What BBB Chemicals needed to get started

[bpier962]

Hi, After 7 years as a pool owner I have just now found your site. I am so interested in switching to a BBB system pool I am almost salavating.

I think I have wasted lots of money at the pool store. I need to get a good test kit because mine is just one of the cheap little ones. The one thing I have not been able to find is while I am waiting for a test kit to be shipped to me what chemicals and what quantities should I purchase to have on hand once I get the test kit in hand.

At this time I have some fairly clear water, but I have algea growing on the sides of my pool. I have to brush the sides every other day to keep it down. I have not teted my water in about a month so right now while I am at work I can not give you any idea what the chemisty looks like. I will post it as soon as I get home this evening and take what tests I can.

I guess I will stop and buy some bleach on the way home. Is there anything else I should get now or wait until I get a better idea of what the chemistry is.

I look forward to participating on the board and learnig what it really takes to have a nice pool. Not sure if there is enough information to get a good answer yet, but I will give more information as I get it. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[BBBliever]

Welcome to TFP. Your pool will be better than ever soon. Hard to know what you will need without accurate test results from one of our recommended test kits. My guess with your algae situation is your CYA is high in relation to your chlorine level. A partial drain/refill may be your first order of business with a proper shock process. Again, all spectulation without the test kit.

Don't waste your time with pool store testing. They told me my CYA was 30 ppm when I knew it was 60 ppm. The CYA test can be difficult to read the first few times unless your CYA is high al yours likely is. CYA above 60 pam becomes easier to distiguish, I would not be suprised if yours was above 100 ppm. How have you been chlorinating and when was your last drain/refill.

Post back with full test results. Use pool school along with the pool calculator and we will be here to help.

 

[frogabog]

Hi, and Welcome to TFP!

You're our kinda peep :~}

If you can tell us a little more about how you've been caring for the pool, what products you've added and when, and any prior test results you remember that will help a lot till your kit comes in. You could also take the water to a pool store for a free test but their results will not be as accurate as yours will be. Sometimes they're so far off a test strip could do better!

An idea of CYA level is very helpful though as you obviously have an algae bloom and need to shock your pool. But it's hard to know what level chlorine you'll need without that CYA value (your history may tell us more than any pool store result, so go ahead and tell your pool story). It sounds like you've read some of pool school, so prepare for maintaining a certain shock level till the process is complete. Your kit will facilitate that well.

If you've been using pucks or shock powder products, prepare for the possibility of a partial drain and refill before you shock. This will save you chlorine and money if the CYA is very high.

For the moment, there's probably nothing more than bleach that you need, how much is hard to know w/o the CYA value but picking up 15-20 bottles wouldn't be a bad start. You'll want to check and adjust pH if needed (7.2 for shocking) but test it before you go buy anything to adjust it with. Chances are you have something available already.

 

[bpier962]

So I just got home a few minutes ago and went and took some tests with my Walmart HTH test kit and these are the results I got.

TC - 5 - only have an OTO test
Ph - 7.0
TA - 140
TH - 40 tester says hardness indicator and hardness titrante
CYA - 30

I was expecting a higher CYA from what I have read here on TFP. I see that my TA is high and needs to be lowered. TC is high because yesterday after scrubbing sides I put about 5 pounds of powdered shock into the pool, though I know that TC is really not a good indicator of what is going on. Do pool stores sell chemicals for FC and CC? Or do I just have to wait until I get my TF -100 kit? Does TF Kits ship on saturday, or will mine not ship until Monday? Any help with where I should start to go BBB from where I am now will be extremely appreciated. :-D

As I said in my earlier post, water is almost crystal clear but have algea on sides. Also should probably mention that up until now I have been using 3" tablets to chlorinate the pool.

 

[BBBliever]

Those results sound great. That would be an easy pool to maintain.

Are you sure you performed the CYA test right. 30 ppm sounds low for a pool that has used powdered shock and chlorine tablets.

When was your last drain/refill?

Do you know about how much chlorine product you have put in your pool? If so you can calculate CYA on the pool calculator to double check you CYA results. The CYA/Chlorine relationship is key to an algae free pool.

According to the pool calculator 15 lbs of trichlor would have raised your CYA to 30 ppm.

 

[bpier962]

Not sure about the CYA test. I only have the kit from walmart for now and it only has enough chemicals for 2 CYA tests. I will preform another tomorrow. Everything I have read on here says that to have that algea growing on the sides it seems like the CYA should be high. The other question I have is the hardness. The test I did said about 40. Is this possible. I will do all the tests again tomorrow and see what they say. From what I read I should raise this up, though that probably isn't contributing to the algea problem.

 

[BBBliever]

The CYA test is very subjective. Read the extended test kit directions for tips to get more reliable results.

Retest and post results for both pool and fill water. Also if you can let us know the pools history/chemical consumption it will help us advise you.

I would not make any big chemical adjustment until you are sure of the test results.

 

[anonapersona]

You have a DE filter, how much does the water level of the pool drop when you backwash? How often do you backwash? A lot of water replacement would lead to lower than expected CYA levels. Water replacement can also occur over winter if the pool gets a lot of rain or snow that is not shed off of a cover. This combined with a short swim season so that not a lot of tablets are used in total could all work to explain such a perfect CYA level. Or a testing error, or old reagents.

 

[frogabog]

Make sure you let the CYA test mix for at least 30 seconds if not 45 seconds. It is a turbidity test. The nice thing about the CYA test is that you can redo it many times with the same sample. Just pour it back into the bottle, and then do the test again. Take two out of three, or whatever makes you comfortable.

Do it with your back to the sun, and hold the test at waist level. Pour till the dot is completely obscured.

The extended test directions will be with your new kit, but you can view them online at http://tftestkits.net right now.

 

[duraleigh]

Does TF Kits ship on saturday, or will mine not ship until Monday?

It will ship Monday. FedEx and UPS have no collection mechanism over the weekend and, while the Post Office is open Saturday AM, we have learned over the years that a package or letter taken to the PO on Saturday goes nowhere all weekend (Except for Express Mail) and is processed Monday afternoon.