How do these numbers look?

[Slm3rob]

Pool is a little 5 weeks with water. Salt was added to the pool last week. The SWG was turned on Thursday. I tested ph and Chlorine last night because I was at work all day. Ph had spiked to 8.2+. It was late so I added about 1/2 gallon of MA.

The last time I tested the CH it was 325. What is causing it to rise?

i know I need to add CYA but was hesitant to until the inline chlorinator was turned off. I will add some more to get it up to about 70 ish. Does that sound about right?

i was gone from 5 this morning so I couldn't test again til this afternoon when I got home. Here are my numbers except for salt. I have test strips that I haven't practiced with yet, but will do so this evening. The SWG has all green lights and the pool guy tested it at 3000 on Thursday and added one more bag before turning the pool over to me.

FC: 5
CC: 1
TC: 6
CH: 350
TA: 80
CYA: 50
PH: 7.5 Ish

temp is about 80-82
pool math says csi is.39

Thanks for any input,
Linda

 

[Jimrahbe]

Linda,

Your numbers look pretty good to me. As you already know you should bring your CYA ups to 70 but that is not a big issue.

I suspect your CC of 1 is just a testing error. You have to run that test immediately after testing the FC level. If you let it sit for just a minute or so, before testing the CC level, it will read high.

pH will increase in new plaster pools for about a year. A SWG will also cause your pH to increase. And water features will cause your pH to increase.. Looks like you have all three..

I suggest you try to maintain your pH between 7.6 and 7.8. If you drop it to 7.2 every time you add acid it will bounce back quicker than if you only reduce it to 7.6 or so.

Jim R.

 

[Slm3rob]

Jim,

Thanks for for taking a look at it.

The CC was a puzzle to me. I did it twice. The first time it came out 1.5 and I thought it was an error so I retested and it came out 1. I will test that again tomorrow. I did do the tests in succession quickly, but maybe not quick enough.

It seemed like the ph just shot up after the salt went in. I will do what you recommend, as I was dropping it to 7.2. The pool guy didn't attend to it to my liking, so I have been adjusting it when it needed it.

i do have one question, what causes the CH to rise? I know according to Pool School, 350 is fine, but it went from 300 to 325 then this time to 350. It's possible the pool guy was adding something, but I don't know that for sure. Just wondering.

ill get the CYA up in the next day or two.

Thanks for your help!
Linda

 

[Divin Dave]

Hi Linda,
I would suggest you do a OCLT just to ensure you have nothing going on in the water causing the 1 CC.

CH can rise if the pool guy was using cal-hypo as a chlorine source.

It can also rise due to the CH of your fill water. Test your tap water and see what the CH of it is. If its somewhat significnt, then whenever you top off the water, it will add calcium. Not much you can do about that, except to manage it over time.

CH increase or the perception of it could also be due to slight testing error which could be how consistent your swirling is and how well you swirl it, (this is why lots of folks get a speed stir), or also how consistent the size of the drops of test regent are.

Regarding your CYA...we recommend 70 because of high UV from the sun. This time of year, the UV is less than it is in Summer, and soon, we wont be able to use our SWG because the water temp will get to low. So, your CYA at least for now is probably OK, but come springtime, you'll definitely want to increase it.

 

[Slm3rob]

Hi Linda,
I would suggest you do a OCLT just to ensure you have nothing going on in the water causing the 1 CC.

CH can rise if the pool guy was using cal-hypo as a chlorine source.

It can also rise due to the CH of your fill water. Test your tap water and see what the CH of it is. If its somewhat significnt, then whenever you top off the water, it will add calcium. Not much you can do about that, except to manage it over time.

CH increase or the perception of it could also be due to slight testing error which could be how consistent your swirling is and how well you swirl it, (this is why lots of folks get a speed stir), or also how consistent the size of the drops of test regent are.

Regarding your CYA...we recommend 70 because of high UV from the sun. This time of year, the UV is less than it is in Summer, and soon, we wont be able to use our SWG because the water temp will get to low. So, your CYA at least for now is probably OK, but come springtime, you'll definitely want to increase it.

Thanks Dave,

i retested everything today as I was quite tired last night.

FC: 4.5
CC: .5
TA: 80
CH: 325
PH: 7.8
Salt: 3100

So I will leave the CYA until the spring. I think the CH is stable. I'm assuming it was a testing area. So my question would be, do I need to raise the CH to 350? My fill water has a CH of 100. Also, is the TA good? It was 120 and I've been able to lower it over the last few weeks.

Thanks,
Linda

 

[Divin Dave]

Linda,
I would recommend raising the CH to 350.
Your TA of 80 is fine.

 

[Slm3rob]

Linda,
I would recommend raising the CH to 350.
Your TA of 80 is fine.

Dave,

Thanks so much!

Linda

- - - Updated - - -

Dave,

Thanks so much!

Linda

Oh, one more thing. I am seriously wanting to turn my auto fill off and just monitor when I need to add water. I noticed you have yours disabled. Could you tell me what your reasoning is? Thanks

 

[Slm3rob]

Re: How do these numbers look? And equipment question.

I have a couple of questions: one in the water balance and one on equipment...

WATER BALANCE QUESTION: The PH in my pool continues to spike. If I add acid to bring it to 7.5 I have to add acid again in 2 days as it spikes to 8.2 or more. I lowered my TA to 70 hoping that would help stabilize the PH but I'm still having to add about a gallon of acid total per week. Right now I have added acid and am aerating to lower the TA. I am shooting for 60 in hopes that it helps.

The pool is 2 months old with salt in it for the past 30 days. Here is my latest set of numbers from today. (Yesterday PH was 7.8)Is lowering the TA the solution and is this continued spiking of PH normal for the age of the pool?

FC: 7.5
CC: 0
CH: 375 (might have been 350)
TA: 80
CYA: 50
PH: 8.2++
salt: 3100
Water temp: 79-80

EQUIPMENT QUESTION:We have Dual Intermatic time clocks to regulate the SWG and the pool booster pump which runs the vacuum. (I can see why so many like robots!). We have had some issues the past two weeks with the clocks not turning on/off the SWG at night and the booster pump not engaging when the clock clicks it on. The pool builder is on top of this but here's my question...

I'd like to lower the number of hours each day that the main pump runs (currently at 12 hours) to no more than 8. The booster pump needs the main pump to run at higher rpm's for the vac to move around the pool. The pool guy had it set to come on at 2800 rpm (for 1hour) then boost to 3400 (I think- for 3 hours) while the vac is going and then down to 1700 rpm's for the rest of the day. The SWG has been set at 20 % and making enough chlorine to keep the level at about FC 5.The Pentair warrenty people came out and changed the pump rpm's to 2200 and moved the SWG % to 80 yesterday. I wasn't home but they told me the SWG needed the water to run thru it more. I moved it back down to 20% today but didn't change the pump speed. I didn't see a need for it to be so high.

Would it be ok to lessen the pump run time and up the SWG % to 40? we don't have automation so I can only do increments of 20%. Since the main pump is variable speed, what would be the best rpm's to run the pump at ? Was 1700 ok? Or does it need to be 2200 when the booster pump isn't running?

Sorry for such a long post.... Don't know who else to ask!
Thanks,Linda

 

[pooldv]

Your pH will probably do better with TA between 50 and 60.

Things that raise PH
Higher TA
Saltwater chlorine generator
Waterfalls, bubblers, etc


I run my pump at 1100 rpm for skimming, filtering and making chlorine with the SWG. 6-8 hours is probably plenty. Then you can run another hour at a higher rpm for the cleaner, whatever speed makes the cleaner move around enough, I ran mine at 2000. I just ran mine manually as needed ever 3 or 4 or 5 days back when I was using the pressure cleaner.

 

[Slm3rob]

Your pH will probably do better with TA between 50 and 60.

Things that raise PH
Higher TA
Saltwater chlorine generator
Waterfalls, bubblers, etc


I run my pump at 1100 rpm for skimming, filtering and making chlorine with the SWG. 6-8 hours is probably plenty. Then you can run another hour at a higher rpm for the cleaner, whatever speed makes the cleaner move around enough, I ran mine at 2000. I just ran mine manually as needed ever 3 or 4 or 5 days back when I was using the pressure cleaner.

Thank you. I am lowering TA now. I will work towards 50-60. It has to be the SWG upping the PH as we rarely run the waterfall now that the water is getting colder (kids swam today!) although the TA crept from 70-80 in about 3 weeks.

The flow indicator on the SWG wasn't lit up at 1700 which is why I think the warranty guy moved the RPM's up. How I portant is the flow indicator?

Thanks for the input on how you ran your vac. I've wanted to do that but didn't know if I should.
Linda

 

[pooldv]

The SWG won't work if there isn't enough flow. The filter might need to be cleaned, that can help the flow.

 

[Slm3rob]

The SWG won't work if there isn't enough flow. The filter might need to be cleaned, that can help the flow.

It's been working fine and producing chlorine. I'll pay attention to it as I lower the speed and see what it does.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk