First test with TF-100

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Re: Alleged hydration stains.

Hydration stains are said to fade away slowly if proper water balance is maintained. Could you post a complete set of water test results and also tell us how the PH has been behaving over the last several weeks?
 
Re: Alleged hydration stains.

chris4150 said:
Frustratedpoolmom,

What do you mean by "pool frog"?
Click to expand...

The Pool Frog is a an Ionizer, similar to your Nature 2. I lived with the darn thing for 5 seasons, what I nightmare. If I knew then what I know now, never would have put it in, I would have saved myself hundreds of dollars and lots of headache....but then I might not have found TFP.... :wink:

I saw your Slideshow photo from February...very nice indeed! So it is hard to tell from the new pics if its a clarity or cloud issue, and I can see why Dave thinks it's clarity. Your test results will provide alot of info there.

About the third year of using my Frog, those kind of stains showed up in my pool. Looked the same as yours, sort of dark tan, yellowish-brown. Pool Store told me it was Black Algae (it wasn't)...VERY long story short... by the end of my first season with BBB, the stains had slowly faded away, never to return. I suspect they were a result of my water being out of balance, and once it was maintained properly, they didn't return.

So, if you haven't been maintaining a high enough level of FC, in relation to whatever your CYA level is...it is entirely possible those stains are organic, as was my case. You can try my earlier advice to determine the type of stain, chlorine tablet/stick/puck on the stain or try vitamin C.

What is still interesting to me is the earlier comment that they had you put in metal sequesterant. If metals were present at one time, routine maintenance dosing of the solution is usually required to keep the metals in solution and not on your pool surface. So I wonder if they determined you had metals present?

It's a lot to take in, I know and I too am sorry if we are getting off-topic now and then.
 
Re: Alleged hydration stains.

frustratedpoolmom,

I dont mind getting off topic, good ideas and conversations come from them. In regards to the sequestering agent, I was provided with Jacks Magic when my pool plaster was first done to which I used such. However, my plaster has been redone by the pool builder due to a color issue and after such, no sequestering agent was provided. Sad that my pool is only 5 months old and this is my second plaster job. :grrrr:

In regards to my Nature 2, I have yet to insert the cartridge into the unit, so as of now its not serving any purpose.

Hope this helps.
 
Re: Alleged hydration stains.

ok, here are my current water results after two days of down pouring rain.

FC 0
TC 0.8
CC 0.8
PH 8.2
Hardness 85 ppm
TA 135 ppm
CYA 30 ppm
Copper 0
Iron 0

With that being said, can the stains possibly be organic and not mineral. I still need to conduct the vitamin C and chlorine test. Let me know what yall think :)
 
Re: Alleged hydration stains.

Thank you for posting test results!

The obvious thing that jumps out at me is that your PH is too high. It could easily be higher than 8.2, since the most common PH test reads PH levels above 8.2 as if they were 8.2. High PH is the primary cause of most staining.

You should lower your PH to 7.5 as soon as it is practical.

It is possible that the stains are organic, but I don't think it is likely.

I also can't help but notice that your FC level is zero and your CC level is above 0.5. With CYA at 30 you should always keep FC at 2 or higher. If your water temperature is below 60 degrees, this isn't a big deal. But if your water temperature is above 60 degrees it is important to deal with this right away.

Secondarily, your TA level is a bit high and your CH level is a bit low. They will both need to be fixed, but you should get the PH under control first and retest both of these before you deal with either of them.
 
Re: Alleged hydration stains.

Muriatic acid is fine. I suggest you start with 3 cups of muriatic acid, give it 30 minutes to an hour with the pump running to mix in and then test your PH again and see where you are.
 
Re: Alleged hydration stains.

Good!

It is important that you keep the PH in range at all times. Periods of high PH can lead to a variety of problems, including causing metal stains, if there are any metals in the water, and calcium scaling.

We haven't found a way that copper could have gotten into the water yet, but if there had been copper in the water, a PH of 8.2 would have been enough to cause it to form stains.
 

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Re: Alleged hydration stains.

Your FC level is zero and CC is above 0.5, so it would be best to shock the pool. Without a good test kit there is some guess work to shocking. If your water is clear, you will probably only need to raise the FC level up to 13 once to take care of the CC, but it is very difficult to be sure.

I recommend shocking with bleach. That won't raise your CYA level, or cause any other problems. If you already have some cal-hypo, you could use that right at the moment, though you don't want to continue using it long term.

It would be a big help if you had your own high quality test kit. In the mean time we might be able to make do with your simple kit combined with the pool store. In any case, you will need a good measurement of both FC and CC about 12 to 24 hours after adding chlorine.

Chlorine tabs are made of trichlor. Trichlor adds both chlorine and CYA to the water. Over time the CYA level builds up and you need higher and higher FC levels to prevent algae and keep the pool safe. Right now your CYA level is only 30, so you can continue using trichlor for a while. But eventually, your CYA level will go up enough that you will want to stop using trichlor.

If you want to continue using the chlorine tab chlorinator for the moment, I suggest turning it up by one. The other option, much better in the long run, would be to switch to using bleach. It is a little more work, but just a little, and it gives you a lot more control over your pool.
 
Re: Alleged hydration stains.

Jason,

Took a reading this morning, ph was at 7.8, fc 0, and TA 120. Using the pool calculator, I used miratic acid to lower the ph back to 7.5 and later shocked the pool as you recommended with bleach. How long should I waite to before testing the water again and what is the ideal FC that I should be shooting for given my last CYA of 30. Lastly, taking into condieration the sun, etc. how long will the FC levels remain high before coming down? What type of water clarity should I be looking for? The water was pretty clear with minimal cloudiness prior to shocking.

Thank you for all the help.

P.S. my TF 100 test kit has been ordered and awaitng arrival.
 
Re: Alleged hydration stains.

chris4150 said:
Jason,

Took a reading this morning, ph was at 7.8, fc 0, and TA 120. Using the pool calculator, I used miratic acid to lower the ph back to 7.5 and later shocked the pool as you recommended with bleach. How long should I waite to before testing the water again and what is the ideal FC that I should be shooting for given my last CYA of 30. Lastly, taking into condieration the sun, etc. how long will the FC levels remain high before coming down? What type of water clarity should I be looking for? The water was pretty clear with minimal cloudiness prior to shocking.

Thank you for all the help.

P.S. my TF 100 test kit has been ordered and awaitng arrival.
Click to expand...

Hi again,

Your shock level is 12 (see the CYA chart link in my sig). How fast the FC drops depends greatly on many variables. I would test again after the sun is off the pool, before dark, and add more chlorine if you see a drastic drop from 12... not sure if you can test that high? Then do another test first thing in the a.m. and compare the two results. A loss of more than 1ppm FC means you will need to keep shocking your pool.
 
Re: Alleged hydration stains.

Thank you for the response frustratedpoolmom.

If I test my water and thier is minimal loss in FC, do I leave the water alone and let if drop to a desireable level? (which Im still not sure what that number should be). Your help, along with everyone else who has responded to my messages, is greatly appreciated.
 
Re: Alleged hydration stains.

Did you look at the CYA chart in FPM's siggy? It's here if you didn't.
pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock

Your CYA reading is 30. Go to the left hand column under stabilizer and find numer 30. To the right of 30 is a number 2. That number 2 is the minimum chlorine your pool should always have. It's not to say any nasties won't grow though. Now, right beside the number 2 is a number 4. That is your target!!! You should always have atleast 4ppm of chlorine. It's your safety net!

If for some reason you can't get to the pool and add chlorine, and it dips below 2ppm, you'll need to shock to 12 ppm. Once you hold 12 ppm over night, you can let it go back down to 4 ppm, 2 ppm at the most.

It's a chart. Find your CYA level and read it straight across from the CYA #'s. It's not that hard. Hope this explains it better. :-D
 
Re: Alleged hydration stains.

With a CYA level of 30, you are going to lose more than 50% of your chlorine to sunlight each day. If you raise FC to 12 in the morning and it is 4 to 6 in the evening then that is probably normal. If it is 0 to 2 in the evening then you need to continue shocking and should raise FC back up to 12 again in the evening.

The normal day to day range for FC, given CYA of 30, is 2 to 6. Normally you would raise FC to somewhere between 4 and 6 in the evening so that it is 2 or higher the next evening.
 
Re: Alleged hydration stains.

Hi, Chris,

As a general rule, we like to see the pump running 24/7 until your water is crystal clear and you are no longer experienceing any overnight Cl loss.

I think you will be killing a lot of stuff your filter needs to get out of the pool so the more you run it, the better.
 

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