First of all, thanks to everyone on this site for the help so far. Although it was a bit frustrating at first, I now feel I have a much better understanding of what's going into my pool and the effects it has and more importantly the effects of NOT having the right chemicals in the pool.
My questions are in regards to the pH level. When I went through the PB's pool school they gave me a kit that tested for pH very similar to the one in the Taylor kit. My instructions were if it went above 7.8 to add a quart of MA. Well it started at 7.4 and gradually went up but never went above 7.8. After reading this site, but before I got my test kit in I was concerned that I had never added any MA in basically 7 months. However, when my test kit got in and I tested pH, it confirmed 7.8. And that seems to be within range. Up to that point the only thing I had done to the pool was keep the chlorinator filled with pucks.
Of course my CYA was way high so I had to replace a bunch of water and then I started using only liquid chlorine. pH was 8 after replacing water and I added 32oz of MA. Now I need to add about a quart of MA every 3 days (goes to >8 then it drops to around 7.4 after adding MA). So finally my questions: A) Was there something in the pucks that kept pH fairly stable? From what I read you should expect pH to rise in a new pool. B) Should I be concerned about any of this or just continue on as is adding MA every few days and not worry about it? It seems like now it is acting like it should have when it first opened. C) Does it matter that the MA is 7+ months old? I still have the MA I was given by the PB. It seems to have the expected effect. TA has remained consistently 70 since the refill (it was 80 prior to that)
My questions are in regards to the pH level. When I went through the PB's pool school they gave me a kit that tested for pH very similar to the one in the Taylor kit. My instructions were if it went above 7.8 to add a quart of MA. Well it started at 7.4 and gradually went up but never went above 7.8. After reading this site, but before I got my test kit in I was concerned that I had never added any MA in basically 7 months. However, when my test kit got in and I tested pH, it confirmed 7.8. And that seems to be within range. Up to that point the only thing I had done to the pool was keep the chlorinator filled with pucks.
Of course my CYA was way high so I had to replace a bunch of water and then I started using only liquid chlorine. pH was 8 after replacing water and I added 32oz of MA. Now I need to add about a quart of MA every 3 days (goes to >8 then it drops to around 7.4 after adding MA). So finally my questions: A) Was there something in the pucks that kept pH fairly stable? From what I read you should expect pH to rise in a new pool. B) Should I be concerned about any of this or just continue on as is adding MA every few days and not worry about it? It seems like now it is acting like it should have when it first opened. C) Does it matter that the MA is 7+ months old? I still have the MA I was given by the PB. It seems to have the expected effect. TA has remained consistently 70 since the refill (it was 80 prior to that)
