Hello everyone. New guy here. I stumbled upon this site and find it very informative. Just a little info. I have had a SWG for the last 5 years. After 3 cells and now a fried circuit board the SWG is history. Basically at the end of the season last year I just shut down the pool. I poured in a quart of algacide and let it run from 11pm til 8 am throughout the winter. I left it uncovered and all. We had a unusually cold winter here and I noticed the pool stayed clear all winter long. I cleaned the pool and had some 3 in chlorine tablets I found so I tossed them in the skimmer and let it run for 5 days. Went to the pool store today and had water tested. Here are the results. Temp 75. Saturation Idx -0.2, CYA 0, TC 1.6, FC 1.6, pH 7.4, Tot Alkalanity 104, Adj Total Alk 104, Tot Hardness 178. He told me to put 7lbs of Balance Pak 100 which I did and 2lbs of stabilizer to the skimmer. That being said, I purchased a tub of 3 in Chlorine tablets at Lowes over the weekend. Would it be best to return them, $70, and go with this method or use them until I get a good test kit. I have the AquaChek 5 strips that measure TC, FC,TA,pH and Total Hardness.
Getting pool up and running.
- Thread starter phatocaster
- Start date
Welcome to the board!!! The first things anyone will tell you here are, get a good test kit and read pool school until you have it memorized and then read it again. It looks like you need to get your CYA up to prevent FC "burn off" and see if you can get a CC number to tell if there's anything in the water, even though it's clear, that you might need to "shock" away before getting your numbers in check.
I'm sure more experienced TFPers will show up with better info, but that's about where I was when I came here and that's what they told me.
I'm sure more experienced TFPers will show up with better info, but that's about where I was when I came here and that's what they told me.
You can take back the tabs and spend that money on the test kit IF you're ready to go BBB. You can use the pool calculator in pool school to get a good idea of what the CYA level should be in your pool after adding the 2 lbs. Just plug your gallons in, check recommendations for troublefreepool, and play 'what if" with the chemical additions. Also see the CYA/chlorine chart there to see what your levels for FC should be for the CYA level. It will give you the "effect" of adding so much bleach to your gallons. I'd keep it on the high side till your kit comes in. Welcome!
Thanks. I'm supposed to have a Leslie Pool Supply here in Wilmington according to their locator. I will go there tomorrow and buy a kit and return the tablets. If I can't find them I will run another water sample by the Pool store where I purchased the pool. BTW, when I took the sample in today the guy put a strip in the water and then placed it in a machine and tested it. Is this really any different than me using test strips at home?
Test strips are NOT what you want to take care of the pool on your own and take control. There are two kits recommended here in pool school that will more than take care of you. The strips are not nearly as accurate and can't measure the higher levels for shocking and such.
I understand that the test strips aren't accurate. I was just wondering if them using the strips at the pool company was any different than what I am using. I remember I had it tested one time and the guy put water in different tubes and put them in a machine and tested them. Just wondering.
The machine that reads water put into several vials is a fancier variation on the ColorQ, better than test strips, not quite as good as Taylor reagents.
and yes, I would return the pucks to Lowes and use bleach... even without the Taylor kit, the principle of chlorine addition are the same
You want a high quality test kit that contains the FAS-DPD chlorine test, either a Taylor K2006 or a TF 100. Amazingly, pool stores tend to use a "budget" kit that only tests chlorine up to 5 ppm, and they often use a strip to test CYA. With a high quality test kit you will be able to test higher chlorine values with reliable results.
The balance pak 100 is sodium bicarb, aka baking soda. 7 lbs of that raised your TA from around 104 to around 132. Your TA was fine at 104 and did not need to be raised. 2lbs of stabilizer will raise your CYA to 13. Since your CYA was 0 your stabilizer is still too low. However, I don't know if you can trust the CYA test result, since they used strips. Take a sample to a different store and let them test it, but do not buy any chemicals they recommend. Post the results here.
Use liquid chlorine, either from a pool store or 6% regular bleach to chlorinate the pool. Use The Pool Calculator to determine how much chlorine you need.
The balance pak 100 is sodium bicarb, aka baking soda. 7 lbs of that raised your TA from around 104 to around 132. Your TA was fine at 104 and did not need to be raised. 2lbs of stabilizer will raise your CYA to 13. Since your CYA was 0 your stabilizer is still too low. However, I don't know if you can trust the CYA test result, since they used strips. Take a sample to a different store and let them test it, but do not buy any chemicals they recommend. Post the results here.
Use liquid chlorine, either from a pool store or 6% regular bleach to chlorinate the pool. Use The Pool Calculator to determine how much chlorine you need.
Similar threads
