My first test

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V

venticoffee

0
Feb 3, 2011
24
Roseville, CA
Hi everyone,

I got my test kit last night but waited till this morning. It was pretty easy to do and I now realize why stirrer is recommended.

Anyway, here are my results.

FC: 12
CC: 0
TC: 12
PH: 8.2
T/A: 110
CH: 300
CYA: 60
Temp: 48

So far, I've took the floating chlorinator out.

CYA is lower than expected. Someone had mentioned that CYA could be really high with using floating chlorinator. I guess that explains FC of 12.

So I need to lower FC, PH and T/A. CYA seem okay for now. I'll deal with other things first.

Is cloudyness related to high PH? I don't think my pool was ever sparkling... That's my goal for this summer.

Any comment will be appreciated. Thanks.
 
assuming your filter is clean, you could start adding small quantities muriatic acid, run pump at slow speed for 24 hours (if variable or multi-speed), retest in morning and add little more .. rinse and repeat until around 7.4-7.6

consider also adding borate. entire articles exist on tfp about it's benefits and how-to but read all-about-it later after everything else is to your liking.
 
I suggest adding 2 cups of muriatic acid (assuming 31.45%) to start, and then using smaller quantities for any subsequent adjustment attempts after that. I would not bring the PH all the way down to 7.4 while the water is still that cold. You want the PH a little higher than usual when the water is very cold. Still, 8.2 is too high, and 7.6 to 7.8 would be much better. As susa said, add some acid, give everything time to mix together, then retest before proceeding.

One thing to keep in mind is that most of the common PH tests max out at 8.2, so the actual PH might be much higher than you think.

There is no need to lower FC. It will come down on it's own if you simply add less chlorine

TA will come down as you lower the PH. By the time you have the PH down to something reasonable the TA will be low enough that you won't need to worry about it (even if it is still slightly high).

Cloudy water can be caused by many different things, high PH being one of them. Hopefully that is the issue in your case, but if the water doesn't clear up as the PH comes down, there are other things to try.

Only add chemicals while the pump is running, and keep the pump running for at least 30 minutes to an hour after adding chemicals.
 
susa said:
assuming your filter is clean, you could start adding small quantities muriatic acid, run pump at slow speed for 24 hours (if variable or multi-speed), retest in morning and add little more .. rinse and repeat until around 7.4-7.6

consider also adding borate. entire articles exist on tfp about it's benefits and how-to but read all-about-it later after everything else is to your liking.
Click to expand...

Why do I need the filter to be clean? I am just curious because i don't know if it's clean. I just fired my pool man and didn't ask if he had clean it lately. The pressure gauge on the filter reads 14 psi.

Should I clean it before I add muriatic acid? I did buy 2 gals of muriatic acid (14.5%) and I was going to put in 35oz (same amount suggested by JasonLion) of it tomorrow morning.

Thanks.
 
I read that I was supposed to rinse with pool water before the test. For the first test, I rinsed it with tap water. Doh!

Anyway, I've revised my first test.

FC: 9.5
CC: 0
TC: 9.5
PH: 7.5
T/A: 90
CH: 300
CYA: 65
Temp: 51

In one day, FC went down by 2.5. I guess that's how much chorine I have to add in everyday. I think PH of 8.2 was an error. I had use tap water to rinse before the test yesterday. Not sure how much affect that has but my latest test shows 7.5. Here is picture of PH test. Can PH swing that much? I'll test tomorrow again to make sure.


For CYA, I didn't know that as you pour more solution you get lower CYA level. I think 65 is my correct number. Yesterday, I poured too much and thought I got it perfectly. :hammer:

Everything seem to be in the acceptable values but my pool is still cloudy. Here is a picture with sun in the back. It doesn't look that bad in the shallow. You can kinda see that shade from polaris line is fuzzy a bit.


Here is the deep end with sun in the front. What else can I try?


I am going to hold off on adding muriatic acid till I feel more comfortable testing.

Thanks for your help.
 
The cloudiness could just be additional filter time needed. To confirm, perform the overnight FC loss test. On the PH, that still looks pretty red to me and does not look like 7.5, but perhaps it's just the picture. Adding some MA to confirm that it easily moves to the 7.2-7.4 range would be a good double check...especially with CH starting off at 300, you'll want PH to never exceed 7.8 to avoid scaling :goodjob: Otherwise your numbers look good.
 
dmanb2b said:
The cloudiness could just be additional filter time needed. To confirm, perform the overnight FC loss test. On the PH, that still looks pretty red to me and does not look like 7.5, but perhaps it's just the picture. Adding some MA to confirm that it easily moves to the 7.2-7.4 range would be a good double check...especially with CH starting off at 300, you'll want PH to never exceed 7.8 to avoid scaling :goodjob: Otherwise your numbers look good.
Click to expand...

Perhaps it's between 7.5 and 7.8 but definately not 8.2. Maybe 7.6.

I'll do the overnight FC loss test. Then if that's okay I'll add correct amount of MA trying to drop PH to 7.2. If I can do that then I'll bring the PH up again and will focus on filtering dust particles from the pool.

Next project: seriously considering solar pool heater. DIY installation. By the way, I put that safety fence via DIY installation. Save me about $1200.

Thanks for your advice. It makes sense.
 

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