Change Water, start fresh... please help.

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Buy a 12 pound bag or so of plain old baking soda. This is the same as "alkalinity up" sold at the pool store for at least double what you can by it for at Costco/BJ's/Sam's. There will be NO CYA in the fill water; it is not naturally occuring. Buy the borax at the grocery store. Use that to increase the pH rather than "pH up" from the pool store. If you need "pH up", its the same thing as washing soda in the laundry section of the grocery store. Normally, it's recomended to use borax since it will not effect the TA like washing soda will. If you need to increase the TA as well as pH, you use the washing soda. Since you are starting from scratch, use the baking soda to set your TA, then set the pH with the borax/muriatic acid.
As far as adding the 50 ppm borates a detailed in pool school, I really wouldnt do that at all until you have a handle on everything else. It's optional, and until you have everything else woked out and are comfortable, it will just be an extra thing that you dont really need at this point, IMO.
 
Just to clarify, I don't think you are nuts :wink:

I just want to make sure you are understanding what you are doing to your pool and why you are doing it. :goodjob:
A TFP and using BBB is all about proper testing and having the knowledge to use those results to maintain your pool. Some small areas of advice do change depending on your location but for the most part the methods are the same.

I wouldn't say "skip" the borates, maybe just postpone it awhile? :-D

The article I referenced before, Water Balance for SWGs - you want the recommended levels for your pool to be your target, so for a pool your size you need enough CYA on hand at start up to reach about 70 ppm. You can even go as high as 80-90 but 70 is a good target. You can use the calculator to figure out how much CYA that will be (have you tried using the pool calc yet?) that you need to purchase.

As I suggested above, test your fill water ahead of time to know what your TA and PH are, that way you'll know if you need to buy baking soda or borax or soda ash, etc.

As noted, it was your nitely aeration in conjuction with the SWG use that was causing the PH drift . Try your TA at 60-70 this time to see if the acid consumption is less.

And yes, we are here to help you! :cheers:
 
By all appearances you have a typical AZ pool. No reason that BBB won't work for you :-D Keep reading what is being explained here and you will find that your pool will become easier to manage (and you'll learn more than you ever will from Shasta!) and your problems will go away :party: :goodjob:
 
Thanks!
I am familiar with some of the chemicals they sell me such as Stabilizer 100 and Optimizer, but I never knew what they were or what they did.
OK - so will the TF-100 have something in it to test borates or will I have to buy that separate like the salt strips?
ALSO!!! So good to know I can go to Home Depot and buy water softener salt and not have to bring $$$$$
 
Copperhead,

The borates strips are seperate. That said, I would encourage as the others have done, not to address borates for a good while. It'll take a little bit to get into the rhythm of your pool and understanding of the chemistry. Your pool will be crystal clear without borates and you may choose not to even use them.

I certainly am ready to sell the borates test to you but want to make it clear it's not something you must have nor will it be a solution for water quality issues.....the other basics will have that pool sparkling.....with or without borates.
 
'K - Thanks Dave & Meg!!

Test kit inbound.

I'm thinking I'm going to borrow a water meter from somewhere to put on my hose when I fill.
Salesman was a little confused regarding the perimeter (83') and I talked the construction foreman into digging it a little deeper, so the actual gallons may be a bit different than what I think it is.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Got a better idea to accurately calculate pool size, maybe.
So we know it will take around 200# of salt to get my desired salt level.
I fill the pool, dump in 50# of salt and let her run for a day.
Measure salt level. Add another 100# of salt and let it run.
Measure salt level again, use the pool calculator to determine the actual gallons of my pool by matching the ppm salt increase.
Now I can confidently add the other elements and the rest of the salt knowing I should be really close.
Are the salt test strips accurate enough to do this?
 
Copperhead said:
Got a better idea to accurately calculate pool size, maybe.
So we know it will take around 200# of salt to get my desired salt level.
I fill the pool, dump in 50# of salt and let her run for a day.
Measure salt level. Add another 100# of salt and let it run.
Measure salt level again, use the pool calculator to determine the actual gallons of my pool by matching the ppm salt increase.
Now I can confidently add the other elements and the rest of the salt knowing I should be really close.
Are the salt test strips accurate enough to do this?
Click to expand...

I like to add a bag or two (our pools are a bit bigger than yours, so 2 is more common) in the morning and brush around to help dissolve, then add another bag (or two) again at night and brush. Keep adding this way and testing until you get it right. You shouldn't really have to let the pool run all day if you help it dissolve a little bit.

Test strips, as mentioned, are not accurate enough, nor is the read out on your salt cell! If you can get it tested with a meter that would be your best bet!
 
Estimating pool size: Using a water meter for a complete fill is obviously best. But even without that, you have an initial guess, and you can refine that guess as you maintain the pool. For example if you think you put in enough bleach to raise FC by 6, and it goes up 8, then your estimate is probably a bit too high. (I think chlorine is the most convenient for chemically measuring a pool size; it has the most accurate test, is easy to add a bunch at once, and adding too much does no lasting harm. As long as you're not fighting algae or doing anything else that consumes FC quickly, it works really well.)
--paulr
 
OMG what a night from heck.
We've had so much rain and the front lawn is doing so well, it took hours and a fair bit of digging to find the cleanout!!!

Started pumping at 1:45 am, done at 5:45...

Got to get the pump back now and grab a pressure washer...yawn.... :wave:
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply