Newbie - I think I'm close

[acguy]

Brand new pool, brand new pool owner.... I have read alot of the pool school. Thanks for all the info. Ordered TF-100 test kit. Here are my numbers. Water is clear.

FC - 7.0 (morning) Drops to 0 - .5 by afternoon
CC - 0
PH- 7.8 - 8.2
TA - 100
CH - 300
CYA - 0
Salt - 3380

I understand why the FC drops (low CYA).... my question is do I lower the PH before I raise CYA? How does CYA effect PH and/or TA?

How long after adding CYA to pool water is safe to swim? I dont know why the PB has never mentioned CYA. I have had them test the water for start up. After finding this site and reading noticed that they didnt test for CYA. Is this common practice for pool stores to ignore CYA?

Thanks again for the great site and info...

 

[257WbyMag]

pH can be lowered quickly and in one shot, so I would suggest tackling that first.

CYA can lower pH a tad, but not enough for you to consider altering the dose of muriatic acid for lowering your pH.

Pool stores don't really talk about CYA much because they simply assume that everyone uses their tablets (trichlor) and these have CYA in them.

You can swim while the CYA is being added. What most of us do is get a sock and put your calculated dose of CYA in the sock. Then, hang it in front of a return on your pool. In a few days, it will be gone from the sock. We do it this way because CYA is pretty slow to dissolve and you don't want the powder sitting undissolved on the floor of your pool. Add enough to get you to 60 ppm and you should probably wait about a week before testing for it just to make sure that it is all dissolved. After waiting a week and testing, you can calculate how much more you need (if any). SWCG pools need anywhere from 60 to 80 ppm of CYA typically.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Are you running the SWCG?
Your SWCG manual should tell you what stabilizer level they recommend, but Pool Calc will give you suggested levels for everything if you set the parameters near the bottom.

You can swim while you're adding granular CYA through the sock method or about 30 minutes after adding liquid.

Unfortunitely it's more common than it should be. They don't understand (yet) the importance of the Chlorine/CYA relationship. One day maybe they will.

[ETA:] (edited to add) Was typing at the same time. Adding it to reinforce what 257 said.

 

[duraleigh]

Good morning,

Your poor ole' SWG is working overtime!! :lol: You'll be able to dial it down considerably once you get the CYA in the pool.

1. Lower your pH first. Probably down to 7.2 or so as it will most likely tend to rise.

2. I'd put enough CYA in the skimmer (which will take it to the filter, where it will slowly dissolve over the next few days) to get to 50-60 or so, test for it in a few days, and then add enough again to get to 70ppm. You can swim anytime you want....the CYA will cause no harm and it will have negligible effect on your other parameters.

3. Why your PB and Pool Store ignored CYA is one of the many reasons TFP exists. Too many folks in the industry are simply unaware of it's consequences.....either having too much or too little.

EDIT: 257 and I posted at the same time. I am posting this up for confirmation and to add the alternative method of introducing CYA. Either method is fine.

EDIT: Yikes!! Bama' got in there ahead of me, too. I'm getting depressed!

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Since you've gotten such great advice already I'll just say welcome!

 

[acguy]

Thanks to all... you make it easy.