Help with these numbers

Flbeachluvr

Bronze Supporter
Mar 19, 2016
445
Port Orange, FL
I'm still a newbie but my pool and numbers look great. My brother-in-law is a long time pool owner that follows the pool store guidelines. In his defense, his pool always looks great. He knows I am a fan of the TFP method and that I have a "fancy" test kit. He is out of town and we are house-sitting and he finally agreed to let me test his water. He floats pucks and is constantly dumping in lots of chlorine so I kind of had an idea of what I might find:

FC 31
CC 0
pH 7.4 (he had just added MA the night before)
TA 825+ (the sample never turned red, only an orangeish color so I stopped wasting reagent-not sure if this is accurate)
CH 350
CYA 200+ (I followed the instructions for when high levels are expected)

He has a plaster in ground pool, uses chlorine and it's around 8000 gallons.

I'm not going to offer him any advice unless he asks but in case he does, what would the experts advise? I did leave him a note with the results and the recommended levels for his type of pool. He is a very intelligent guy and does have a background in water filtration/treatment so he's heard of the issues with a high CYA level but admitted he hadn't tested for it in years. Also, I think the OTO test kit he has is incorrect as he told me he had just tested his chlorine level and it was 3 so he thought everything was fine.

Again, I'll only offer advice if I'm asked but want to be able to give an intelligent response :wink:
 
Everyone is free to run their pool the way they want. IF he were to ask advice here, it would be to obviously drain/refill and stop using pucks/powder.

Also that TA is incredible if correct.
 
Everyone is free to run their pool the way they want. IF he were to ask advice here, it would be to obviously drain/refill and stop using pucks/powder.

Also that TA is incredible if correct.

Of course, my question is for IF he asks for advice and also for my own knowledge. He opened the door by asking me to test his pool.

I'm not sure on the TA result as the sample never turned red.
 
FC 31 with a CYA 200+ that is why he has not turned green already... that is probably really close to what he needs now, in a month or so he will have to be higher...

Scarrrrry....

have you tried 1 quart pool water and 2 quarts tap water and multiply by 3, that will get you into the 200 CYA range but it gets + or - 30 or so...
 
The TA test is off because your FC is so high. What color was it when you added the green solution? I suspect a shade of blue, greenish blue - count the drops till you get a color change - to yellow or orangish yellow and that's your TA. Add a couple more drops of the neutralizer (the first step of the test) to see if that helps.
 
have you tried 1 quart pool water and 2 quarts tap water and multiply by 3, that will get you into the 200 CYA range but it gets + or - 30 or so...

I'm not going to spend any more time or chemicals on it but I think he knows he has a CYA issue but is in denial and he thinks his FC is only 3. Even using the OTO chlorine test the results for me were dark brown. :hammer:

Does anyone think the TA results are correct or did I do something wrong?
 
The TA test is off because your FC is so high. What color was it when you added the green solution? I suspect a shade of blue, greenish blue - count the drops till you get a color change - to yellow or orangish yellow and that's your TA. Add a couple more drops of the neutralizer (the first step of the test) to see if that helps.

Ok, thanks. I'll test again tonight. I don't remember what the color was when I added the solution but I'll just wait for it to turn the orangish color I got last night.
 
Ok, thanks. I'll test again tonight. I don't remember what the color was when I added the solution but I'll just wait for it to turn the orangish color I got last night.

As FPM said, adding 3-4 extra drops of the R-0007 will neutralize the excess FC and make the color change more normal. Hold the dropper vertical when adding drops and wipe the tip with a damp towel after each drop.
 

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