My New Pool

[brajgreg]

I just moved into a house and it has a pool. I've been around pools all my life, but I've also never lived in Texas so I think there are some new things I have to learn. I'm new to these boards, so I'll take any advice anyone can give me. I just did my first test with a new Taylor K-2006 test, and here are my results.

FC = 2.0 ppm
CC = 0.2 ppm
PH = 7.0 (took me about 12 drops to get up to 7.6)
TA = 70-80
CYA > 100..... not too thrilled about this.

I'm assuming the first thing I need to do is drain out some of my water to get rid of some of this CYA. As you can see, this pool came with the in-line chlorine feeder using the 3" trichlor tablets.

I will probably just start using bleach, but I guess I'm looking for a plan of action. Drain first, but I didn't even make it up to the 100 mark, soooooooo is this as bad as I think it is?

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome

Well you got a good kit so that is

And you seem to have some understanding of the chems.

Try using a 50/50 mix of pool water and tap water in the CYA test and then double the result. Odds are you may be well above 100ppm and require a significant water change.

Replacing the water would be step 1 as there is not point adding chemicals for you to just pump out to waste.

 

[linen]

Welcome to tfp, brajgreg

I agree with dealing with the cya first. Do the dilution test jbliz suggested and post your results.

 

[brajgreg]

I just did the test, and I'm getting a reading of 70-80 now with the tapwater mixed in. I suppose that's about a 140-160 (depending on the tap water's CYA levels). Looks like I'll drain some water...

:x

 

[linen]

Yeah a drain and refill would be in your best interest. Do you know how high your water table is? If it is high, you run the risk of popping your pool if you lower the level too much.

 

[brajgreg]

Um. No I don't really know. I live just outside of Houston, TX. How can I find out this information?

 

[brajgreg]

Also, do I need to be checking the cartridge on my filter? This is my first pool that I am taking care of exclusively, and I'm not familiar with cartridge cleaning.

And once I get the CYA in check, what is the most important value to get right after that? PH? TA? FC? CC? I've been reading through the forums, and sometimes people say attack PH first, but it appears others sometimes say get the TA right... Maybe it just depends on my test results after the CYA fix?

 

[linen]

I am not very familiar with gunite pools, but do you know if yours has a hydrostatic valve?

When you dig into the ground how far down before you hit water? Do you have a sump pump, how often does it run?

 

[jblizzle]

The most important things after knowing your CYA level is maintaining the appropriate FC level for the CYA and keeping the pH in the 7s. TA buffers pH and can be adjusted later. CH needs to be in range to avoid long term plaster damage, but it will not cause immediate problems for you.

 

[brajgreg]

I am not very familiar with gunite pools, but do you know if yours has a hydrostatic valve?

When you dig into the ground how far down before you hit water? Do you have a sump pump, how often does it run?

I don't know if there is a hydrostatic valve, and I am pretty positive there is no sump pump. And I've never tried to dig around here so I'm not sure how long it takes to get to water. I'm actually from TN all my life, and have only been living here for about 8 months. I drained it down pretty low last night, and now I'm filling it up again. I probably lowered the level >60% but I did get a little worried about problems with the water table because I just don't know around here. Everything appears to be ok, though.

 

[brajgreg]

I'm going to go get some bleach after work today and put it in the pool. Does anyone know about the new high-efficiency stuff? There have been times at my local store when I went there and that's the only type of unscented bleach that's been on the shelf. It's got more thickness to it, but I guess I should just look for the percentage of sodium hypochlorite in it? I didn't know if there were other additives in the HE bleach that could cause a problem.

 

[jblizzle]

I would probably avoid it as something in it had to thicken it.

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone

 

[Bama Rambler]

Here's a list of ingredients that make up at least 1% of the compound in descending order.

Water
Sodium hypochlorite
Sodium chloride
Cetyl betaine
Sodium carbonate
Sodium hydroxide
Sodium polyacrylate
Sodium xylene sulfonate

You can find this on Clorox's site.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

If you drained 60% you'll probably be fine now. Your CYA may end up a little higher than we generally recommend, but as long as it's below 80 or so you can easily manage it.

 

[Ashbourne]

Also, do I need to be checking the cartridge on my filter? This is my first pool that I am taking care of exclusively, and I'm not familiar with cartridge cleaning.

And once I get the CYA in check, what is the most important value to get right after that? PH? TA? FC? CC? I've been reading through the forums, and sometimes people say attack PH first, but it appears others sometimes say get the TA right... Maybe it just depends on my test results after the CYA fix?

I don't think you have a cartridge filter, you have a DE filter, correct? You may or may not need to clean and/or add DE to it at certain points - I'll let someone with that knowledge speak up.

I have a cartridge filter and I clean the four cartridges twice per year when everything is running as it should.

 

[brajgreg]

[/quote]

I don't think you have a cartridge filter, you have a DE filter, correct? You may or may not need to clean and/or add DE to it at certain points - I'll let someone with that knowledge speak up.

I have a cartridge filter and I clean the four cartridges twice per year when everything is running as it should.[/quote]

I went to the website for the filter company last night and looked at all kinds of stuff about it. They have a "cluster" or something like that instead of cartridges. You can clean those occasionally, and I'll have to look into the last time the previous owners had this done I suppose.

 

[Isaac-1]

In a typical year Houston gets a lot of rain in the spring and summer (last year was the freak drought for the region, so far this year has made up for it), so expect to get a fair amount of water replacement through rainfall, splashout, etc. Also you may get some seasonal pH variation due to west Texas dust being blown in.

Ike

 

[jblizzle]

I have the same filter. There are 8 grids that look like wings inside the filter that the DE clings to. At least once a year it is good to tear the whole thing apart and spray down and inspect the grids. If they are hard due to scale, an acid bath can help too. When you backwash, all of the DE is typically not washed out and eventually accumulates inside the filter. The only way to get it all out and clean is to break the filter down.

Not very fun, but you do not have to do it very often.

 

[brajgreg]

I recently read that a DE filter can help with CYA levels getting too high. My pool has a DE filter, and it also uses an in-line tri-chlor tablet chlorinator. Apparently this isn't true, or the tri-chlor tablets are stronger than the DE filter's ability to remove the CYA.

Has anybody else ever heard of this?

 

[jblizzle]

Where did you read that?

The tri-chlor pucks in the tablet chlorinator will add CYA ... not usually a good thing. The DE filter has nothing to do with CYA and will not filter it out. The only way to remove CYA from your pool is through water replacement, reverse osmosis, hoping you get the bacteria or whatever that seems to eat all the CYA over the winter in a swampy pool.