Indoor pool chemical problem

[singingpond]

Baking soda will raise TA without doing too much to pH. Sodium carbonate (washing soda) will raise both TA and pH. You can check on this by looking at the Effects of Adding Chemicals (near the bottom of PoolMath) if you haven't come across that yet in your reading of the site.

Let's wait and see what your test kit shows you.

 

[pooldv]

More here on pool chems and what they do, Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

 

[Hopew]

Just received the test kit. My speed stirrer set that I ordered did not come in but the kit is here. My husband ordered it all through Amazon. I'm about to run my daughter somewhere and will come back and test pH and Chlorine with the new kit and get results posted.

 

[Hopew]

Just did the FC test and it seems to be 11.4 with the new kit. After adding 5 drops of R-0003 afterwards, I get a pale pink color. Then the CC is 0.6
What should I test next? Or should I add more sodium thiosulfate? Or hydrogen peroxide?

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pH is 7.0 or lower with the new kit

 

[domct203]

Just did the FC test and it seems to be 11.4 with the new kit. After adding 5 drops of R-0003 afterwards, I get a pale pink color. Then the CC is 0.6
What should I test next? Or should I add more sodium thiosulfate? Or hydrogen peroxide?

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pH is 7.0 or lower with the new kit

What is your TA?

 

[Isaac-1]

Ok first off you should use the 10 ml samples so each drop counts for .5 ppm FC not the 25 ml sample where each drop counts for .2 FC, this just makes you use up the limited amount of reagent in the K-2006 faster and .5 ppm resolution on FC is plenty.

You still need to get your FC down more, either a couple of more gallons of hydrogen peroxide or about 16 ounces of the thiosulfate then retest and then you should be low enough to get a valid pH reading.

Ike

p.s. did you buy the small cheaper K-2006 (K-2006a) or the larger commercial K-2006C? (check your expiration date, should be printed on the bottles, if not they are likely too old, Taylor started printing 24 month off expiration dates Jan of 2015) If the smaller you will probably need to reorder more reagents in couple of months.

Onces we get FC and pH lines up to sane levels we can address everything else


p.p.s. responding to your ps with FC over 10 your pH is still not entirely valid,

 

[Hopew]

When testing the TA, I add R0007 and then after adding 5 drops of R0008 it says it should turn green. But, mine turned pink..?

 

[Isaac-1]

On a side topic do you have any salt level test results from the pool store?

p.s. The K-2006 works ok for outdoor pools, but does have one major limitation for indoor pools, the CYA test cylinder only reads down to 30 ppm vs 20 ppm on the test cylinder for the TF-100. So I would therefore suggest you go ahead and order the CYA stand alone kit TFTestkits.net which will give you the 20 ppm range view tube, mixing bottle and a larger bottle of CYA test reagent. As it is critical to maintain a correct FC/CYA ratio otherwise if you stick with the K-2006 you will have to run CYA at above 30 ppm, which is not the end of the world, but is less than ideal for an indoor pool. Note the TF-100 CYA view tube is considerably larger than the K-2006 CYA view tube so uses more reagent each test

 

[JamesW]

If your TA goes pink right away, your TA is zero or lower. I would add 30 lbs of bicarb and brush the pool. Wait 30 minutes and then add 1 lb of thiosulfate. Brush again and then retest fc and TA after 30 minutes.

If you have the 2006 test kit, do the TA test and when the sample turns pink, use base demand (r-0006) to titrate from red to green. See what that shows.

 

[Hopew]

I have the K-2006 test kit. My FC is now showing at 8. I did it using the 10ml samples. The expiration dates are good. Should I now use baking soda or the pH up?

 

[Isaac-1]

I would suggest using pH up first to get pH in range then we can tweak your TA slowly (dinner is ready here I will check back in a bit)

 

[Hopew]

I do not have any salt level test results.

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Thanks Isaac. I will do the pH up now.

 

[Hopew]

Been about a hour since I added about 2 gallons of ph UP..I just tested and ph is still very low... Does it normally take longer?

 

[JamesW]

Gallons of ph up?

What is the chemical that you added?

 

[Hopew]

Sodium Carbonate, I used about 1.5 to 2 pounds. Sorry, I meant pounds not gallons.

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I have maybe a pound left in the bucket, should I just add it and check in the morning? Should I throw in a box of baking soda as well?

 

[Isaac-1]

Go ahead and add more pH up, but Don't use the baking soda until we get pH closer and get an idea of how much drifting your pH will do over the course of a few days

 

[Hopew]

Okay, I will add the remainder. Is it safe to swim in with the TA and pH down?

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I mean that is probably a stupid question when we were in it with the chlorine levels out the roof but just wondering.

 

[pooldv]

It is safe to swim when
FC is above minimum and up to shock level for your CYA, [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]
PH Is between 7.2 and 7.8
And the water is clear to the bottom

 

[Isaac-1]

Note we do not yet have a CYA test from you with your new test kit, and for accurate results that test must be done outdoors with sunlight to your back per Testing Cyanuric Acid with the TF-100 - YouTube this video shows the test with the TF-100 view tube, the K-2006 would be similar but with a minimum reading of 30 ppm instead of 20 ppm. Which gets us back to that p.s. from earlier tonight.

 

[singingpond]

Check TA again also after the pH up additions you did - that chemical should bring TA up somewhat also.

Edited to add:
I don't remember seeing results from CH test from your new test kit; please post that also when you get a chance. And what type of surface does your pool have (e.g. plaster or vinyl)? You may have mentioned, but I don't see it in your signature.

If, by chance, calcium levels are high in your pool, there might be temporary side effects (like cloudiness) as you bring up pH and TA levels