My Very First TF100 readings......

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LovesClearWater

0
Apr 23, 2009
18
South of Houston, Texas
CYA = less than 20 (could still see black dot but not that well)
FC = 3.5
CC = .5
TC = 4.0
TA = 70-80
CA = 650 (wow)
PH = 7.2

I was thinking about adding some Supreme that I already purchased, about 45 pounds of it.
I will also get on later tonight and do some reading about my levels but for right now I wanted to post them and get some feedback........All Suggestions welcome.
Oh, I have plenty of TriChlor tablets that I have not been using for months, and plenty of 1 pound bags of Sodium Dichloro-s-Triazinetrione. I know the 3'' tablets and/or the 1 pound bags of shock will bring up the CYA levels but I am looking for ya'lls input.........
 
With a high calcium level you need to be carefull to keep your PH under 7.8 at all times. You should also test the calcium level of your fill water.

I suggest you raise CYA up to 40 or 50, one way or another.
 
I have hard well water but it runs through a water softener, then I use that for my pool and its what comes into my house. I checked the CH just a minute ago and after adding the drops, the color was almost blue to begin with(not even a hint of red), so with a drop or 2 of the 0012, the color was absolutely blue. 6 years ago when we installed the pool we probably used well water straight from the well. Although 4-5 yrs ago I had a PS232 kit and I dont remember the calcium being high at all. Can anything else add calcium to the water over the last 3-4 yrs ? and are you saying that if my PH is kept under 7.8, the high calcium level wont be to harmful ?? Thanks again and look forward to your answers.
 
Cal-hypo or granular "shock" sold in 1lb bags at pool stores can increase the CH levels, but more slowly than a "calcium increaser". Have you used these products?

Yes, if you keep the PH below 7.8 you can prevent scaling which is caused by high CH and PH levels.
 
The 1 pound bag of shock I have used regularly over the past 3 or so years, is "super Zappit". Active ingredient: 73% calcium Hypochlorite. I used that bag of shock everytime I needed to raise my FC level. Wow, I guess that little bag contributed to my rise in CH, right ? The problem I seem to be thinking about now, is that if i use 3'' trichlor tablets that would help raise my CYA level which I need, but will that also raise my CH level also ? I have some other shock bags I just bought at Sam's Club (Sodium dichloro-s-triaz) will that raise my CH also ? I feel I will be heading in the right direction becuase of reading the BBB method which i am trying to institute now, I just need to get CYA up but try not to raise my CH anymore............gulp :rant:
 
LovesClearWater said:
The 1 pound bag of shock I have used regularly over the past 3 or so years, is "super Zappit". Active ingredient: 73% calcium Hypochlorite. I used that bag of shock everytime I needed to raise my FC level. Wow, I guess that little bag contributed to my rise in CH, right ? The problem I seem to be thinking about now, is that if i use 3'' trichlor tablets that would help raise my CYA level which I need, but will that also raise my CH level also ? I have some other shock bags I just bought at Sam's Club (Sodium dichloro-s-triaz) will that raise my CH also ? I feel I will be heading in the right direction becuase of reading the BBB method which i am trying to institute now, I just need to get CYA up but try not to raise my CH anymore............gulp :rant:
Click to expand...

Yes, that little bag certainly helped, especially if you used it weekly or so. :wink:

The trichlor will raise the CYA, but it will also lower your PH, as it is acidic. It will not raise the CH.

The Sam's club shock is "Dichlor" and will NOT raise CH, and it will raise your CYA slightly faster than the Trichlor. I'm drawing a blank at the moment on whether it is acidic too. Either way, keep an eye on the PH that it doesn't go below 7.2 while using either product.

When adjusting CYA it can take about a week for the results/changes to show up on tests....just an FYI.
 
Thanks for the comments. For what ever reason over the life of my pool (6-7 yrs) I have never experienced low PH. If I dont watch it for a few days, its off the chart HIGH. I use quite a bit of MA to keep it in check. I will monitor it closely over the next week or so, I will use my Sams club DiChlor to help raise the CYA. I am not going to worry alot about the CH right now. I will post my new test numbers in a few days. If the above does not sound like a good course of action, please tell me......
 
Sounds fine, just use the dichlor sparingly you don't want to go overboard. :wink: New plaster can cause PH to rise, so can aeration sources like waterfalls, attached spas, spillovers, etc., anything like that in your pool?
 
Yes to the waterfalls. They are low profile (2 of them) and I do run them about 90 percent of the time my pool pump is running. For the next few days I will not use them, I'll have all my water just run through the 4 returns plus the polaris. Thanks again and I will report back on my numbers in a couple days. :-D
 
People report adding Borates helps stabilize PH...you could try that when your ready to tackle a new project, you can read about it here. You shouldn't have to miss out using such a nice pool feature. We can figure this out. I wonder if lowering the TA to 60 would help. We'll see what the chem guru's have to say about that.
 

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LovesClearWater said:
Yes to the waterfalls. zlow profile (2 of them)... running90 percent of the time my pool pump is running.
Click to expand...
I have a waterfall that has a 24" drop. We run it 50% of the time and I've never had low PH and don't expect to. The sound is relaxing :sleep: and I hate to see you not use them too. The constant waterfall use will cause PH rise even though they're low but it's a slow PH rise which you've controlled with muratic acid :wink: .

The key right now is raising your CYA and the *best* way to do that is with "Stabilizer" and use bleach for the sanitizer: both pretty cheap at good old Wal-Mart. Dichlor can add the stabilizer without dropping the PH, but I tend to keep it simple 8) especially with high CH :
Bleach, Borax, Baking Soda, Stabilizer, and in my case salt and muratic acid.
 
The key right now is raising your CYA and the *best* way to do that is with "Stabilizer" and use bleach for the sanitizer: both pretty cheap at good old Wal-Mart. Dichlor can add the stabilizer without dropping the PH, but I tend to keep it simple especially with high CH :
Bleach, Borax, Baking Soda, Stabilizer, and in my case salt and muratic acid.

Thanks, I have 45 pounds of "Supreme" which is Borax. It contains stabilizer to, or I guess maybe it is the Borax that IS the stabilizer. anyway, i remember using Supreme years ago, and I have to say I was amazed at how long everything stayed where it should, PH didnt seem to drift for 1-2 weeks at a time, i just had to add a little MA every now and then. After I add the "Supreme" I am going to recheck everything and absolutely do nothing but the BBB method. I will post more after I add the supreme this weekend.
 
:shock: ahhhh, I see said the blind man...........well, I will look for stabilizer also.......and try and bring the CYA up to (let me get my chart) 30-50. I think after I do all that, all of my numbers will be pretty good except for that darn CH, but not draining half my pool so I will just make sure and keep my PH below 7.8............. Thanks again, keep the input coming if you don't think I am on the right track.
 
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