I am brand new this year to the TF-100 test kit. After reading this forum I felt foolish paying the outrageous prices for the Bio-Guard Mineral Springs products at my pool installers local store. I am becoming frustrated trying to balance my water.
1. How long does it take for the TA to drop after adding muriatic acid (amount estimated by pool calculator)? I waited a couple of hours and I see almost no reduction at all.
2. I am having difficulty reading the results of the ph test. Should I be comparing color/tint or the deepness (or darkness) of the colors? It seems my water has a tan tint, but, the color chart on the block seems to have more of a pink tint.
3. In general how long should I wait after Borax, Baking Soda, Muriatic Acid, etc?
I just took a sample to my pool store for analyzing on their computer. Could I take their recommendations and do a cross-over to the BBB system? They recommended the following:
5 lbs of stabilizer 100 to raise CYA
7 lbs of Balance Pak 300 to raise Total Hardness
7 lbs of Optimizer plus + 3.5 lbs of Lo-n-SLo to raise borates
Can I do equal amounts of products from my supermarket instead of bio-guard? What would the equals be?
Here are their readings:
Saturation -0.1
TDS 4300
TC 4.1
FC 4.1
pH 7.6
TA 98
adj TA 90
Hardness 173
Minerals 3000
borates 29
My home test shows a TA of 110. I am having difficulty reading the pH. My best guess was 7.3
What is strange about the computer analysis is that last week my CYA was 35. I added 4 lbs of stabilizer slowly into the skimmer, and now, their saying my CYA is 28!! I have not backwashed or lost water. That confuses me.
I am trying to bring my TA and pH into proper levels so that I can add borax and muriatic acid to increase borates.
I am becoming so frustrated and losing confidence in my ability to do this on my own. I greatly appreciate any comments, answers, and/or tips you guys can offer.
Thanks,
David
1. How long does it take for the TA to drop after adding muriatic acid (amount estimated by pool calculator)? I waited a couple of hours and I see almost no reduction at all.
2. I am having difficulty reading the results of the ph test. Should I be comparing color/tint or the deepness (or darkness) of the colors? It seems my water has a tan tint, but, the color chart on the block seems to have more of a pink tint.
3. In general how long should I wait after Borax, Baking Soda, Muriatic Acid, etc?
I just took a sample to my pool store for analyzing on their computer. Could I take their recommendations and do a cross-over to the BBB system? They recommended the following:
5 lbs of stabilizer 100 to raise CYA
7 lbs of Balance Pak 300 to raise Total Hardness
7 lbs of Optimizer plus + 3.5 lbs of Lo-n-SLo to raise borates
Can I do equal amounts of products from my supermarket instead of bio-guard? What would the equals be?
Here are their readings:
Saturation -0.1
TDS 4300
TC 4.1
FC 4.1
pH 7.6
TA 98
adj TA 90
Hardness 173
Minerals 3000
borates 29
My home test shows a TA of 110. I am having difficulty reading the pH. My best guess was 7.3
What is strange about the computer analysis is that last week my CYA was 35. I added 4 lbs of stabilizer slowly into the skimmer, and now, their saying my CYA is 28!! I have not backwashed or lost water. That confuses me.
I am trying to bring my TA and pH into proper levels so that I can add borax and muriatic acid to increase borates.
I am becoming so frustrated and losing confidence in my ability to do this on my own. I greatly appreciate any comments, answers, and/or tips you guys can offer.
Thanks,
David