Test kit in, Can't believe my readings

[dwise100]

So I have been reading as much on here as I can, but some of what I just tested on my water leaves me scratching my head.

14,700 gallon vinyl above ground.
For 3 years I opened with pool store recs and ran a salt generator with no problem. Last year it went to pot.

Pool is green but vacuumed. I vacuumed and put 1/2 gallon of 8.25 bleach in 2 days ago and have been filtering waiting for my nice new FAS-DPD kit to arrive.

Here we go.

FC=0, but the Combined shows 18.

My PH is so low that it doesn't even match on the colors. More of a light yellow I so would say it must be in the 6.8 range (a guess)

And when I followed the instructions to test the TA, (25 ml water, 2 drops of R-0007 swirled) 5 drops r-0008 where the same "Should turn green" it stays red. Yes I re read everything and re tested. So I am not even putting R-009 in...because it is already red.

So I did the WHEN HIGH TA IS ANTICIPATED and used 10 ML sample, 1 drop R-0007, 3 drops R-0008 and it also stayed red...so didn't need tthe R-0009 to turn it red...it already matched 8.0 on the PH color chart.


Seems like this water is WAY out of wack...

Looking at the Pool Math Calculator it looks like a LOT of Borax to bring the PH up...40 pounds or so. 2 quarts 3 cups of 8.25% bleach to bring up the FC.

But what about the PH? I don't even know where to begin since I can't complete the test.

Sorry if this is newbie questioning...because, well, it is.

Daniel

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

That means your TA is basically 0 and your pH is VERY low. I would get these fixed before doing anything else with the chlorine.

Now what I can not remember is the correct order to fix the TA and pH so you do not overshoot the TA ... let me go try to find the procedure ...

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

Those readings indicate
1) Possibly Ammonia in the water from degraded CYA. Is that really 18? Or could it be a typo and you mean 1.8?
2) pH is waaaay too low. The low TA corresponds with that. Your pH is probably something closer to 5. You're lucky your liner is vinyl, because if you had a plaster pool, the walls would be crumbling. However, if there's a heater... check out these pictures.

What about the rest of the readings? You need to check the CYA levels. If they're zero, you're looking at Ammonia. If not, check CH. Your vinyl pool doesn't need it, but if it's high, you could start scaling and clogging up the SWG cell. The reason I ask is because astronomical CYA (not likely here) or CH readings or Ammonia all indicate a partial drain is necessary. So there's no point in treating a bunch of green water you're just going to dump. Besides, super high CYA or Ammonia will involve so much bleach it'll be cheaper to replace the water. The only caveat is that you don't want to empty a liner pool completely. You should leave at least a foot in the shallow end or the liner may shift or wrinkle.

So test the rest and post you results here and we'll try to walk you through it. Also, it's very helpful if you fill out your signature with your equipment.

 

[borjis]

I had extremely low ph on the last pool/house I had when I bought it.

Here's a warning that might help.

I remember going through about 4 buckets of ph up to get it to 7.5 (I think it was 6.8, pool was 19,000 gallons)

I had metal stains (gunnite) about a week after adding all that ph up.

In hindsight, I should have just changed the water in my opinion.

I could be wrong, but would have preferred water replacement to dealing with metal staining from the abrupt ph rise.

 

[Donldson]

First, welcome to TFP! Congratulations also at getting a good kit, as you can see it was a good idea.

Did you test your CYA? I would guess it is zero since if your CC is so high you might have an ammonia issue. First thing is first though, your TA and pH are dangerously low.

First thing I would do is add enough baking soda to get your TA up and readable. Add enough to bring it to 80 and let it mix for an hour. After that retest your pH and TA. Your pH might be readable at that point and could save you some borax. Once you have your pH and TA in line then it is time to tackle your chlorine issue.

 

[jblizzle]

OK, found the post I was looking for. Looks like you want to adjust the TA first. So, you need to use PoolMath to determine how much baking soda is required to add say 60ppm of TA to your pool. Add that and let it circulate for an hour or so and then retest the TA and pH. If the TA is still too low, target up to 60-70ppm again. Once the TA is measuring in that area, the pH should be close to OK, check the pH a day later.

After that then we focus on FC and CC confusion.

- - - Updated - - -

Looks like Donldson and I are saying basically the same thing

 

[dwise100]

So I just finished all the tests and checked them twice.

I may need to stop and drain much of the pool due to the CYA being 120 PPM! According to pool math I need to replace 67% of the water in the pool! Which means to me, obviously everything will need to be retested after I do that.

Right?

Thanks for all the help!

Just so you can see what else the water says
FC=0
PH=6
TA=0
CH=113
CYA=120

The salt generator is totally scaled up and I quit using it mid summer last season. I know how to clean them but it is a pretty cheap walmart brand and I have never had them last more than 2 seasons without electrical issues.

 

[borjis]

Did you do a 50/50 dillution of tap water and pool water to get CYA at 60 them multiply x2 for 120 result?

Honestly, if I were you I'd do gradual water replacement first if you can. That will jump start things and
avoid possible issues/expense.


on chemical balancing:

Also a good idea to add HALF at a time of what pool math recommends (until you get used to how your pool reacts to adding things)....or you could easily over do it.

Do half the amount, wait half hour with pump running....test....then go from there.

On my first pool mentioned above I ended up getting the TA much higher than it needed to be.