First Test Results

[Bjarni]

Hi all,
First I want to thank all of you for the invaluable help on the long journey to becoming educated in pool maintenance and ownership. I am a brand new pool owner and without of of your valuable input I would have been totally lost.

I have had the pool up and running for a week now and have my first set of results using the Taylor test kit. At this point the auto chlorine has been running just because I didn't want to touch anything until had a chance to do a test. I did shock the pool using the method outlined on this site because it looked like a swamp last week. At this point it looks great.

Here are my results this morning.
FC- 5.5
CC- .5
TC- 6
pH- 7.2
TA- 150
CH- 230
CYA- 70

The CYA is high I think due to the auto chlorinator. I think I will turn it off so that I don't have to worry about the added stabilizer the chlorine pucks are introducing and use liquid bleach. Is this correct thinking? Will adding water as it evaporates (About an inch per day) bring the CYA down within a week or so? Is a slow approach OK or should I try and drain some water off right away?
The TA is also high. Do I need to worry to much about this?

Thanks guys, its much appreciated!

 

[Richard320]

Turn off the chlorinator and stop using pucks and powders! CYA only goes away with draining and splashout. From this point on it's bleach only or shell out the bucks for a Salt Water Chlorine Generator.

70 CYA is pushing it, even in New Mexico where one can assume it's going to be hot and sunny. Your FC is right on the edge; with your numbers, it should never dip below 5. Pool Calculator recommends 5-10, I'd figure out how much you lose every day, add that number to 5, and then add 1 more for safety to get your target FC number.

 

[JasonLion]

Evaporation and topping off will not change the CYA level. CYA doesn't evaporate, only the water evaporates. CYA will fall slowly due to splash out, but only very slowly.

 

[Bjarni]

To do list!
1. Pucks are off.
2. Added 45oz of bleach to bring up my FC level.
3. Added 54oz of Borax to bring up my pH.
4. Need to remove some water to lower my CYA. Not sure how I'm going to do this easily. Might need to get a hold of a sump pump, or have a huge splash fight...

Thanks for the expert input guys.