1st Test With Taylor K-2006

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Mr Horsepower

Mr Horsepower

0
Jun 21, 2008
17
Folsom, CA
Whats that old radio saying..."long time listener, first time caller". Well, I found this site a few weeks ago while researching why I had low/no FC. I can't begin to describe how much I've learned in those few weeks compared to what I've picked up in the last 4 years of owning a pool! Thank you in advance to all the knowledgable people on this site! Now on to my questions.....

I've been taking care of my pool (18K IG Plaster freeform w/spa) for a couple years now with 6-way test strips and so far so good. Clear water and only slight green algea growth on and off (nooks & cranies of waterfall, ect.). I had noticed low FC/TC readings over the last couple months so I took a sample down to the pool store. They confirmed 0 FC and suggested I add more chlorine. All the other numbers were good. I then found this site and started using 6% bleach. FC numbers are good now.

After enough reading on this forum I've decided test strips are not the way to go and purchased a Taylor K-2006 kit which showed up yesterday. Here are my first readings....

FC 11
CC 1
PH 7.7
TA 150
CH 400
CYA 100+ (maybe 140-150)

The pool has been maintained with pool store chems and 3" trichlor pucks for at least 5 years now. Last night I added 3lbs of dry acid to try and lower the TA and PH. I will retest this evening to see how that worked out.

My first question is, should I do a partial drain & refill to address the CYA and the CH? ...and if so in which order do I rebalance the fresh water after the refill? Or, should I test for a few days first to make sure these readings are accurate? Leslie's tested my water 2 weeks ago and measured FC 0, PH 7.4, TA 100, CH 320, and CYA 100 (yeah, I know, they're not the most accurate either). Nothing but 6% bleach has been added since.

Thanks in advance for all your ideas and opinions!

Todd
 
Welcome to TFP, Mr. HP!

Great decision on getting a good test kit! I would do a 50% drain and refill (maybe two 25% ones so you don't remove too much water at a time) to reduce your CYA.

Your CH is OK for now (at the upper limit of OK). You might want to test your tap water to see what your CH and TA are, just so you will know.

Ditch the trichlor, and get some liquid chlorine (AKA bleach) to use daily. You did good by going ahead and adjusting the pH (7.2-7.6 is ideal).

After your CYA is lowered (30 - 50 ppm), you need to hold shock level of chlorine until you have < 1 ppm of FC loss overnight, 0.5 or less CC, and no signs of algae.

Good luck and keep us posted.
 
Thanks for the info Dave! When I refill the pool with fresh (tap) water, should I adjust the PH and/or TA first or should I just go after the Chlorine levels?

Also, as suggested above, I stopped using the pucks a couple of weeks ago. But what is their shelf life? I still have about 10 left that were only purchased about a month ago and was going to hang on to them in case of vacation trips or to help add CYA later on.


Todd
 
Well, the drain and refill worked perfectly. Here are the numbers after refilling:

FC 2.6
CC .2
PH 7.4
TA 70
CH 160
CYA 40

The TA is a little on the low side of the range. Should I worry about raising it a little, or should I just leave it alone?


Todd
 
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