I'm just passing the 2 week mark as a new pool owner. So far I haven't had to make any adjustments to the chemestry, but I've been testing regularly with a Taylor K-2005 test kit to get a feel for things. I shocked the pool (to ~35ppm FC) for the first time yesterday evening and this afternoon the TA reading has dropped from 100 before shock to 60 after. To be honest I didn't have any particular reason to shock the pool except my possibly irrational fear of an algea bloom. The FC reading is slightly off the scale for my test kit, but as far as I can tell the FC reading held during the night. It has since dropped to 20 - 25ppm during the day.
Now to get to the point. It appears that I should be adding baking soda to raise TA. However, before I do that I want to make sure that the sudden drop in TA isn't caused by some other temporary condition such as the currently high FC. Based on these test results is it advisable to raise the TA at this time?
7/12/09 15:00
FC 5
TC 5
pH 7.2
TA 100
CH 330
CYA 100
7/13/09 19:00
FC 20
TC 20
pH 7.4
TA 60
CH 330
CYA <not tested>
Now to get to the point. It appears that I should be adding baking soda to raise TA. However, before I do that I want to make sure that the sudden drop in TA isn't caused by some other temporary condition such as the currently high FC. Based on these test results is it advisable to raise the TA at this time?
7/12/09 15:00
FC 5
TC 5
pH 7.2
TA 100
CH 330
CYA 100
7/13/09 19:00
FC 20
TC 20
pH 7.4
TA 60
CH 330
CYA <not tested>