My results vs pool store on TA and PH - Huge difference

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DLB1641

DLB1641

0
Jul 26, 2016
21
Olathe,Ks
We are new pool owners and first off let me thank all of you for this site and all of your advice. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on here and it has been TREMENDOUSLY helpful!! I stick test everyday, and FULL test once a week.

Our pool has been clear now for 6 weeks. We have hardly had to do anything to it, just add tri-chlor pucks When everything was set up (before I knew about this site) they gave us all of the chem's to get it up and running. No problems at all. We had been using the Clorox tri-chlor pucks, which were 95%, and NOW I am aware of the CYA rise issue. Just a couple of days ago, we had to stop using them (CYA reached 50) and are in the process of switching over to BBB, started using bleach 3 days ago.

My question is, following the 'TFP Basic pool care schedule' guidelines, (50-90) my TA is 90ppm, is was 110ppm- 2 days ago. According to the chart on here for vinyl that is acceptable. Although I have seen 'the ABC's of pool water chemistry chart' on here that says 60-120. My husband was going to the place we bought our pool to pick up our cover and took some pool water in just for a 'check-up'. They told him out TA and PH was drastically low they said (59)and of course wanted him to buy chem's, 28lbs of balance pack 100, 1.5lbs of PH reducer and 2 bags of burnout. I tested it again immediately after he got home and came back with 90ppm....

TA 90
FC 1-2 ( going to add some more tonight, since I know it will be gone tomorrow.
CYA 50
CC .5
PH 7.5
CH 125

Questions:

1. The range should be between 60-90...right? The pool store says 125-150. Can someone please clarify what the correct range is for me? thank you.

2. We are going thru 1/2 gallon of bleach a day. Is this normal, the only thing we have ever done were 1 puck every two days before, so I have no comparison.

3. Is there anything to keep the chlorine longer in the water? I understand this is what the CYA is 'supposed' to do.

4. The pool store is recommending we shock every week (don't know of they are trying to get some xtra sales), but I know TFP says not needed unless you run out of chlorine, or CC over .5

5. I was told by a friend, with an inground pool, to also put algeacide in once a week as an insurance policy.

Any advice you can give us is greatly appreciated, thank you in advance! We are pretty attentive to this thing, feels a bit like a second child.
 
Welcome to TFP:wave:

You have a good test kit. Trust your results over the store. I'll see if I can answer your questions.

1. Guidelines are just that when it comes to TA. TA is a buffer for your PH. So if your PH is in range and happily stays there, don't worry about your TA.

2. On bleach.....that depends on bather load and if there is algae lurking ready to pounce.

3. Yes.....raising your CYA "might" help your FC last longer if you're in a very sunny environment but 50 should generally be good.......unless......see my answer to #2

4. Please don't listen to the pool store on shocking. You'll get all the help you need on this forum

5.algaecide is not necessary. Some contain copper that can actually cause staining over time. Not needed. I'm not your friend with an In ground pool but I'm a willing contributer here with an inground pool and I'd almost never use Algaecide.

Please feel free to post any and all questions. There is never a shortage of help here.
 
To add to what Amy said...

1. Don't worry about your TA too much. The recommendations are just that. Your pool will let you know if its happy or not by how quickly the pH rises. If the pH is fairly stable, you're good. If it rises quickly, then the TA may need to be lowered a bit to counteract the ph rise. Since you dont have a plaster pool where CH and TA can be a bit perplexing, you have to worry about it even less. For example, my TA is 50 and my pool is plenty happy.

2. Depending on bather load, direct sun exposure, and other similar things, 1/2 gallon may be what's needed to keep the FC in line with your CYA level.

3. You may be able to reduce the FC consumption by raising the FC up a bit, as long as you are aware that your FC also needs to go up with it. Just dont get too high. The reason we recommend this is because if you do get algae, then clearing it up is more difficult and expensive with a higher than normal CYA level.

4. The pool store recommends to shock every week because their normal method of pool care is not sufficient to keep the water clean and sanitary. If you follow the tFP recommendations, you will not need to shock the pool. Also, shocking the pool will raise the CYA.

5. What is an algaecide? Something that prevent algae from growing would be a good answer. Chlorine does that if you keep it at the TFP recommended level. Algaecides are expensive and most all contains copper. If conditions are right, the copper can leave ugly stains in the pool that are very difficult or impossible to remove. It also turns blonde hair green. If you use it and any blonde hairs turn green, shampoo with ketchup and it will turn it back to blonde again. :)

Good luck and enjoy the pool!

DLB1641 said:
We are new pool owners and first off let me thank all of you for this site and all of your advice. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on here and it has been TREMENDOUSLY helpful!! I stick test everyday, and FULL test once a week.

Our pool has been clear now for 6 weeks. We have hardly had to do anything to it, just add tri-chlor pucks When everything was set up (before I knew about this site) they gave us all of the chem's to get it up and running. No problems at all. We had been using the Clorox tri-chlor pucks, which were 95%, and NOW I am aware of the CYA rise issue. Just a couple of days ago, we had to stop using them (CYA reached 50) and are in the process of switching over to BBB, started using bleach 3 days ago.

My question is, following the 'TFP Basic pool care schedule' guidelines, (50-90) my TA is 90ppm, is was 110ppm- 2 days ago. According to the chart on here for vinyl that is acceptable. Although I have seen 'the ABC's of pool water chemistry chart' on here that says 60-120. My husband was going to the place we bought our pool to pick up our cover and took some pool water in just for a 'check-up'. They told him out TA and PH was drastically low they said (59)and of course wanted him to buy chem's, 28lbs of balance pack 100, 1.5lbs of PH reducer and 2 bags of burnout. I tested it again immediately after he got home and came back with 90ppm....

TA 90
FC 1-2 ( going to add some more tonight, since I know it will be gone tomorrow.
CYA 50
CC .5
PH 7.5
CH 125

Questions:

1. The range should be between 60-90...right? The pool store says 125-150. Can someone please clarify what the correct range is for me? thank you.

2. We are going thru 1/2 gallon of bleach a day. Is this normal, the only thing we have ever done were 1 puck every two days before, so I have no comparison.

3. Is there anything to keep the chlorine longer in the water? I understand this is what the CYA is 'supposed' to do.

4. The pool store is recommending we shock every week (don't know of they are trying to get some xtra sales), but I know TFP says not needed unless you run out of chlorine, or CC over .5

5. I was told by a friend, with an inground pool, to also put algeacide in once a week as an insurance policy.

Any advice you can give us is greatly appreciated, thank you in advance! We are pretty attentive to this thing, feels a bit like a second child.
Click to expand...
 
Dave - Thank you for your reply.....Below is your reply.....Did you mean CYA? Not FC

3. You may be able to reduce the FC consumption by raising the FC up a bit, as long as you are aware that your FC also needs to go up with it.
 
OK, thank you. My husband is our cleaning the pool now, he says there are a few black spots on the bottom..he said they aren't coming up...is this the dreaded black algae I have been reading about? What do we do for that! :/
 
Totally ignore the TA advice - you're perfectly fine where you are at.

Since you were curious - TA performs 2 roles in your pool. Firstly it act as a PH buffer (keeps the PH from swinging around wildly) and secondly it assists in raising the Calcium Saturation Index (CSI) of the water. CSI is important if you have a plaster pool - too low and the water will dissolve the calcium out of the plaster, too high and the water will deposit calcium scale on everything. Your CSI is about -.45 or so, perfectly normal for a vinyl pool.

The test result you got from the pool store (59) is a sure sign it's a computer test. They dip a strip and toss it into a reader that spits out a bunch of numbers. Those machines are horribly unreliable.



I doubt your black spots are algae related. You guys are just getting into this - so take it slow and try not to worry about the pool too much. Keep your CYA/Chlorine ratio in line and you won't get algae. Keep the PH in line and the water will feel nice to swim in. Once you've got a season under your belt it will all feel less fraught.
 
One last question, I was reviewing the chlorine/CYA chart, and just so I am understanding.....

Typically you want to keep your Chlorine between 1-4. This is the recommended.
But if your CYA is 50, do I need to now keep my Chlorine at 6?? Is that correct? Is this level safe to swim?

Last night our chlorine was 1-2, so we added more to bring it up to 4-6. Looked good on
my quick strip test. This morning it was back to one. Pool math says to add another
gallon to get it up to 6 again. That was less than 8 hours ago.

We had this working perfectly with the tri-chlor pucks, and now that we have switched to bleach
this is becoming crazy, adding so much bleach everyday. It is WAY more expensive.

What am I missing??
 
Thank you!

- - - Updated - - -

lightingguy said:
Totally ignore the TA advice - you're perfectly fine where you are at.

Since you were curious - TA performs 2 roles in your pool. Firstly it act as a PH buffer (keeps the PH from swinging around wildly) and secondly it assists in raising the Calcium Saturation Index (CSI) of the water. CSI is important if you have a plaster pool - too low and the water will dissolve the calcium out of the plaster, too high and the water will deposit calcium scale on everything. Your CSI is about -.45 or so, perfectly normal for a vinyl pool.

The test result you got from the pool store (59) is a sure sign it's a computer test. They dip a strip and toss it into a reader that spits out a bunch of numbers. Those machines are horribly unreliable.



I doubt your black spots are algae related. You guys are just getting into this - so take it slow and try not to worry about the pool too much. Keep your CYA/Chlorine ratio in line and you won't get algae. Keep the PH in line and the water will feel nice to swim in. Once you've got a season under your belt it will all feel less fraught.
Click to expand...


Thank you!!
 
Yes, your target FC level is based on your CYA. It's safe to swim up to the SLAM level (FC of 20 with a CYA of 50 in your case).

If you continuously use tri-chlor pucks, your CYA increases until your target FC is unreasonable. Then you have to drain and refill your pool and start over. Repeat.

e: if you have a TF-100 why are you using test strips at all?
 

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AimeeH said:
Welcome to TFP:wave:

You have a good test kit. Trust your results over the store. I'll see if I can answer your questions.

1. Guidelines are just that when it comes to TA. TA is a buffer for your PH. So if your PH is in range and happily stays there, don't worry about your TA.

2. On bleach.....that depends on bather load and if there is algae lurking ready to pounce.

3. Yes.....raising your CYA "might" help your FC last longer if you're in a very sunny environment but 50 should generally be good.......unless......see my answer to #2

4. Please don't listen to the pool store on shocking. You'll get all the help you need on this forum

5.algaecide is not necessary. Some contain copper that can actually cause staining over time. Not needed. I'm not your friend with an In ground pool but I'm a willing contributer here with an inground pool and I'd almost never use Algaecide.

Please feel free to post any and all questions. There is never a shortage of help here.
Click to expand...


Thank you Aimee

- - - Updated - - -

Mr Bruce said:
Yes, your target FC level is based on your CYA. It's safe to swim up to the SLAM level (FC of 20 with a CYA of 50 in your case).

If you continuously use tri-chlor pucks, your CYA increases until your target FC is unreasonable. Then you have to drain and refill your pool and start over. Repeat.

e: if you have a TF-100 why are you using test strips at all?
Click to expand...



So we are under chlorinating, at 1-2 with a CYA of 50 then, right??

- - - Updated - - -
 
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