TA high, pH somewhat low

[tracyd21]

Hello,
We just got several inches of rain and lots of heat and I think the chemical composition of my pool is a little screwy.

I just spent all of yesterday shocking my pool.

Just tested:
TC- 5 (yesterday it was .5)
pH- 7.2
TA: 160
The water is a little cloudy.

Should I do anything about the pH, considering the TA is so high?

FYI- I am having a pool party on Saturday, so I want to make it's okay for swimming.
Thanks!

 

[reebok]

what does shock all day yesterday mean? if all you have is a TC test then you're shooting in the dark.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Do you know your CYA level? A TC of 5 isn't shock level for any pool....

 

[tracyd21]

I know 5 is not shock level, but it was .5 yesterday so I see this as improvement. I am not finished working on the pool, which is why I am here...

I don't know my CYA level. My test kit is small and I can't afford to invest in a better one until next year.

Can you help based on the info I provided?

 

[reebok]

not without some kind of cya number. even if you know how much you've added in the life of the pool or go to a pool store and find out.
pool-school/
read chemistry, defeating algae and how to shock.

 

[dmanb2b]

pH- 7.2
TA: 160

Should I do anything about the pH, considering the TA is so high?

Given a TA of 160, your PH at 7.2 is fine...the high TA will tend to raise PH over time. When it gets to 7.6, lower it back to 7.2-7.4 and your TA will come down on it's own. The TA is not so high that you do not need to go the whole aeration route, unless you are experiencing rapid PH rise.

As Reebok and FPM mentioned, how do you know your done shocking? I think that your biggest concern for now. You need to know your CYA level to know what your shock level is...raising FC to 5ppm is not considered shocking. Walmart has a $20 HTH 6way drop based test kit that can test for CYA or you can take a water sample to the pool store and have them test.

We are here to help, but we need a full set of test results to help...otherwise we are just shooting blind

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

So I went back and read your post from June. Can you give some history as to what's been happening since then? Were you able to have it stable/swimable?

If you let the FC drop below your "min" that would explain the cloudy water.

Were you ever able to confirm your CYA level? At one point you posted a pool store reading of 0 then you posted it was about 50. If your CYA was 50, your FC should have been holding steady with daily bleach additions, since that time? Correct? Or have you been having problems this whole time?

Can you go to a pool store and have them test the CYA?

Don't worry about the PH/TA, just focus on shocking, you should be able to clear it by Saturday if you are diligent with the bleach additions.

I would pour in 2 large jugs of 6% and then wait an hour and use the dilution method with your tester.

Take 1 part pool water and three parts distilled or chlorine-free water and mix, then add the OTO and then multiply the results by 4. You lose some accuracy this way. A orange shade, dk yellow would indicate high chlorine levels, if you weren't diluting. Also this is only measuring total chlorine so that doesn't necessarily help you.

But I would keep testing, using the dilution method and adding bleach until the water clears, but without an accurate CYA level you are just guessing.

 

[tracyd21]

I have the walmart test kit, but it only has 2 tests worth of drops for CYA. I used them earlier in the summer when I was opening my pool. So I guess I am shooting blind.

I will run to Leslie's and have them test my water. Thanks anyway!

 

[tracyd21]

As for history, we finally got the pool figured out. When we got home from vacation, most of the 'gunk' had dissolved. We vacuumed out the rest. TA was still high so I added muriatic acid (as directed by pool store) and it dropped, but everything else was fine so we were swimming a day later.

Since then, we have been consistent while bleach additions every few days and haven't had to do anything more until this weekend. Last week we got several inches of rain, so I never got out there to test the water. We drained about 2 inches of water on Monday since we got so much rain. Pool was cloudy and chlorine was really low. Started adding bleach by the jug in 1-2 hour increments and testing. Overnight it went from .5 to 5

This is where I am now. At this point I just want to water to be clear and the chlorine to be okay. It has been extremely hot the past week, but the pool hasn't turned green, just a little cloudy.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Good, maybe you caught it time. Just get that bleach in there to raise the FC level up to 20, I would go higher then, maybe 20-24 on your shock level, you probably do have CYA and the 2 jugs won't be enough. Try the dilution method

If your CYA level isn't too high and you keep the FC level up it should clear up rather quickly.