Water chemistry help

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lafonte98

lafonte98

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Bronze Supporter
May 3, 2016
141
Collinsville, IL
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Hello,

I am new to this forum and need some advice. I have a 30,000 gallon salt water pool with cell generator. The bottom of my pool is concrete with a plaster finish. I have had some issues with scaling and have some discoloration. The calcium hardness is extremely high so I have been adding the magenta stuff to help with this issue. As you see from the picture my free chlorine levels and total chlorine levels are high as well. The place that put my pool in (2012) tells me to boost my generator weekly. I do not understand why I should do this when my levels are already so high. Can't I just not boost until the levels drop down to closer to normal or even wait until they get lower than normal and then boost? Last summer I had 2 people have issue with their eyes being red from opening them underwater and I think it is due to the high level of chlorine.

Also I called the company Jacks Magic about using the magenta stuff due to my calcium hardness levels and they said to keep my alkalinity low along with the PH. What is exremly odd is my hardness level is low during the winter months but spikes up as soon as the pool is opened. Like I said I have some grayish cloud looking spots on the bottom of the pool, I don't know if they are rough at this time since it is too cold to get in. How do I battle this issue? Advice and or tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Greg Gammon

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
 
Hello Greg, welcome:wave:

You've come to the right spot, there is someone with the right answer to every question here. As you will soon hear, I suggest you start by reading the ABC's on the home page.

Others will be along with links for adding your pool particulars in your signature so we know what we're dealing with. Also number one rule, get your own test kit (TF100) is my recommendation as we never ever trust pool store testing.

There will be someone along shortly who will help you with the staining, in the mean time look around all you want and again welcome:D

P.S. -nice looking pool, I really like the night view:goodjob:, Si

Looking at the tests I see you have an SWG. The section on SWG will be extremely helpful in showing you what levels to run at to keep your generator happy. I have salt and the numbers they recommend keep mine humming along.

As far as your plaster finish and high CH, I would rather one of the folks with knowledge in this area help you. I'm a vinyl liner guy;)

All that being said, I can't empathize enough how important having your own test kit. We can't help you without accurate numbers that you and us trust.:cool:
 
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Hey Lefty51,

Thanks for the information and the compliment on my pool! I just ordered the taylor techologies test kit k-2006. It should be here this weekend. I just got sick of my pool place giving me bad advice. Glad I found this forum.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
 
The eye issue is more likely an issue with the low pH. The pH of tears is about 7.4 on average. Recommended pH range is 7.4 to 7.8. With your CYA level, 5 ppm of FC is not going to be harsh on eyes or skin. See the Chlorine/CYA chart in my signature.

Once you have your kit, post full test results and we can get you going. Based on the numbers from the pool store, your CSI shows about -0.6, which would be indicative of a corrosive condition for your plaster pool. However, giving advice based on typically shoddy pool store testing is not something we do around here, so your results would be best. If your pH is indeed low, this also could be an issue for your heater, if you have one. Speaking of that, please update your signature with as many details about your pool as you can. Edit Signature Best to do that from a web browser.

Welcome! :wave:
 
Greg, ordering the K-2006 was step #1. Perfect. :goodjob: We won't make any assumptions yet until you get that kit and post your own numbers. Believe it or not, we trust YOU more than the pool store. :) Some things to keep in mind until the kit arrives .... calcium stains and scale occur not only because of high CH in the water, but also because the pH and TA were allowed to get too high as well. It's all related to something we call the CSI level (Calcium Saturation Index). We watch it in our Poolmath Calculator (link below in my sig). But until we see your test results, everything is just guessing. We want you to not only have clear water and a nice pool, but to save time and money at the same time. It's not difficult, but the pool industry seems to want everyone to think it is. So for now, simply maintain a reasonable FC level with regular bleach or SGW if you use one, and don't put anything else in the water at this time. Your K-2006 will tell us everything we need to know. :)
 
Looks good. Do you have a spa attached to pool? If not, remove the "pool/spa" part and just say Easytouch so people don't mix that up.

What are fiberglass kit walls? I've never heard of that. I need to go google that.

The gray stains are likely scale. We can definitely help you with the scale and getting your SWG working without boosting. You are receiving typical poor advice from your pool store. We call it being pool stored.
 

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pooldv said:
Looks good. Do you have a spa attached to pool? If not, remove the "pool/spa" part and just say Easytouch so people don't mix that up.

What are fiberglass kit walls? I've never heard of that. I need to go google that.

The gray stains are likely scale. We can definitely help you with the scale and getting your SWG working without boosting. You are receiving typical poor advice from your pool store. We call it being pool stored.
Click to expand...
It is a pool only, I see how that can be confusing and will be sure to remove it. The fiberglass kit is literally just a kit of pieces of walls the connect together. See pictures below. I got my pool test kit in the mail yesterday but haven't had time to do a complete test. Plan to do so this weekend. I did test PH 7.4, Alk 50, CH was 850 and is freaking me out. My water has always looked pretty crystal clear but I have always battled calcium hardness for whatever reason. I have even drained pool and started all over as instructed by the company who put my pool in. I'm just tired of dealing with them and it's a hassle to take my water to them to test. Any help on here would be great, actually people on here have already been amazing so I know I'm in the right place for knowledgeable advice.


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That is a nice looking pool :) Welcome to TFP...

You PH looks good, you TA is a little low and your CH is high but we will need all your tests to see where you are on the CSI scale..

When you do a full test on your pool water could also test and post your tap water, that will give us an idea of how to tackle your high CH and scaling/stains :)
 
Thanks for the welcome message!!! Will do Casey. Also, I need to mention that I ran a soft water line next to my regular outdoor faucet outside. So I have water from my water softner to use or just straight water from the city. I was told by my water softener manufacturer that it can only keep up to about 500 gallons before it is overloaded and is just sending out unsoftened water. Not sure if it can even do that much to be honest. I will test the normal water from the faucet as well as the water from the softener faucet.
 
Test results from 5/7/2016 K-2006 test kit used

Water temp 68 degrees

FC = 8.2ppm on a 25ml sample

CC = .2ppm

PH = 7.4

ALK = 50ppm

CH = 825

CA = 55ppm

Tap water CH = 500

Water Softener CH = 110

All advice is appreciated.

I am so tired of getting advice from the pool store.
 
CYA is 55ppm

How can I lower my FC? I did not add stabilizer but i think they did when opening the pool. Since the hardness is so high I have been told to add 32oz of the Magenta Stuff made by Jack's Magic. Would you recommend doing that as well?
 
Do whatever the PB says to do at start-up for your warranty. It's common to use a product like that in the beginning. For your own benefit, you might like to read the Pool School - Start-up New Plaster page just so you know what your PB might be doing, and what you can expect in the coming months. Yes, the FC will sink on its own. A CYA of 55 (round-up to 60) has an FC target of 7. So actually you're okay there. That hard water will require you to be exceptionally vigilant on watching your pH over the first year. Please get VERY familiar with the Poolmath calculator and the "CSI" row. Enter your numbers from top to bottom then look at what the CSI shows. You don't want to go over 0.6, Closer to neutral is better. That's where watching your pH and TA come into play with naturally high CH. Practice it and you'll see what I mean. :)
 
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