So I've been out of town for a few days and came home today to my new test kit and rushed out to give it a try.
A few background items (other than what's in my sig below)...
- Pool was opened last week by pool company (cover put away, plugs taken off, etc.)
- Pool company dropped six bags of "Turbo Shock" into a green pool and it cleared up in a few hours
- I vacuumed the bottom of the pool over the next few days and thought I got it all but after being gone a few days, there seems to be a little more work to do in this area. :?
- Water is currently clear enough to see all the way to the bottom in the deep end (about 9.5 feet I'm told) which is also how I know I still have some vacuuming to do.
- Return jets are breaking the water which I need to correct so TA doesn't go any lower as it needs to be brought up
So, drumroll please....
TA: 60-70 (depending on your definition of "red" - turns dark pink at 60 and "redder" by 70)
CYA - 0 (based on the fact that when filling the tube I could always see the black dot and then the water overflowed the tube, so I'm guessing 0)
CH - Over 200 (I stopped at 20 drops because nothing was happening, so 20 X 10 = CH)
CC - 0 (nothing on the Taylor "red/yellow" test and the more chemistry-like Chlorine test verified this)
FC - 0 (I'm calling this 0 since CC is 0)
Ph - Above 8.2 (color was a deeper purple than the highest end of the Taylor "red/yellow" test)
Salt - 1050 PPM
Air Temp - 50 degrees F
So, I used every test in the kit and also some salt test strips I bought as well to get these results. Based on pool school and the pool calculator (and assuming I haven't FUBAR'd the test somewhere) it looks like I should do the following:
1. Add 141oz of 6% bleach in front of return, pouring slowly so that it takes a couple minutes to empty each jug(s).
2. Let it run for a few hours and retest chlorine and note CYA level.
3. If chlorine is still not in acceptable range, repeat step 1 & 2.
4. OPTIONAL: Once in acceptable range, I could wait 24 hours and do a chlorine loss test to see if anything is alive in my pool, but I'll probably need the CYA level to be acceptable or the loss could be due to sunlight.
5. To get CYA level up to where it needs to be based off current results (which could change once retested), I will need 95oz of liquid stabilizer.
5. Once I have chlorine and CYA levels stable, I will tend to the remaining levels as I do not want to make big changes all at once but rather a series of small adjustments (thank you pool school).
6. Once everything is in line, I will turn on the Autopilot which will tell me how much salt to add and I will verify that amount with my own salt test and then I should be on regular maintenance, God willing.
So there's my understanding of my situation based on a week of pool school reading and an hour with my new test kit. I will say that I normally do not learn by reading but rather by doing, so if you all can verify or debunk my plan here so I can get on the right path with putting chemicals in the pool and seeing everything in action, I promise I will make huge strides in the education area.
Thanks so much for all the help and I hope I'm not completely wrong here. A passing grade would be acceptable since its my first attempt and I make my living working with computer code, not chemicals.
A few background items (other than what's in my sig below)...
- Pool was opened last week by pool company (cover put away, plugs taken off, etc.)
- Pool company dropped six bags of "Turbo Shock" into a green pool and it cleared up in a few hours
- I vacuumed the bottom of the pool over the next few days and thought I got it all but after being gone a few days, there seems to be a little more work to do in this area. :?
- Water is currently clear enough to see all the way to the bottom in the deep end (about 9.5 feet I'm told) which is also how I know I still have some vacuuming to do.
- Return jets are breaking the water which I need to correct so TA doesn't go any lower as it needs to be brought up
So, drumroll please....
TA: 60-70 (depending on your definition of "red" - turns dark pink at 60 and "redder" by 70)
CYA - 0 (based on the fact that when filling the tube I could always see the black dot and then the water overflowed the tube, so I'm guessing 0)
CH - Over 200 (I stopped at 20 drops because nothing was happening, so 20 X 10 = CH)
CC - 0 (nothing on the Taylor "red/yellow" test and the more chemistry-like Chlorine test verified this)
FC - 0 (I'm calling this 0 since CC is 0)
Ph - Above 8.2 (color was a deeper purple than the highest end of the Taylor "red/yellow" test)
Salt - 1050 PPM
Air Temp - 50 degrees F
So, I used every test in the kit and also some salt test strips I bought as well to get these results. Based on pool school and the pool calculator (and assuming I haven't FUBAR'd the test somewhere) it looks like I should do the following:
1. Add 141oz of 6% bleach in front of return, pouring slowly so that it takes a couple minutes to empty each jug(s).
2. Let it run for a few hours and retest chlorine and note CYA level.
3. If chlorine is still not in acceptable range, repeat step 1 & 2.
4. OPTIONAL: Once in acceptable range, I could wait 24 hours and do a chlorine loss test to see if anything is alive in my pool, but I'll probably need the CYA level to be acceptable or the loss could be due to sunlight.
5. To get CYA level up to where it needs to be based off current results (which could change once retested), I will need 95oz of liquid stabilizer.
5. Once I have chlorine and CYA levels stable, I will tend to the remaining levels as I do not want to make big changes all at once but rather a series of small adjustments (thank you pool school).
6. Once everything is in line, I will turn on the Autopilot which will tell me how much salt to add and I will verify that amount with my own salt test and then I should be on regular maintenance, God willing.
So there's my understanding of my situation based on a week of pool school reading and an hour with my new test kit. I will say that I normally do not learn by reading but rather by doing, so if you all can verify or debunk my plan here so I can get on the right path with putting chemicals in the pool and seeing everything in action, I promise I will make huge strides in the education area.
Thanks so much for all the help and I hope I'm not completely wrong here. A passing grade would be acceptable since its my first attempt and I make my living working with computer code, not chemicals.