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mcelaine

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Jul 2, 2011
65
China Grove, NC
I bought the TF-100 test kit and the Speed Stir and Salt Test Strips
CL 0 no change water was still clear
BR 0 no change
PH 7.5 or 7.8
used R870 1 heaping scoop no change said it would turn pink
R003 added according to inst. no change water still clear
FC0
Alkalinity Test added 2 drops 0007 no change, added 0008 -5 drops changed to green then added 0009 and turned it pink with 10 drops
added 3 more drops still pink. But a dark pink was supposed to be red. (Maybe that is what the red is supposed to look like.

Salt strips 5.8

I added a bottle of 6% bleach about an hour ago, AFTER these test results.
I also purchased 20 mule team Borax as suggested for the BBB

Any recommendations on what to do next? I have looked at the Pool Calculator. (And I have never been good in Chemistry classes! :hammer: )

Thanks,
Elaine


Above Ground
18X33X52 17,000+ water
Sand Filter 19" filter with 100lbs of sand
1 HP high flow pump
Intex SWG Model CS8110

17,000+ water
 
I did test the CYA, I forgot to add that. I followed the directions in the kit but the black dot did not completely go away. Half of the dot was gone with the first amount of chemicals but I kept adding until the tube was filled but there was no change in the black dot from the beginning.

Typically how much bleach should be added? 2 gallons? I read that the only way to lower it once it was to high was by adding more water, but how much does it take to actually show an improvement. The whole pool is in direct sunlight until 5pm.
 
IF you were filling the tube with a mixture of half pool water and half R-0013, and you could still see the dot looking directly in the top of the tube, then you have very little CYA. Is that how you were doing it?

Go to the Pool Calc and enter your latest test numbers in the now column and then setup your pool at the bottom and go back up and look at the suggested range and shoot for the middle of the range and put that in the target column.
 
I did every test in the TF100. I feel like I am in high school chemistry again and I am still flunking it!

As I was following the directions on the box I was also reading this extended-test-kit-directions-t25081.html
CL 0
BR 0
PH 7.8
FAS/DPD added heaping scoop no change, added another heaping scoop no change since the color was unchanged I did not add the R0871
TA 90
Hardness 90 (20 drops of R0010, 5drops R0011L turned pink added R0012 10 drops turned blue
CYA The above site links to another page http://www.taylortechnologies.com/Chemi ... ntentID=44 it says when mixed it should be cloudy. It was not.
No change with the black dot.

I am wondering if I should just take a sample of the water to a pool place and buy some chemicals to get it started toward becoming correct?
 
No need to get the water tested at the pool store...that's what the TF100 is for :goodjob:

You have no chlorine in your water. Also your CYA is zero. If manually chlorinated add enough CYA/stabilzer to raise CYA to 30ppm or 60-70 if this is a SWG pool. You should add some chlorine tonight to raise FC to about 3ppm.

You can use poolcalculator.com to estimate dosages :goodjob:
 
Thanks!! So if I am reading the calculator correctly, I will need to add 353 oz of liquid stabilizer
136 oz by weight or 142 by volume

I read that the solid would take a week to dissolve so I think liquid will be the way to go. (The pool has been sitting there waiting for me to swim in it for almost 2 weeks now! :D
It has only taken 17 years to talk hubby into it!

Nice Dale Earnhardt Jr Avatar! :party:
 
Your testing is just fine :goodjob:

You can ignore the BR on the OTO test kit. That is for bromine and you run a chlorine pool.

I suggest you retest FC/CC since you now have chlorine in your pool.
Make sure you do not need to shock before you add all that CYA.

353 ozs of liquid stabilizer will raise your CYA to about 60.

How does your water look?

Welcome to the forum :wave:
 
My pool water looks fine. We haven't really even finished it yet. Hubby decided if I was going to have an AG pool, he would put it in the ground. Now we are waiting for the dirt to settle around it to put a concrete deck around it. I thought I would need to check the water before I put anything in it. We had the water brought in on a truck, and added about 3-4 inches from our well.

Should I shock it first? It has been up about 12 days with water in it. The only thing I have put in it is 6% bleach, three 96oz bottles. I was planning to get some stabilizer tomorrow. I have 8 pages that I copied and pasted from this site. I have been trying to read everything I can find.

I was going to hire someone to do the chemicals, but hubby said if he could put the pool up and get it in the ground I should be able to do the chemicals myself! lol (I have thought about sneaking a pool guy over when he wasn't at home! :) )
 

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Welcome to TFP!

You're off to a great start. You have a proper test kit, have done some testing and have not dumped a bunch of useless stuff into the pool that the pool store sold you. Good Job!

I don't think it's necessary to shock the pool just yet. I would recommend doing an overnight chlorine loss test (OCLT) tonight. To do that you take an FC reading before you go to bed and take another one when you wake up tomorrow, preferrably before the sun hits the pool. If you do not lose anymore than 1ppm of FC overnight, you have less than .5ppm CC, and your water is clear, there's no need to shock.

If you're OK with the OCLT, then you can add the stablizer and work on getting your ph down a bit. It's on the high side. Then you can work on getting the salt in the pool and get the SWG working.

You're almost there. Good luck!
 
You do NOT need a pool boy, you have us. And you have you. And you have this pool you have wanted for so long. Yeah! You've done well to be adding some chlorine during this time, it may be that you have no lurking algae.
Your testing was good, like we expect for fresh water.
I found the Stabilizer & Conditioner sold at Walmart was easy to dissolve and far cheaper than liquid. Just put into an old Knee Hi and tie off in front of a return.
 
You're getting good advice, so I'll just echo what they're saying. Use bleach to keep some FC in there. Buy some stabilizer, either liquid or granular will work but liquid is a lot more expensive, so it's up to you if you want to spend the extra to have it now! Once you put enough FC to get to 3 ppm go ahead and add the CYA.

When I put your numbers in the Pool Calc I get that you need to add:
3 quarts of bleach
10 lbs of CYA (stabilizer, Cyanuric Acid)

Your salt level sounds a little high but it's hard to tell without the table comparison off the bottle. Go ahead and post the salt number for us.
 
Thanks, guys! The salt at 5.8 is 2150, I think that is low, too. One of the pages I copied off of this site says around 3000. So basically, I need to keep testing the Chlorine in the water until I get it high enough. Then put the stabilizer in the pool to keep it there. I didn't get the overnight OCLT, the sun was shining on the pool at 8:15 when I got up. :sleep: I will get up earlier tomorrow!

I have a wedding to shoot today, so charging batteries and packing up equipment. I am going to try to get to the store first and get some bleach (I am out!) and pour some in before I leave for the wedding. (1:30) Right now we have a beautiful yard of wet red dirt all around the pool!

I am going to do my best to get this water fixed this weekend!

We have had the pump running almost continuously let me know if that is bad. I have only set the salt water generator one time for 11 hours. I'm not sure if that was right or not. I thought the pump needed to be run to stir up the bleach we have been adding. :roll:

Thanks!!!
Elaine
 
2150 for the salt is too low. You need at least 3000 ppm. The pool Calc can figure that for you too. looks like you need 3 more bags.

Running the pump continously is fine. You really only need about an hour of run time after adding chems, but you'll need about 8 hours total per day to keep the pool clear. Unless your swg requires more time to make the correct amount of FC. You'll adjust that once you get everything running.
 
<Cringe> :oops: I just got back from Walmart, ( no makeup something I never do!) and I was thinking I needed 3 more of the 3qt bleach. I bought the 182 oz bottles this time. I put one in then looked in the filter thing on the side of the pool. It had a dead frog at the bottom and another trying to get out of the top, his foot was stuck! (Last week Hubby said there must not be enough bleach or we wouldn't have frogs trying to get in and swim.) After seeing Mr Frog I put a second bottle in and a bag of salt. I was up to my ankles in red mud, and had to use a couple of the walmart bags over my feet to get the car back in the garage. :( Called Hubby to get someone to come over and get the frogs out. (He has gone to his hunting land to get it ready.) He wanted ME to get them out! I told him that wasn't happening!

Now to get ready for the wedding that is an hour away! But I bet I get a Chlorine reading tonight! :mrgreen:

The pool is starting to look cloudy on one end, and has dirt on the bottom. I bought the Wanda the whale thing to clean it with but it was just delivered yesterday. I did buy shock and stabilizer while I was at Walmart. (The granulated Stabilizer.)

I couldn't find the Arm and Hammer stuff so I bought a bottle of PH up and a bottle of PH down.
 
The good news is that you only raised your FC up to shock level. Bleach is all you need for shock so you can take the other back if you want. As for the pH up & down you'll probably never need one or the other of them (most likely the "pH up") but you'll have them around if you do.
 
Thank you, Dave!! I admit I was a bit worried about that! But kept thinking the sun would take care of it! Thanks for letting me know! I also have 2 of the 20 Mule team Borax 4lb boxes. Should I take one of them back? I also got a large package of Baking Soda while I was at Walmart. (Big bag by the pool supplies) I doubt if I will be home in time to test the water tonight. Maybe though if it isn't too dark!
 
If you have 20/20 mule team and baking soda... you can take the ph up back as well. Muriatic acid will lower ph, perhaps consider using that instead of the ph down. Be aware that the powdered shock product has CYA in it. So, if you add the CYA, and then use the powdered shock product you'll be adding even more CYA to the pool. Bleach is the only "shock product" you need and it adds nothing but chlorine and a residual bit of salt (about 5ppm per every 4 cups).
 

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