pool balance questions

[amoses]

Okay, baqua to BBB conversion is done and now I need to get balanced. Is this the correct forum to post on? If not then one of the moderators can feel free to move it to the correct one.

Pool looks great and I want to keep it that way. I took all my readings yesterday and 5:45 PM and here they are. I have some questions about some of them

FC 4.0
CC .5
TC 5.0
PH 7.5 - 7.8
TA 230
CH 100
CYA 20 or less

Here are my questions about these tests.

PH - Is there a better way to test PH? I am having a hard time telling where the color matches up with the numbers exactly and there is only 7.5 (which I think the color of water was slighty darker but not sure) and 7.8. The color was somewhere between the two marks but I don't feel real comfortable with the accuracy of the test.

TA - I know you keep dropping drops in until it gets red, but how red do you want it? My TA seems to be pretty high.

CH - seemed to be pretty clear. once it started to change it turned blue pretty quickly and I stopped. How dark of a blue do I want it though?

CYA - I filled the tube all the way and could still barely see the black dot so I think that means less than 20 ppm. I put 4 lbs of CYA in the pool last week end so I thought that it should be 40 by now. What should I do? Wait or add more CYA?


Aaron

 

[Bama Rambler]

I've been following your conversion from the begining. Glad your through it.

For pH I use a pH meter from Hanna. You can find them on ebay for about $30. The draw back to this is that I have to calibrate it about once a month with standards. I verify it with the phenol red test and find that I get better resolution by doing it outside or through a window.

I've read here that you keep dropping till it quits turning and don't count the last drop. Also on the TA test there is a tendency for the reagent to build up static to the bottle and cause small drops and therefore high readings. Wiping the nozzle of the bottle every few drops with a damp colth resloves the problem.

Same as the first sentence in the TA answer above.

CYA, How did you add it? in the skimmer, at a return in a sock? Did you backwash or clean the filter after adding it but before testing? I wouldn't add anymore right now until we can figure out what might have hapened.

 

[amoses]

I've been following your conversion from the begining. Glad your through it.

Thanks, I appreciate all the good comments I received.

CYA, How did you add it? in the skimmer, at a return in a sock? Did you backwash or clean the filter after adding it but before testing? I wouldn't add anymore right now until we can figure out what might have hapened.

I put it in a sock and hung it in front of the return. I have backwashed since adding (and we had a lot of rain), and this was a number of days before testing.

Is my TA too high? should I try to get it down?

Aaron

 

[Bama Rambler]

If you hung it in front of a return then backwashing doesn't have as big an effect as if you had out it in the skimmer. I'd retest it and add after that. There was a report here about someone that added way more CYA than they should have had too to get the number up. The only explanation was that the %CYA on the bottle was wrong. Removing water because of rain will affect it too. I've gone from 50 to 40 because of having to drain rain water.

Your TA appears to be high and you can work it down using MA and aeration. I'd retest again wiping the nozzle every few drops with a damp cloth just to make sure the number you get is correct.

 

[Butterfly]

Yep, what Bama said

Also, here's a link to the test guide: water-testing-instructions-on-one-page-t11306.html

Has it been a week since you added your CYA?

 

[amoses]

Has it been a week since you added your CYA?

Yes.

I will recheck them and repost. I am jut having a difficult time telling the color differences on the ph test. I think I will look for a different way to test it.

 

[PaulR]

In my experience it looks different depending on the background. I (try to) always use a well-lit white background.
--paulr

 

[amoses]

FC = 1 added bleach to bring it up
CC = 0
pH = still hard to tell i think it is high, up around 8.0, i will use some MA to bring it down
TA = 220
CH = 100
CYA = 25

 

[Butterfly]

Right, Aaron, get the pH down and the FC up

When you re-did the TA test, did you wipe the dropper after each drop with a damp cloth?...( just want to confirm)

With a CYA of about 25, keep your FC between 2 and 5-ish, and never below 2.

Did you check the %CYA in your jug (as Bama mentioned)?

 

[amoses]

When you re-did the TA test, did you wipe the dropper after each drop with a damp cloth?...( just want to confirm)

yep

With a CYA of about 25, keep your FC between 2 and 5-ish, and never below 2.

Did you check the %CYA in your jug (as Bama mentioned)?

It was 100%. Should I add some more?

Just for the heck of it I had my pool store check my levels and they were outragous. They said no chlorine, pH 8.8 (which actually could have been right I guess), TA of 269 and CYA of 60. Just makes me know I don't need them any more for sure.

 

[polyvue]

With a CYA of about 25, keep your FC between 2 and 5-ish, and never below 2.

Did you check the %CYA in your jug (as Bama mentioned)?

It was 100%. Should I add some more?

Just for the heck of it I had my pool store check my levels and they were outragous. They said no chlorine, pH 8.8 (which actually could have been right I guess), TA of 269 and CYA of 60. Just makes me know I don't need them any more for sure.

25 ppm CYA is all right. You'd want to increase it if you had a Salt Water Generator (SWG) producing the chlorine for your pool, or you were having a very hard time keeping chlorine up due to UV exposure from a lot of sun. Otherwise, it's fine. If you want to increase it to 30-50 ppm, just wait a few days in between applications (add a pound at a time, no more.) Test the CYA a few days after the last application and before adding more so you won't overshoot the target.

So, the pool store determined the water to be at pH 8.8? Hmmmph. They must have some special test, or it's a humbug. A pH of 8.8 would be very high for pool water. Doubt that you added so much liquid chlorine/bleach to increase pH to that level. That's why we like to do our own testing!

 

[amoses]

I added 1 gallon of acid over two days and TA dropped to 180 and pH is 7.2. I will buy an aerator tomorrow to try and raise ph back up so I can put in more acid. Also my borates are already at 50 or else I would through some of that in there to raise the pH.

Is this right?

I think I am getting the hang of it. My FC drops real low every day so I am thinking that maybe I need a little more CYA. I will get some more tomorrow and add it in. everything else seems to be pretty good.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Yes it's right

I would target 40-50 for your CYA being you are in Texas and all..

 

[amoses]

I lowered ph and TA some, I need to get my PH raised back up. I bought some sodium carbonate but then read that that would raise TA as well.
Will this work for aeration? I tried to build a better system but my return jet is not standard 1 1/2 pvc, it is some odd thread so I am not sure how I am going to connect it up. in the mean time I rigged this up. Will it work?

 

[Butterfly]

It will work. Anything to create bubbles.

You can do a Google search (bottom left) for aerators and see what some other members have created.

 

[polyvue]

I bought some sodium carbonate but then read that that would raise TA as well.

Yes, it will increase Total Alkalinity (TA) - defeating your purpose, I think. You're also right in thinking that borates would be counterproductive at this time. Aeration --and lots of it--is your answer to puffing the potenz Hydrogen

Anything to create bubbles.

For some reason I'm reminded of Hawaii (Don Ho.) Butterfly has phrased this so aptly that I'm tempted to hum a few bars... but I won't.