getting chlorine and balance going

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B

bubbles

0
Jan 7, 2011
99
North Texas
We arealmost on day 10 after replastering the pool and I have 4 pucks in the floater and my FC levels are still reading .5-1. The chlorine was added on the 28th. I may be expecting it too soon but when should I expect to see the FC rise?
Also, been adding muratic acid like crazy (about 3 -4 cups a day) and the Ph still isn't budging below the 8.2 mark on the test. Is it normal to take a while to get the PH down as well.
I realize I may be expecting something too soon, I am just trying to get an idea if I am still on the right track.
Didn't do TA today, but yesterday it was reading 120. CA was around 150 as of yesterday.
I did also figure out that one of our skimmers isn't working, will be following up on that with the PB tomorrow. Not sure how that might work into things too.
Thanks,
B
 
Bubbles, don't worry. Keep asking questions and adjusting as you go. Soon you will be a pro. Sounds like your pH is well above 8.2 and adding 3-4 cups is not getting you there. Try adding more than the 3-4 cups every day, like say 4-5 cups. The other thing you can try, if you have a free day, is to add the 3-4 cups in the morning then check and adjust every 3-4 hours until the pH is below 7.8. Just go slow and easy. Like dman said, you should add liquid chlorine to bump that FC level up. Then monitor again.
 
Use the Pool Calculator to calculate how much acid to add. Let's say that you shoot for a pH of 7.4. Nice and in the middle between 7.2 and 7.8. Using the Pool Calculator, enter your current pH and then enter the pH you want to achieve (7.4). It will compute how much acid to add. At that point, you will want to add all of the acid that the Pool Calculator indicates by pouring it slowly in front of a return jet.

By adding all the acid required to get your pool water to a pH of 7.4, you will achieve the task of lowering your pH. Adding a little here and a little there isn't going to move it.

With new plaster, 3 to 4 cups of acid a day is not very much at all. With that plaster curing, it takes LOTS of acid because your pH is going to continue to climb all the while that you are trying to battle it back down. Don't be afraid to treat that pH. The Pool Calculator is an awesome tool. Don't be afraid to use it. :goodjob:
 
Thanks everyone!
I had posted in another forum about how muratic acid kinda freaks me out (use my hands for a living so..), the measuring part was where I was afraid of getting splashed, so as of yesterday I have started pouring directly from bottle with it almost in the water and I am more comfortable with that...not quite exact with measurements but I can guestimate pretty well...I will up what I am adding and try to do the 3-4 hours thing today. Will also add liquid chlorine before I get stared playing with the acid again.
Can I ask a stupid question?
how do you safely get that little plastic seal off a new bottle? and what kind of gloves can you use to safely handle the acid? I use latex when handling the pucks and my heavy duty(awkward) gardening gloves for the acid right now.
Thanks!!

Oh and I used the PC on the first measurement which said add 3-4 cups...haha, my learning curve is kinda slow though, I will go recheck..took me a whole week to figure out one of my skimmers wasn't working
 
The safest way I've found to get the seal off the bottle is to cut it around the inside of the neck with an old stainless steel knife then rinse the knife with lots of water. To keep the seal from falling into the bottle I usually cut about 90% around the seal and then grab the seal with one hand and finish the cut. I'm usually close to the pool when opening a bottle so I rinse the seal and the knife in the pool.

The latex gloves you have will do fine for handling acid.
 
Thanks for the suggestion...that worked well and HOORAY! I retested this afternoon and finally my PH is down to 7.2..I know, I won't get too comfortable, but YAY! Still working on getting up the FC but I retested a bit ago and at least it's registering now. Added another 1/2 a bottle and will retest in the morning.
Thanks again for the encouragement and answering my many questions.
 
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