New pool owner first time ever doing TF100 test seeking advice.

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H

HL29

0
Mar 30, 2018
14
oklahoma
Hi guys, just want to say that I am really glad I found you guys and thank you for saving me a trip to the pool store to test my water. Beside from being overwhelm and full of anxiety from being a pool owner, I have learn a lot from this site already and still learning. My pool is 2/3 full and I have done my first ever pool test, I will start pump once it gets to level. here is my first official test so result could be human error and might be missing a few test. any advice going forward will be greatly appreciated. thank you again.

TC and BR test = 0 , it stayed white never change color, so I assume zero.

PH = 7.5
CYA =0 still see the dot
TA = 220
PS. will test again today, what other test should I be doing. thank you.
pool.jpg
water looks perfect right now.
 
You are going to want to add some CYA (shoot for 30, you may want to bump that up come the heat of summer) and some chlorine, aim for 5. Your TA is high, but don't worry about that right now, if your pH gets hard to stay on top of you may want to lower it later. With a vinyl pool you aren't going to be super concerned with CH but it would be good to test occasionally, about as often as you test CYA.
 
Skip the tabs, at Wal-Mart or Lowes/Home Depot they sell "stabilizer" in the pool section. Look for 100% CYA, nothing that says "blue". Use pool math to determine how much. Put that powder in a sock and either suspend it in front of a return or massage it in the water until it's dissolved.
 
Hello and Welcome to TFP! Nice pool.

Since you filled from a well, it isn't surprising that FC is zero. As Mr. B said, get some CYA in the pool. Until then, get some bleach and add enough to get to 3ppm FC. That will hold you over until you get the CYA in there. Do you have a SWG? This will help you decide the CYA level to run. Just use regular bleach until you get the SWG setup and salt in the water. You will have to add the bleach each day after you test the water.

Once the pool is filled, you should run all the tests: ph, FC, TA, CH (except CYA). There will be no CYA in the fill water.
if you are using a SWG, then you also want to test for salt before you add it.
Since you are on a well, have you had any issues with iron in the water? This is where a pool $tore can be of use to check for iron levels.

PoolMath (link at top of page) is great at telling you how much of a chemical to add. Play around with it until you are comfortable with it. Add all numbers since some interact with each other.
 
thanks Teal, I have not decide to do the SWG route yet but considering it. thanks for your advice I will start adding bleach and try to get CYA up. and will continue to post test result. I do not have iron in my well and have never noticed it on the side of the house or the driveway from the sprinklers just calcium deposit from the hard water. should I worry about the hard water is this why my TA is so high? I will keep an eye out for the iron and test at pool store if need be, I just hate going to those places.
 
The TA is a sum of all the alkalinity in the pool, CH is only part of it (actually the bicarbonate part not CH directly), but does contribute. You don't have to worry about the hard water itself as the high CH levels can be dealt with. It is actually better to keep an eye on your CSI and keep it below +0.6 to prevent scaling. Since you have a vinyl liner, the other end of CSI isn't important. PoolMath calculates CSI if you input all the values needed. You don't have to check often, but just be aware of it.
If you haven't had issues with iron, then don't worry about it. It's just something to ask and be aware of when people use personal well water.
Without the SWG, dose CYA to 30-40ppm. You can shoot for 30 and then add a bit more later if needed.
 
new readings today

FC=0
ph=7.5
cya=20

should I keep adding chlorine until I get to 3-5. I also have some leftover trichlor tablets bought by mistake to use for my septic, my question can I use some of these tabs right now to raise FC and CYA. I know from TFP methods this is not good since that can get my CYA out of control.
do I just need to stick with bleach and stabilizer. thank you.
I have added a total of 4lbs. of stabilizer and 3.5 gallons of 6% bleach.
 
You have already introduced stabilizer. Do not use the tabs as they desolve very slowly and you need chlorine now. Add liquid chlorine manually. Recheck CYA in a week and FC daily. Save the pucks for a vacation.
 

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New test last night.
PH=7.8
FC=2.5
CC= .5
CH=250
TA=200
CYA=20
Question on the CC, CH and TA test do I stop counting drops immediately once I get a color change or one more drops to get a solid color change? should I be concern that these readings are high, looks like my PH rise a little too? I am using my trichlor pucks right now to get the FC and CYA up a little more and will remove them when its in range, just trying to use them up and save on bleach. For my type of pool what should my TA and CH be Still learning, thank you guys.
 
When the sample stops changing color is the end of the test. So for instance CC using a 10 ml sample:

No drops: Pink
1 drop: Pink
2 drops: Pink
3 drops: Less pink
4 drops: Clear
5 drops: Clear

Ignore the last drop that didn't cause a change, so 4 drops.

pH of 7.8 is fine, drop it when it gets over 8.0. It's rising because of your high TA, not an immediate worry but as you lower pH with acid it will lower TA too. Here is an article if you want to accelerate the drop in TA Pool School - Lower Total Alkalinity If you could eventually get it down to the 50-70 range your pH rise will slow.

The trichlor pucks will keep the pH down as well, they are acidic. I would probably temporarily use them as well if I needed a small bump in CYA and a help with sharply rising pH. Your CH is fine.
 
I got 3 pucks in the floater, was wondering how long to keep them in there? I will be monitoring the CYA and FC also. where is the best place to get the speed stir. I have been checking the CYA inside the house should I look at the tube in the sun? I think I might be getting a hang on this anxiety level has gone down. lol thanks to you guys
 
If you go to pool math PoolMath all the way down at the bottom is a place to see what effects additions of all different things would do. Make sure your volume is correct at the top of the page. A puck is 8oz of trichlor (IIRC) so if they are all dissolved that would be 24 oz. If you want to add that much CYA then leave them in until dissolved. If not, pull them out before.

The recommended way is to look down the tube holding it with 2 fingers it at your belt buckle with your back to the sun. Don't stare at the dot, take quick glances. If you aren't sure, pour it all back into the squirt bottle and do it again. Take an average. Sometimes I'll hand it to my wife and see what she gets.
 
HL29 said:
so if I continue monitor and keep fc and cya climbing to target, is it safe to swim in now? kids are getting antsy and the water looks so nice. oh where can I get a speed stir? thank you!!
Click to expand...

Your desired FC depends on your CYA...at 30 CYA, FC should be 4-6...at 40 CYA, FC should be 5-7. Once you get the CYA and FC levels stabilized you should be able to swim. Here is a link to speedstir: http://tftestkits.net/SpeedStir-Magnetic-Stirrer-p56.html
 
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