Adding CYA and Calcium

[vincent]

Greetings.

My new pool after filling with pipe water over Christmas now tested CH 60, CYA 0, ph7.8, TA80, FC2, CC0.5.

I have a few questions:

1) As my only source of CYA is from Trichlor and Calcium from Cal-hypo. I have switched my SWG off (for the time being until my CYA and CH are up normal). Both contain CL and both take time to bring the CYA and CH up. Which of the two should I bring up first or should I apply both.

2) Though my SWG is off but still connected to the plumbing, would there be any effect on the cells running on Trichlor and Cal-hypo over more than 6 months (that's the time frame needed to bring up CYA and CH). For your info, the nearest known source (to me) for Stabilizer and Calcium (for pool use) is Australia and it will take months to ship.

3) I sure read something about Cal-Hypo application somewhere in this forum but couldn't find it now, can someone point it out for me?

Thanks.

Vincent.

 

[JasonLion]

Your calcite saturation index is around -0.5, which is low but acceptable. As long as you keep the PH at 7.6 or higher (but not too high) you won't have an immediate problem with the CH level. Raising CYA seems more important.

The SWG cell will be fine. Don't worry about it at all.

I believe that it is best to pre-dissolve cal-hypo in a bucket and the pour the bucket slowly around the edge of the pool.

 

[chem geek]

For a concrete & tiled pool such as yours, it is very important that you add more calcium to the water right away and Cal-Hypo will take too long to do that. You should buy some Calcium Chloride to increase Calcium Hardness at least to 200 ppm (I'd stop there and see how other water parameters pan out since you can always increase this easily, but reducing CH requires dilution).

As for the CYA, you do want some in the water and have several options for that. You can use the Trichlor you have, but recognize that initially you may need to supplement it (you can use Cal-Hypo for that -- just keep track of how much you add) since it dissolves slowly and until you get more CYA in the water the chlorine will breakdown quickly in sunlight.

If you want to get the CYA up more quickly, then you can buy it directly. If you can't, but want to raise the CYA faster, you can use Dichlor instead of Trichlor since Dichlor is a fast-dissolving powder and adds more CYA per chlorine that it adds.

The rules-of-thumb to remember are:
For every 10 ppm FC added by Trichlor, it also adds 6 ppm to CYA.
For every 10 ppm FC added by Dichlor, it also adds 9 ppm to CYA.
For every 10 ppm FC added by Cal-Hypo, it also adds 7 ppm to CH.

As for how to distribute Cal-Hypo, it is best to pre-dissolve it in a bucket of pool water and then distribute it either around the pool or you can pour slowly over a return flow, preferably at the deep end. If you notice any granules settling to the bottom of the pool, you'll want to sweep those with a brush (pre-dissolving should prevent that).

Richard

 

[chem geek]

Your calcite saturation index is around -0.3, which is fairly good. As long as you keep the PH at 7.6 or higher (but not too high) you won't have an immediate problem with the CH level. Raising CYA seems more important.

The SWG cell will be fine. Don't worry about it at all.

I believe that it is best to pre-dissolve cal-hypo in a bucket and the pour the bucket slowly around the edge of the pool.

Jason is correct if you haven't added any salt yet to the pool. Otherwise, the saturation index will be lower. Even if you've already got salt in the pool, the saturation index is around -0.6 so not something to panic about. I assumed the index would be lower, but when I ran the numbers I see it's not a disaster.

I'm guessing Jason's right and I was incorrect in assuming you've already added salt since you said you just refilled with water. Sorry about that. That's why it's good to have more than one of us reading posts so we can read everything correctly.

Richard

 

[vincent]

Thnaks guys for the advices. Oh....my apology for the confussion. I did not posted enough info for your comment.

I filled pipe water (CH40) over Christmas and shortly after, added salt to 3500ppm and get my SWG running. I started with a 4in1 test kit which never mention anything about CYA, CH, CSI etc. I searched the net and found some site giving advices but very limited info, until I came across TFP. Thus started my quest to bring my pool chemistry to blance. Dave is kind enough to go off his usual routine to get me the TF100. Did my first TF100 test and found the two offsets. Thus I went about getting them up. By the way, since my pool is under shed, I don't have much problem with lossing CL to sun as long as I got 3 ppm from evening which should last 24 hrs but at the expense of my SWG. I cannot risk my SWG failure as I can only get it serviced in Australia.

Hi Richard, the apology is on me. The only practical source of pool Calcium and CYA will be Australia which is 8 hours flight. I can only get chemical laboratory grade substitute here and not knowing what else they contain. No Dichlor available here.

All my figures are very consistent over the 3 months except CH and CYA which I've only done last week. Accoring to the Jason's pool calculator, I should be getting close to 20 CYA next week when I've finished 1200g (42oz) Trichlor.

Thnaks again for the lifeline of my pool.

Vincent.

 

[duraleigh]

Hi, Vincent,

I want to let you and everyone on this forum know how impressed I am with your dedication to your pool water. Despite some true hardships that would've caused most of us to give up, you have stuck with it and, it seems, are on your way to really taking care of your pool.

I am so impressed with how carefully you listen and understand the advice given and, especially, how you are able to adapt your new found knowledge to your very difficult situation.

If this forum had a "Most Dedicated Pool Owner" award, I'd bet you would win it. Very nice work!! :lol: :lol:

 

[Butterfly]

Hi, Vincent,

I want to let you and everyone on this forum know how impressed I am with your dedication to your pool water. Despite some true hardships that would've caused most of us to give up, you have stuck with it and, it seems, are on your way to really taking care of your pool.

I am so impressed with how carefully you listen and understand the advice given and, especially, how you are able to adapt your new found knowledge to your very difficult situation.

If this forum had a "Most Dedicated Pool Owner" award, I'd bet you would win it. Very nice work!! :lol: :lol:

Vincent, I totally agree with Dave! You have/had an awsome task and you are winning!!!! We are following your posts and are proud of you. Here's another vote for the "Most Dedicated Pool Owner" award for you! :-D

Please keep us updated and, one day, we know you'll post some pics for us!

 

[vincent]

Thanks Dave and Joyce, you are softening my heart with your kind words. I will stick to all the good advices I get fromTFP.

Everytime I visit the few pool shops here asking them for this and that which they cannot supply and some neither heard of, they ask me where I learn all these things. I replied" I am only a infant student but I got hundreds of gurus" (fromTFP).

Cheers.

Vincent.