I am a new homeowner with a IG pool and in the process of learning to do my own testing and the BBB pool care way as I've been reading about on this forum the past few days,I want to get away from the trips and expense of the local pool stores for testing and guidance on what chemicals to continually purchase and dump in...
With that said I'm not sure of the past background on how the pool was maintained from its previous owners ? I have come across some left over Muriatic Acid and some balance 100 (i think) chemicals in the pool house that up until now had no idea what they were for ? (Great Forum)..
My most recent (yesterday) test results from my local pool store is below, I recently (before finding this forum) bought a 50lb bucket of 3" tabs and the Frog instant mineral pack that goes in the skimmer and planned on having a pool frog type retro system since there was already a automatic inline chlorination unit installed in the system and all that was needed was the mineral pack and some slow disolving Tabs , but now after reading a bunch on this forum I realize a properly balanced pool don't really need the mineral pac to maintain low levels of FC and lower the usage of chlorine to achieve less eye irritation and all the woes associated with the assumed chlorine maintained pool as the pool store folks try to sell you on...
I was told at the pool store after the last tests that my CYA level was so high due to high amounts of stabilizers and/or the combination of CYA producing tabs and over stabilizing ?? I wish they would have tested the CYA levels last week on my 1st sample but they were out of reagent at the time...
So far, my pool is crystal clear (was when I opened it last week)After the 1st samples were tested last week, I added 3 lbs of super shock , Alk increase, and a bottle of algeside 60 along with a bottle of copper remover(?? cant remember the name)I've be running the filter 24-7 since opening, vacuumed a few times and the latest test results (yesterday) are as follows.
FC-5.57ppm
TC-5.7ppm
CC-.13ppm
TA (input) 137
TA (adjusted) 89 Not sure what the pool stores sample method is as far as input & adjusted ??
PH- 7.5
CH-210
CYA- 144 (ouch..)
Copper- .3 They had me add ANOTHER $17 bottle of remover
Iron - 0
TDS- 600
Saturated Index - 0
I now realize I have to drain a substantial amount of water 1st and refill to deal with the high level of CYA, (I have a well, with good test #'s from what they told me ??) I will get my well tested again and post em soon..Anything in particular I should test for ?
As far as the $100 bucket of tablets and $80 instant frog mineral pac i just purchased , after reading everything here it sure seems I shouldn't even use either of them and start from scratch with the 3 B's now rather then later ? And order a good test kit and get my ducks lined up for testing and tracking progress?
My wife and I had a IG pool at our previous house but were using Baquacil with that pool and spending a boat load to have a non chlorinated pool to eliminate the eye irritation, fading ,smell and all other hyped up reasons that are associated with the use of chlorine (when NOT balanced correct) that we've experienced in the past.. But now after learning alot from this forum I want to
have a properly balanced sparkling clear chlorine pool and save time /$$ and get the BBB program down pat before we update the faded worn down beaten up liner maybe next season.
Any direction pointing for my situation would be MUCH appreciated and look forward to a great learning experience with the forum...
Thanks,
Steve
With that said I'm not sure of the past background on how the pool was maintained from its previous owners ? I have come across some left over Muriatic Acid and some balance 100 (i think) chemicals in the pool house that up until now had no idea what they were for ? (Great Forum)..
My most recent (yesterday) test results from my local pool store is below, I recently (before finding this forum) bought a 50lb bucket of 3" tabs and the Frog instant mineral pack that goes in the skimmer and planned on having a pool frog type retro system since there was already a automatic inline chlorination unit installed in the system and all that was needed was the mineral pack and some slow disolving Tabs , but now after reading a bunch on this forum I realize a properly balanced pool don't really need the mineral pac to maintain low levels of FC and lower the usage of chlorine to achieve less eye irritation and all the woes associated with the assumed chlorine maintained pool as the pool store folks try to sell you on...
I was told at the pool store after the last tests that my CYA level was so high due to high amounts of stabilizers and/or the combination of CYA producing tabs and over stabilizing ?? I wish they would have tested the CYA levels last week on my 1st sample but they were out of reagent at the time...
So far, my pool is crystal clear (was when I opened it last week)After the 1st samples were tested last week, I added 3 lbs of super shock , Alk increase, and a bottle of algeside 60 along with a bottle of copper remover(?? cant remember the name)I've be running the filter 24-7 since opening, vacuumed a few times and the latest test results (yesterday) are as follows.
FC-5.57ppm
TC-5.7ppm
CC-.13ppm
TA (input) 137
TA (adjusted) 89 Not sure what the pool stores sample method is as far as input & adjusted ??
PH- 7.5
CH-210
CYA- 144 (ouch..)
Copper- .3 They had me add ANOTHER $17 bottle of remover
Iron - 0
TDS- 600
Saturated Index - 0
I now realize I have to drain a substantial amount of water 1st and refill to deal with the high level of CYA, (I have a well, with good test #'s from what they told me ??) I will get my well tested again and post em soon..Anything in particular I should test for ?
As far as the $100 bucket of tablets and $80 instant frog mineral pac i just purchased , after reading everything here it sure seems I shouldn't even use either of them and start from scratch with the 3 B's now rather then later ? And order a good test kit and get my ducks lined up for testing and tracking progress?
My wife and I had a IG pool at our previous house but were using Baquacil with that pool and spending a boat load to have a non chlorinated pool to eliminate the eye irritation, fading ,smell and all other hyped up reasons that are associated with the use of chlorine (when NOT balanced correct) that we've experienced in the past.. But now after learning alot from this forum I want to
have a properly balanced sparkling clear chlorine pool and save time /$$ and get the BBB program down pat before we update the faded worn down beaten up liner maybe next season.
Any direction pointing for my situation would be MUCH appreciated and look forward to a great learning experience with the forum...
Thanks,
Steve