Levels don't seem to match up with what people report

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blondemarcello

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Jun 14, 2012
114
Blaine, MN
I"ve been trying to get this pool "balanced" since June and am still struggling. But I'm not sure if I should be that concerned about it - the water looks great, no smells, no cloudiness, no complaints of stinging eyes. We keep the solar cover on when no one is in it (only use pool about 1-3 hours a day).

I've been using both the test strips and the 6 part test kit from walmart. I'm reluctant to get the recommended test kit with less than 6 weeks before we probably have to close for the season and then have the chemicals sit around for 8 months.

I am trying to get TA balanced and CYA at the correct level. I have tried aerating with positioning return jet to break above surface and no solar cover for 24 hours (about a week ago) to raise PH so I could treat with muriac acid. It didn't seem to do anything except make the water cooler (dislike). I continued to keep the return jet breaking the surface and pool cover partially on.

Last night I got fed up with waiting and added a box of Borax in hopes of getting the PH up. That worked, but I took a sample to pool store to make sure I was doing it right just because FC was so different from drop and strip test since adding Borax. He recommended adding stabilizer and getting ph down (it was 7.8 this morning). He said the chlorine was great (it looked pretty yellow to me). He was also concerned about water being too soft. Is that really a concern for a vinyl pool?

Test strip says:
PH 6.2
FC 2
TA 120
CYA 20ish

Drop tests say:
PH 6.2
FC 5-10 (doesn't seem that high)
CYA just started showing up but ran out of reagent
TA 120-140

I added a bottle of muriac acid this afternoon and got the above results tonight. I added a box of borax tonight to get PH up. I also added 4 lbs of stabilizer from Walmart via the sock method. I will report my results in the a.m. I know CYA won't change but I am getting nervous about the chlorine level. Am I freaking out about nothing when everything is looking so good?
 
Ignore TA until everything else is balanced. You're just going like a yo-yo with pH. It will eventually find it's sweet spot. Don't worry if it's a hair higher than "recommended"? It comes from your tap - you've been bathing in it and drinking it with no ill effects, right?

Since you keep the pool covered most of the time, your CYA level should be fine.
pH needs to be gotten into range, always.
FC should be above minimum for your CYA, always
CH doesn't matter with a vinyl pool.

If you buy the test kit now, and keep it stored in the house over the winter, it should still be fine next spring. The strips are useless, and the drop kit you have doesn't include the FAS-DPD test, which you'll especially want at opening, in case you need to shock.
 
Richard beat me, here is my take...

blondemarcello said:
We keep the solar cover on when no one is in it (only use pool about 1-3 hours a day).
Click to expand...
Solar cover at night is a great idea, to prevent evaporation, but in the day, if you want warmer water then you should leave it off in the middle of the summer.

blondemarcello said:
I'm reluctant to get the recommended test kit with less than 6 weeks before we probably have to close for the season and then have the chemicals sit around for 8 months.
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In my experience the shelf life is not an issue as long as you don't store the kit at temperature extremes. I have used reagents that are more than a year old without a problem (some even 2 years old).

blondemarcello said:
He was also concerned about water being too soft. Is that really a concern for a vinyl pool?
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If he is considering to little calcium and magnesium as being soft, then you should ignore his concern. Low calcium (or magnesium) is not an issue for vinyl.

Stop using the test strips, they will only mislead you. The HTH drop based kit can not read down to 6.2 ph. Recheck the ph only with the drop based kit and dose accordingly. I strongly recommend an appropriate kit for your nice new pool you put so much work into.
 
If you add the reagents to your HTH kit, you'll have all you need.

Can be done for less than $30 with shipping and TFTestkits reagent bottles. If you buy the Taylor refills, even cheaper. The FAS-DPD kit that TFTestkits sells doesn't have CYA in it, and you have a cylinder, which is why I suggest getting reagents only.

You need these ones:
R-0003
R-0870
R-0871
R-0013
Little Blue Scoop - $.15

TFTestkits are Taylor reagents, in different (bigger) portions/bottles. Look at the TFTestkits website, in the refills sections.

Soft water is so not an issue in a vinyl pool. We have next to no CH (~2ppm). All is well.
 
blondemarcello said:
Quick quesition, would adding baking soda do the same thing or will that mess with my TA? I've got two 4 lb boxes in the basement.
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No, Baking Soda does more for TA than pH.

If you plug your numbers into Pool Calculator it will do the math and tell you how much of what will raise/lower your values to where you want them. Be sure to enter the pool volume at the top. And down near the bottom, there's a not-so-hidden secret: "effects of adding chemicals". As long as the volume is correct, it will give you a pretty good idea what certain quantities of the common chemicals will do.
 

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"Straight out of pool school -"Lower Total Alkalinity": Aerate until PH rises to around 7.6 (the only way to raise PH without also raising TA)"

Tried that last week - it didn't seem to make any difference. I had the return jet shooting up so it was breaking the water surface. Took at least 4-5 days to get pH high enough to bring down with acid. Am I just too impatient?
 
The more bubbles you can create, the better. Breaking the surface won't create good bubbles for aerating if you want it to rise fast. Think of a sprinkler type aeration. Lots and lots of tiny bubbles.

Can you rig something up perhaps? There are some threads, and I think some images in Pool School about different types of aerators people have created.
 
blondemarcello said:
"Straight out of pool school -"Lower Total Alkalinity": Aerate until PH rises to around 7.6 (the only way to raise PH without also raising TA)"

Tried that last week - it didn't seem to make any difference. I had the return jet shooting up so it was breaking the water surface. Took at least 4-5 days to get pH high enough to bring down with acid. Am I just too impatient?
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You need to get aggressive! Like these. The first two are linked in the lowering TA how-to, the third is from yesterday.[center:3gl3l9j3]
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The more you can aerate the faster it will come back up. My return didn't work fast enough for me either. So I installed a fountain. The thing is, if I understand correctly, if you try to raise your PVC thru chemical additions, you will also raise the TA which takes

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
 
blondemarcello said:
Tried that last week - it didn't seem to make any difference. I had the return jet shooting up so it was breaking the water surface. Took at least 4-5 days to get pH high enough to bring down with acid. Am I just too impatient?
Click to expand...

Yes, have some POP (Pool Owner Patience). Each round of lowering the TA may get you 10 ppm maybe a bit more, or that has been my experience. Hardly worth the effort for me, now I just add acid regularly to adjust pH and TA does what it does. I test TA every month just so I know where it is, as that does affect how much MA one adds to adjust pH correctly.

I try manage the pool so that as I leave for a vacation the CYA is low and the TA is not low. Then when we use trichlor tablets for a week or two I will see maybe 10 ppm increase in CYA per week and maybe a 10 ppm decline in TA per week. Sometimes I have to let the pool sitter add bleach as well, sometimes we can rely on the chlorine tablets alone.
 
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