Hi, I'm Debbie in Alabama and I've just started trying to work on my pond-like, frog-infested pool. I bought the FAS-DPD test kit at the end of last year, but I'm still learning what the test results are really telling me. Here are my results so far from a few minutes ago (remember, I just turned on the pump, and its very green, murky water):
CYA - isn't readable, filled up tube and still could see the black dot pretty clearly
NO chlorine at all (haven't put any in yet!)
Ph - at least 9.0 (off scale, very bright pink test result), acid demand test took 10 drops (I don't know how to use that information!)
TA- 70 ppm
Calcium Hardness - 170 ppm
See signature for pool data.
So, if I don't know my CYA, do I assume it's zero? If so, according to the table, I need 10ppm of free chlorine to reach a shock level. But do I worry about the Ph and Ta before I start shocking? What do I fix first? My understanding is that for whatever my CYA is, I have to keep that free chlorine level up to shock level for a couple of days, right? And when do I worry about Calcium hardness?
Help!
Debbie
CYA - isn't readable, filled up tube and still could see the black dot pretty clearly
NO chlorine at all (haven't put any in yet!)
Ph - at least 9.0 (off scale, very bright pink test result), acid demand test took 10 drops (I don't know how to use that information!)
TA- 70 ppm
Calcium Hardness - 170 ppm
See signature for pool data.
So, if I don't know my CYA, do I assume it's zero? If so, according to the table, I need 10ppm of free chlorine to reach a shock level. But do I worry about the Ph and Ta before I start shocking? What do I fix first? My understanding is that for whatever my CYA is, I have to keep that free chlorine level up to shock level for a couple of days, right? And when do I worry about Calcium hardness?
Help!
Debbie