First results in from Australia

[Ratboy]

Hi All,

I'm a newbie to all this, so appreciate your patience. On the advice of a few people on this forum, I've just had my Taylor K-2006c and K-1766 test kits delivered to Australia. Besides the cost of shipment, it was very smooth. Thanks to all who suggest what additional reagents etc. to get and for the $20 discount code for December.
So now that I can (hopefully) get some accurate results, I just had a couple of questions. Results first...

Salt 7800 (Watermaid salt cell with target of 6000 - I think this is slightly higher than the US cells)
FC 3.4 ppm
CC 0
CYA 40
pH 8
CH140
TA 90

So - my summary....
Salt a bit high, but with the rain drenching we're getting in Sydney at the moment, that will come down through dilution, so I'm not that bothered.
CC - I thought I did something wrong with the test to get this, but from reading on this forum this seems OK??
pH - too high, I added about 1.5l of Acid. pH seems to be always on the high side and I'm always adding acid. Is this normal?
CH - a bit too low??
TA - OK

I'd love some comments - thanks in advance!

 

[MarianParoo]

Hey!!! Welcome to the world of real pool ownership with having a great testkit!

May I first suggest that you use the 10ml sample for FC/CC testing? Then each drop is multiplied by 0.5. You will save on your precious AUS reagents.

Yes, CC of 0.5 or less is exactly what you want!

Yes, CH is low.

Look into raising your CYA a little at a time. It is a bit low for a SWG.

Have you looked at PoolMath at the top of this page?

 

[pooldv]

Here is my favorite page for saltwater pools. Pool School - Water Balance for SWGs

It is normal for PH to rise in saltwater pools, keep it at 7.8 or lower. Also, let your TA drop to 60-70 if it wants to with the acid additions. This will help slow the PH rise.

How new is your pool? CH needs to be at least 250-300. Especially if it is newish. What is the CH of your fill water? If it is under 200 or so then definitely raise your CH. If it is 300 or more then maybe only raise CH to 200 and let it rise on its own. CH will naturally rise with evaporation as the CH does not evaporate and the fill water adds more.

Here is a list of chemicals, what they do and how to add them. Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

 

[Jezza]

Welcome back Ratboy!

Glad to hear that your K2006C arrived smoothly and that you are on your way to a TFP. You've received good advice so far and you seem to have a good feel for what you need to do to get things perfect. Just let us know if you have any other questions.

 

[AUSpool]

CH - Your in the Ryde water supply system, total hardness is given as 56.4mg/L in the last Sydney Water quarterly report to September 2015. Since total hardness is both calcium and magnesium one would expect your tap water CH to be around 30ppm. With adverage rainfall that doesn't cause the pool to overflow your CH will slowly increase due to evaporation and tap water top ups. But with heavy rain that causes the pool to constantly overflow you'll see a drop in CH as pool water is replaced with rain water.

Every pool is a bit different which is why we test and dose accordingly. With five years of records for my pool I have always only needed to add calcium but that may change with the addition of solar heating and an increase in evaporation. I think it is a good idea to keep a record of your pool management.

 

[Ratboy]

Thanks all for the feedback. Pool is 10+ years old, so I'm guessing that having low CH is less of an issue.

 

[Patrick_B]

Actually, it still ought to have enough no matter the age. I would want a minimum of 250 PPM CH.