- Sep 8, 2012
- 11
Hi, I'm new to pool care (five months) and this is my first post. I have done some reading here and have bought the TF100 test kit and used it for the first time a few hours ago. Also --I'm technically challenged, but willing to learn. (Can't seem to find how to create a profile).
City/conditions: Houston. Shady yard, with lots of leaves and acorns that I regularly remove from two skimmer baskets, Polaris mechanically removes what falls to the bottom two hours per day.
Age of pool: decades, but five months ago we refurbished with all new equipment, plaster, decking (bricks with sand between)
Size: 23,000 gallons (using pool size estimator on Pool Calculator - it's sort of kidney shaped and in ground)
Type filter: cartridge
Plaster/Aggregate: "Diamond Brite" (I think)
Size pump - not sure, can find out, we run it twelve hours per day at the suggestion of pool builder
Per the visual encyclopedia we have the following: intermediate mechanical timer, Polaris, 3 way valve, in-ground skimmer, adjustable return eyeball, gas heater
Care: brushing with 50-50 wire/nylong bristles once every week or ten days. Have vacuumed a couple of times after rain when the leaves/acorns settle on bottom.
Appearance: water is clear
Up until two weeks ago, I've followed pool builder advice and used stablized chlorine pucks, shocking periodically using two one-pound bags each time. The bucket of pucks I bought in June is about 1/3 full, and the box of shock packets is about half gone. Measurements taken as of 5:30 p.m.:
FC = 11.5 ppm
CC = .5
pH = 7.5 (from looking at color in test block in TF 100 kit, is this how you find pH?)
TA = 90 (one place I saw a recommended range of 70-90, another place I saw 100-120 and advice not to go below 100, not sure what to do?)
CH = 280 (how would I know if the pool water contains copper - this was a question from the test kit instructions I didn't know how to answer)
CYA = 90 (pool calculator said "replace 56% of water" - can this possibly be right after only five months? I didn't think we could go so wrong that fast!)
I hope someone here will know how I should approach this! Many thanks in advance!
HoustonMom
City/conditions: Houston. Shady yard, with lots of leaves and acorns that I regularly remove from two skimmer baskets, Polaris mechanically removes what falls to the bottom two hours per day.
Age of pool: decades, but five months ago we refurbished with all new equipment, plaster, decking (bricks with sand between)
Size: 23,000 gallons (using pool size estimator on Pool Calculator - it's sort of kidney shaped and in ground)
Type filter: cartridge
Plaster/Aggregate: "Diamond Brite" (I think)
Size pump - not sure, can find out, we run it twelve hours per day at the suggestion of pool builder
Per the visual encyclopedia we have the following: intermediate mechanical timer, Polaris, 3 way valve, in-ground skimmer, adjustable return eyeball, gas heater
Care: brushing with 50-50 wire/nylong bristles once every week or ten days. Have vacuumed a couple of times after rain when the leaves/acorns settle on bottom.
Appearance: water is clear
Up until two weeks ago, I've followed pool builder advice and used stablized chlorine pucks, shocking periodically using two one-pound bags each time. The bucket of pucks I bought in June is about 1/3 full, and the box of shock packets is about half gone. Measurements taken as of 5:30 p.m.:
FC = 11.5 ppm
CC = .5
pH = 7.5 (from looking at color in test block in TF 100 kit, is this how you find pH?)
TA = 90 (one place I saw a recommended range of 70-90, another place I saw 100-120 and advice not to go below 100, not sure what to do?)
CH = 280 (how would I know if the pool water contains copper - this was a question from the test kit instructions I didn't know how to answer)
CYA = 90 (pool calculator said "replace 56% of water" - can this possibly be right after only five months? I didn't think we could go so wrong that fast!)
I hope someone here will know how I should approach this! Many thanks in advance!
HoustonMom