and I did buy muriatic acid.

Thanks!
 
Howdy and welcome to TFP! :wave: If you are familiar with aquarium water balance you should have zero problems managing your pool. I would say that managing a reef aquarium is a bit more involved than a pool and managing a pool is a bit more involved than managing a freshwater aquarium.

Seeing that you have a vinyl pool you will not need to worry about your Calcium unless it is very high. FC, CYA and pH are the most important parameters you will need to master. The high alkalinity will cause your pH to rise, so you will have to fix that by adding MA (bring pH down to 7.2) and then aerating your water to increase your pH. Keep performing this until your pH starts to stabilize.

I would go ahead and get some CYA in your pool. You can get CYA (stabilizer) at Walmart. Please target a CYA of 70 by using pool math. It can take the CYA up to a week to register when testing. Just assume that you have a CYA of 70. Turn on your SWG and :swim:!

Make sure you read Pool School and once your test kit comes in give us a full set of results and we will help you get your pool dialed in so to speak. If you have questions just ask!
 
Thanks, jaduck, I'd like to think that I will get this right! Okay, so I will go ahead and add the CYA this morning, and I also am going to work on getting my return jet pointing in the right direction...I don't have one with the adjustable 'eyeball'. Anyway, I can certainly supplement with bleach; no problem. So, add CYA, then just add bleach here this a.m. according to pool calc recommendations (yes, FC is at 0, which I expected). Then turn on SWG early this evening? I will have to read up on adding bleach; haven't gotten that far yet :)

Oh, one last thing, my SWG manual shows ideal CYA range at 20-40ppm/maximum at 50, whereas TFP recommends 70. Not disputing, just wondering why the difference :D Just want to be sure I will not damage anything by attaining 70. Thanks!
 
I have no doubt that you will get this right and you will have one great looking pool in the process! I would do the following (others may chime in and tweak my suggestions)

1. Determine the total gallons of water for your pool using pool math.
2. Add CYA/Stabilizer to your pool and target 70 ppm. Add the amount needed to a sock and hang in front of your return. Squeeze the sock to help the CYA to dissolve. Make sure your pump is on and working. If pool math says to add 4 lbs (for example) add about 1/2 to 3/4 of the amount until your test kit arrives. You do not want to overshoot the CYA.
3. Add bleach and target about 6 ppm of FC. Test every day and maintain this amount until your test kit arrives.
4. Hold off on adding other chemicals until your kit arrives.
5. I would probably keep the SWG turned off as well. Just manage with bleach.
6. When you get your kit practice with tap water and then run a full battery of test on your pool. Once you get your results post both the tap water and pool results in this thread. We can help you get the pool in near perfect balance after you get those results!
7. Go ahead and add pool salt using the amount recommended by Intex and Swim! It is nice to have a means to test your NaCl, using either strips or even better, a Taylor titration kit. Titration is the way to go in my opinion, but it is an added cost.

I have no clue as to why Intex recommends such a low CYA, but I can tell you in simple terms that using a higher CYA level will help save the life on your SWG cell, help with algae outbreaks, not as much acid demand, and help with cloudy water.
 
Awesome! Will do. I already had started the SWG today after we got out (woohoo! First swim day!), so I set it to run for the recommended time, BUT since the FC was 0 and I hadn't yet added CYA, I went ahead and used bleach to get the FC to 5. Then I did the CYA later as you suggested. I had already added some MA this morning, but as I suspected, pH jumped back up after we had been playing in the pool, so I won't freak out too much until my test kit arrives...I'll just use the bleach to get it where I want it!

Thanks again!:D
 
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