Balancing pool chemistry in the jungle

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vincent

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Jan 31, 2008
109
Malaysia
Hi everybody,
I'm trying to balance my pool chemistry in the "jungle". We got 3 pool shop here but none of them stock on CYA or Sodium Bicarbonate. Some doesn't even know what they are. Nobody use them here because none of them know how. Thus it's just like having a pool deep in the jungle.
Fill my new pool with drinkable pipe water, add salt to 3800 ppm and on the pump. Initially, run autochlorinator for 4 hrs daily at 30% and water turn green after week. Superchlor it and it's now clear (the last 1 month). My test shows FC 0.2, ph 8.2, TA 30, but AD at 0. Thus I suspect my 4 in 1 kit is fooling me around (for your info, that's the only test kit in town except 2 in 1). Did send an Mayday SOS to Dave and hopefully, he or others can assist.
My FC at 0.2 mg/l, is it the same as 0.2ppm? I called heaps of pool shop in Kuala Lumpur ,our capital city (about 2 hrs by air from here) enquiring about CYA and they can only offer me something which they called 90% or 70% Chlorine. Is that what I need when I already have a SWG? I manage to get some Sodium Bicrbonate from school lab supplier that says "for lab use only, not for consumption". Is it safe for pool?
I hope all you experts out there can help me out.
Thanks.
 
Sodium bicarbonate is baking soda, although it may have another common name in your part of the world.

The CYA or cyanuric acid may be called stabilizer/stabiliser depending on your version of English. If you can't find it directly, you may be able to purchase trichlor or dichlor, which are chlorine products in the form of pucks that contain CYA.

Your 0.2mg/L is 0.2ppm, which is too low to keep the water safe and clear. Probably because you don't have stabilizer in the water. I recommend you keep boosting it with shock, preferably a dichlor or trichlor shock that will raise your stabilizer level at the same time.

Good luck.
 
Finally got some info from the pool store. They carry Calcium Hypo 65% granular and Trichloroisocyanuric Acid 99% in 200g tablet (available chlorine 90%). Considering my pool usage of 2 person an hour/day max, how much Trichlor will be needed to sufficiently accumulate enough CYA of maybe 70ppm? Each tablet cost RM8.00 (US$2.42) and if I have to order cyanuric acid from Australia it would cost about about US$50.00 for 2 kg including freight. On the costing side of it, how long will each tablet last?
The other chemical they carry are Lifestyle ph Up and ph Minus (Australian brand), Soda Ash and dry acid.
For your info, I'm in contact with Dave and he should be sending me a TF100 soon.

Thanks.

Vincent
 
It takes 1.8 lbs of trichlor (Trichloroisocyanuric Acid) to get the same CYA level as 1 lb of stabilizer (CYA). I don't remember you mentioning the size of the pool, so I can't tell you how much you would need in total, but that would be 10.5 lbs for each 10,000 gallons of water to go from zero to 70 ppm. That will also raise FC by 115, so this is not something you want to do all at once. You can use my Pool Calculator, see the link in my signature, to make this kind of calculation, see the "Effects of adding chemicals" section near the bottom.

The trichlor tablets take one to three days to dissolve, depending on the water temperature and how long the pump is running. They are also fairly acidic, so you will need to keep an eye on the PH and adjust as needed. You don't want to put trichlor in the skimmer unless the pump is running 24/7.
 
Thanks Jason for your help. Yes, your Pool Calculator speaks tonnes.
My SWG runs 2 hrs evening and 2 hrs at dawn. Water turn over every 3 hrs pumping. Balancing tank system, waterfall one end, overflow the other end. Before running SWG and after running results are: FC 0 & 1, CC ?&?, ph 8.2 & 8.2, TA 60 & 60, Acid demand 0 & 0, CYA ? & ? (belief to be 0 as new pool with tap water), CH ? & ?, Salt 4000ppm. I am a bit suspicious of my test kit on the ph and acid demand results but hopefully Dave can get me the TF100 to confirm. I cannot measure my CYA, CC, CH without a better test kit. Obviously I need to adjust my CYA with Trichlor, TA with Baking Soda and maybe ph. But can you advice on which to correct first and what would be the ideal reading for my following conditions?
Climate - equatorial (hot and humid) 31 degree C, whole pool (40X8X3"3) under shed and receiving direct sunlight only during early morning and late afternoon on a quarter of the pool. My SWG (meant for up to 80,000 lit pool) runs at 60% 4 hrs daily. Would you suggest I switch the SWG off during the application of Trichlor or just run it at lower output. I intend to dangle my Trichlor over my waterfall (is it OK?) After balancing the above , would I still need Baking Soda and CYA in the near future? Buying in loose quantity is very expensive here (3-4 times higher) but if not used, it'd still be wasted.
Thanks for all your help.
Vincent.
 
The SWG isn't going to be able to keep up without any CYA in the water. That is why the FC level is so low. When you get some CYA in the water you will be able to lower the percentage on the SWG.

It is important to keep control of the PH. Ideally it should be between 7.4 and 7.5,but 7.2-7.8 is acceptable. High PH can cause calcium scaling and other problems. With a SWG the most important number to keep an eye on is PH.

CYA levels only change slowly, mostly from splash out. With a SWG and waterfall the PH will tend to constantly increase. You can minimize this by keeping the TA low, which it is currently, and by running the PH a little higher than normal, say 7.6-7.8. TA will drift down but probably only slowly.

When adding trichlor you will want to turn the SWG off so the FC level doesn't get too high and you will need to keep an eye on the PH and increase it as needed. The PH is currently high and the trichlor will bring it down slowly but you don't want the PH getting too low.

Most of the chemicals will keep for years if you keep them from getting too hot and they are reasonably dry.
 
Thanks Jason,
I will be collecting the Trichlor and Sodium bicarbonate today. Though The Sodium Bicarbonate isn't priority, I'll collect it due to limited supply. I will keep as closely as what all the TFP gurus recomended. The good news is, if everything goes well, I should be getting my TF100 mid March as Dave said it'll take 10 days flying half the Earth. By then you'll here more from me with more test readings.
Thanks again all you out there.
Vincent.
 
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