New - Questions about my test results.

[michellekl]

I am having a lot of trouble keeping my (just filled the other day) pool chlorinated, and I realize that it is due to the lack of CYA. I have NONE!

I have added Muriatic Acid by crushing it in some water in a bucket & then pouring the fine material into my skimmer. Am I diluting this too much by doing so? I just read in another thread that there are suggestions to hang the Muriatic Acid in some panty hose over the side of the pool in front of the outward flow of the pump, is this something that can stay in the pool while people are swimming in it until it dissolves, or should it be removed then replaced?

My pool gets a lot of direct sunlight during the day, so I'm sure that is good reason why my chlorine is getting eaten. I've went from 2 to .5 since this morning.

Here are the results I've just taken.
TA 50
FC .5
TC 2
BR 1
PH 7.5
CH 700 - Woah, much higher than my kit says is acceptable, but not sure if it matters because I have a vinyl AG pool?
CYA - non existent, still saw that lovely black dot after completely filling tube.

I'm attempting BBB, if it matters.

Thank you to anyone who replies, I feel like a complete noob here & I'm very confused by all the information!

 

[Wolfmarsh]

There are a couple of things going on here.

I think you mean Cyanuric acid (at least i hope you do).

Also, if your TC reading is correct, you have a CC reading of 1.5, which means you need to shock your pool.

You need to head over to the poolcalculator at www.poolcalculator.com and plug in your test results and get all of the recommended amounts to add to your pool.

It will come in line, but you need to eliminate the CC in the pool by shocking, and stabilize your chlorine with some CYA.

Also, Welcome to the board! This place is great, just take a few hours and sit down and start reading. The wealth of information here is astonishing!

 

[PaulR]

I have added Muriatic Acid by crushing it in some water in a bucket & then pouring the fine material into my skimmer. Am I diluting this too much by doing so? I just read in another thread that there are suggestions to hang the Muriatic Acid in some panty hose over the side of the pool in front of the outward flow of the pump, is this something that can stay in the pool while people are swimming in it until it dissolves, or should it be removed then replaced?

I suspect you mean Cyanuric Acid; Muriatic Acid is liquid, and is used to lower pH not to stabilize your chlorine.

If you're adding the amount you're supposed to, then predissolving in a bucket is not harmful. The sock tricks are because it does take a long time to dissolve as a rule. There's no problem with people swimming while you're doing this. The only risk is somebody bumping into it and splitting the sock open, then you have all that stuff all over the bottom and you need to vaccuum it up so it doesn't harm the liner.

CH 700 - Woah, much higher than my kit says is acceptable, but not sure if it matters because I have a vinyl AG pool?

With CH that high you'd need to keep pH at 7.5 or below to avoid the risk of scaling. Or replace water with lower-CH water to bring it down.
--paulr

 

[Guest]

Once you put the CYA in the pool don't even bother testing for it until a week has passed. It can take that long to show up. In the meantime keep the chlorine levels up and shock to get rid of the CC and you will be fine!

 

[Guest]

CH 700 - Woah, much higher than my kit says is acceptable, but not sure if it matters because I have a vinyl AG pool?

What test kit are you using? BTW, you are not using bromine so ignore the bromine scale on your comparator. Also, bromine will always be twice the chlorine reading so with a TC of 2 your bromine should be 4! There is some sort of testing error going on here! I would like you to redo the CH test but this time have a damp tissue handy. Before every drop of titrant wipe the tip with the damp tissue, turn the bottle completely over and let the drop form and fall from the dropper, don't squeeze it out.
After each drop swirl the vial for 20-30 seconds. (I know, I know, but to do this test properly it can take some time!)

Take your time and report back if you get the same CH number. If you do there is another way to do this test with a smaller sample that will count each drop at 25 ppm CH instead of 10 ppm but you do lose precision. However, even with the 20-30 seconds of swirling beteen drops the test will go much faster.

 

[michellekl]

Yes, I certainly meant Cyanuric Acid! *Blushes* I don't know where the Muriatic came from! lol.

I have the Leslie's "Total Pool Care DPD" test kit. I wrote down the recommended kit from here, but when I got there they didn't have the FAS-DPD in stock. I wanted to order for the TF-100, but I felt since we wanted to use the pool right away that I needed to get something local.

Thank you all for letting me know that it can take a little bit for the CYA to show up. & I will definitely try your method, Waterbear, for testing the CH & see what I come up with. & I will also be shocking my pool as well.

I'm very glad you guys are so patient & helpful!!

 

[Guest]

I have the Leslie's "Total Pool Care DPD" test kit. I wrote down the recommended kit from here, but when I got there they didn't have the FAS-DPD in stock. I wanted to order for the TF-100, but I felt since we wanted to use the pool right away that I needed to get something local.

Thank you all for letting me know that it can take a little bit for the CYA to show up. & I will definitely try your method, Waterbear, for testing the CH & see what I come up with. & I will also be shocking my pool as well.

I'm very glad you guys are so patient & helpful!!

If this is the kit you got from leslies
http://www.lesliespool.com/browse/Home/ ... 00/I/81330
and your comparator looks like this
http://www.lesliespool.com/browse/Home/ ... 00/I/81409
Then you have a rebranded Taylor K-2005 and all you really need to do is add the FAS-DPD test to it.
You can order the Taylor FAS-DPD titration kit from Taylor
http://www.taylortechnologies.com/produ ... KitID=2185
This kit comes with 10 grams of DPD powder, .75 oz of FAS titrant and .75 oz of DPD reagent 3# for $24.95 in a cool blue box!

OR

you can order the kit from TF Testkits
http://www.tftestkits.net/index.php?act ... oductId=23
for $25.50
It comes with 10 grams of DPD powder, 2 oz. of FAS titrant and .75 oz. of DPD reagent #3 and it uses all Taylor reagents.
BUT
you don't get the cool blue box!

Hmmmm, let me think for a minute....no cool blue box but I can do approx 3 times the number of tests for just about the same money before I need to order refills! Now that's a hard decision, isn't it?

If your kit uses this smaller comparator
http://www.lesliespool.com/browse/Home/ ... 00/I/18547
where the pH and chlorine sides are the same size
AND
The kit tests TA, CH and CYA in additon to FC and TC and pH (the acid demand test in this particular kit is not that precise)
then you can also just suppliment the kit with the stand alone FAS-DPD test.
If your kit does not test FC, TC, pH, TA, CH and CYA then you would be better off in the long run getting a full TF100 kit. You will actually be able to use almost all the reagents in the TF100 and you will have a DPD test for quick checks.