Lurker with TA/CH questions

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Ropeterson

Ropeterson

0
Jun 16, 2015
2
Chapel Hill, NC
Hi! Quick background. We purchased a house with pool in late summer 2014. We had the pool company from the previous owner keep up the pool and close it. It was surprisingly expensive to keep it maintained for such a short period of time! LOL. In May 2015 they opened the pool, did a filter repair, and after several trips with no paperwork or discussion they took money out of my account without my approval. And, the pool was still green and pH was incredibly low. So, I left them and found y'all! I followed your instructions last year and got the pool to a beautiful place. I have been so proud of it and how easy it is to maintain. I left the pool covered but open all winter and so "opening" was also super easy.

I am writing today because I need help with whether or not to add chemicals for TA and CH. I believe the pool company got CH to acceptable levels and TA was high before they had to leave, so I have not ordered those chemicals nor added them. I aerated using a hose and kids to lower TA and never adjusted CH.

Today's numbers:
North Carolina
Water temp - 76 (before today's 50 degree rain)
FC - 9.5 - will raise to 15 with bleach
CC - 0
pH - 7.4
TA - 50
CH - 125
CYA - ran out of chemicals and new ones not showing up until tomorrow. Last year at closing was 120.
Borax - where can I get a good test for this? I think I am at about 50 based on number of boxes added last year.

I know the CYA is high, but I am not going to drain the pool at this point. Within the next year or so I am going to need a new liner and I will replace with new water at that time.

Pool calculator is calling for 293 ounces of baking soda and 500 ounces of calcium chloride. Is there any reason for me to wait on adding these chemicals? Baking soda I can find on Amazon, but where do you suggest getting calcium chloride from? That is a lot.

Thanks again for all your help. I am heading to a friends house tomorrow who fired the same pool company last year to indoctrinate him to the TFP way of life.
 
Add the calcium and baking soda. Any reason you can't get baking soda at grocery or Walmart? Your Ph looks happy ata TA of 50 or so though. Calcium at Lowe's maybe? Welcome!
 
Welcome out of the shadows to the bright new light :)

You have a good grasp and looking good, how does the water look and do you think you need to SLAM? Yes, CYA of 120 is high but as long as you know that and every time you have splashout or backwash it is going down :)
 
woodyp said:
Any reason you can't get baking soda at grocery or Walmart?
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Good point. I have been getting bleach at Wal-Mart, but I wanted to transition to having saving the maximum amount of money and online is cheaper for most things.

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pooldv said:
I would only raise TA to 60 ppm and leave CH as is. We aren't too worried about low CH in a vinyl pool.

I use a borate test strip from TFTestkits.net
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Thanks for the welcome, the TA/CH tip and for the link. I will raise the TA to 60 for now then. I am really curious where my borate levels are at now.

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Thanks for the welcome! I don't think the pool needs SLAMed again, I did that when I opened it. Took me a couple days of close attention to get it crystal clear. I can make out all the oak catkins in the bottom of the pool from my window so I think I am good!
 
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