Another Newbie! First Pool and First Full Test

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Yeah, you don't need everything quite as precise as you seem to be shooting for. You could lower the pH if you like but I wouldn't (until it got to 8.0 which then becomes out of normal range). 7.2 - 7.8 is normal so just monitor it a little more carefully as it hovers around 7.8 and, if it's convenient or if it goes to 8.0, bring it down.

There are instructions in the kit to test for FC in .5ppm increments which will save some money on reagents but I certainly don't mind that you are testing in .2ppm increments, either..........I'll have two in college next year and will need all the refill orders I can get!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

How does your water look?
 
duraleigh said:
Yeah, you don't need everything quite as precise as you seem to be shooting for. You could lower the pH if you like but I wouldn't (until it got to 8.0 which then becomes out of normal range). 7.2 - 7.8 is normal so just monitor it a little more carefully as it hovers around 7.8 and, if it's convenient or if it goes to 8.0, bring it down.

There are instructions in the kit to test for FC in .5ppm increments which will save some money on reagents but I certainly don't mind that you are testing in .2ppm increments, either..........I'll have two in college next year and will need all the refill orders I can get!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

How does your water look?
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Sounds good. I've been using .2 just to try and get more precise measurements as I try to get it where it needs to be. I also understand I only need 1 scoop of powder, as long as the water turns pink.

Water looks great! Hoping to spend the day outside when I get in from church. We'll be grilling burgers and chilling out -- that's all that's on the agenda today! :)
 
RAILhead,

When you do lower your pH, put in target of 7.2 not just 7.5. The reason is the TA is a little high, and dropping to 7.2 will help this come down some. Only do this if you keep seeing the pH going up all the time, if it remains stable you can leave the TA there, all pools have a personality and like them at different levels.
Most of the time when TA are too high the pH tends to not hold and swing back up, when the TA gets in your sweet spot for your pool the pH will settle in and stay consistent.
I was at 120 TA and pH swinging up every 5 days or so, used the calculator to keep lowering my pH to 7.2 when it would get up to 8.0.
Once I got the pH down with MA, I would aerate the water (pointed the return eyeball up to splash the surface) to bring it back up to 7,5 to 7.6 range and then watch and see if my pH kept going up.
When I got my TA down to 90 for my pool the pH stayed pegged at a constant 7.5 to 7.6.
 
Day 2 of my BBB, and I'm pleased to report my chlorine level is DEAD ON! :) This morning's numbers:

FC: 7
CC: less than .5
pH: 7.8
TA: 130
CH: 230
CY: 60

All numbers remained the same after we spent about 3 hours in the pool yesterday afternoon. Pool Calc showed I needed to add 7 oz of chlorine at 6:30 last night to get me back to 7ppm, so that's what I did.

We're leaving town from tomorrow until Friday late afternoon. What should I do to prep the pool while we're gone? Should I go ahead and turn on the chlorinator just a smidge to maintain chlorine? The forecast is showing it'll be mild with 20-30% chance of rain while we're gone -- but this is South Texas, so who knows what will really happen!

Thanks!
Maury
 
Okay, I back into town today, and it's been raining her alike crazy while we were gone. Anyway, here are the numbers:

FC: 5
pH: 8.+
TA: 130
CH: 220

My FC level held pretty well, but I went ahead and added the amount of bleach the pool calc said to use. My pH seems to want to continue to climb, though, and it looks like I need to hit it with acid tomorrow.

Thoughts?
 
Okay, got the acid from the pool store and got it put in to bring the pH to where the pool calc said I should (7.5). It was only 12oz, and it looks like the consensus is to wait 2-4 hours and retest, letting the pool cycle the whole time -- so I'll check again in 4 hours.

The bleach I added last night brought me dead-on to 7ppm FC. I'm still in the honeymoon stage of the BBB method, but I LOVE seeing results nailed! I also have my brother getting ready to start doing his pool this way. :)

My CH is still low (210), so once I get the pH back to where it needs to be, should I move on to addressing that issue immediately?
 
should I move on to addressing that issue immediately?
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CH at 210 is certainly not an emegency so I wouldn't be in a hurry. sometime in the next couple of weeks is actually just fine.

I would rather see you continue to tweak pH (if needed) and then once you are comfortable with managing your pH as well as you're doing with FC, then I would bring the CH up to around 250....max 300

Very nice work so far! :goodjob: :goodjob:
 
duraleigh said:
should I move on to addressing that issue immediately?
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CH at 210 is certainly not an emegency so I wouldn't be in a hurry. sometime in the next couple of weeks is actually just fine.

I would rather see you continue to tweak pH (if needed) and then once you are comfortable with managing your pH as well as you're doing with FC, then I would bring the CH up to around 250....max 300

Very nice work so far! :goodjob: :goodjob:
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Sounds good to me! Thanks for the help and support. Also, thanks for the quick shipping -- I'm Maury that's ordered a couple/few things from you the last couple of weeks. :) My SpeedStir was waiting for me when I got back into town, and it makes testing a LOT easier!
 

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The Fishing sure has been good around here! :cool: Got another one hooked and another biting! :wink:
See... it's not all that hard, just in the beginning. :)
The TF-100 kits are just great! No more pool store testing for me since I got mine! :whoot:

Chuck
 
All is still going well! Last night, I had to add 7.5oz of bleach and 6oz of acid to get the FC and pH where they're supposed to be. I waited 30 minutes or so between doses so as to avoid a chemical reaction (though in such small quantities, I don't know how necessary it is to wait). This had led me to the following question(s):

1. FC and pH should be checked daily, correct? Did some of you maybe start checking every other day or so once your pool got normalized/"seasoned-in"? I'm not trying to get out of anything by any means -- just thinking about maintenance/reagent costs, and wondering if daily checking is overkill if the FC and pH swing is minimal over a couple of days.
2. We got a HUGE amount of rain over the last 2 days, and my CYA dropped from 60 to just under 55. I checked it twice, and I got the same result. Can a good, solid, heavy rain have that much of an impact? I didn't think it could...
 
RAILhead said:
1. FC and pH should be checked daily, correct? Did some of you maybe start checking every other day or so once your pool got normalized/"seasoned-in"? I'm not trying to get out of anything by any means -- just thinking about maintenance/reagent costs, and wondering if daily checking is overkill if the FC and pH swing is minimal over a couple of days.
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Once you have a feel for your pool you are then in the best position to judge how often you check. Some can get it down to 1-2 times a week, with more attention when it is hot, it rains, or high swimmer load occurs (this is my method). That is the beauty of having the ability to test what you want when you want, you learn your pool and get control and understand how it "behaves". Charting your pools results can sometimes help you understand the trends, etc.

RAILhead said:
2. We got a HUGE amount of rain over the last 2 days, and my CYA dropped from 60 to just under 55. I checked it twice, and I got the same result. Can a good, solid, heavy rain have that much of an impact? I didn't think it could...
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A change of 5 ppm is hard to resolve using the test, so might be test variability (brightness, exact dilution, etc.). I would not worry about now. 5 ppm would be a large change just due to rain. On my pool that would require about a 5 inch rain with no overflow.
 
Thanks, Linen! You confirmed my understanding that it would take a significant amount of rain to dilute CYA. I didn't think to hit the Pool Calc before posting, but it looks like I'd have to replace about 770 gallons to drop 5ppm. That's a LOT of rain! :)
 
George N said:
RAILhead, you are welcome to the 3.5 inches we've had here in the last week :)

Just glad i decided to wait before bringing my salt, borates and CYA up to specs.
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Oh man, the weather has been KILLER for us! Our pool install was part of a larger remodel, and our back yard looks like a HUUUUGE mud pit. We're getting a new fence put up, and it's just slop out there. We also have to get landscaping and sprinkler system parts moved around. We have anywhere from 1 to 4 inches of standing water on top of mud/clay from two days ago. -- we need a dry spell just so I can get the backyard back to normal, haha! :-D
 

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