So the background is that I am renting a house which has an ground pool the age unknown but based on plastic corrosion I would guess around 5 years old(specs of pool in signature). I live in the Mojave Desert in California so as the temps have been climbing early (as always) I opened up the pool a couple of weeks ago to get an idea of what I was dealing with. Throughout this whole process the water has always looked good and sparkly, never cloudy or offcolor (even with leaves and flowers in the water). They had winterized the pool by detaching the pump/filter and storing those and draining the water level down below the skimmer and return. It looks like they left the floater inside with some 3" leslies tablets over the winter (tablets were dissolved but I have a leftover open bucket which I will not be touching).
After the open I performed some tests with what I had here and my chlorine test turned dark orange, ph was ok and stabilizer was like 120-140. I added in about 2000-3000 gallons to bring the water level up and then took my first test to the pool store (3/23/13)
I have a TF100 kit arriving some time next week so I have been checking with test strips and a leftover Leslie's drop test kit (Taylor chemistry) although some of the reagents appear to be going bad. Since I did not trust the chem levels I have taken in a sample this weekend and last weekend (tests listed below). For the most part the pool store readings have been close to what I have gotten when it comes to FAC, PH, and CYA.
After my first test the pool store had told me that I should be able to start swimming in the pool. I listened to them and managed to end up with some sort of rash on my shoulders and torso. I started doing more research here and discovered that with the high CYA I was below the minimum FAC level. My hope is the rash is caused by the little critters in the water and not a chemical allergy so I performed a water replacement to bring my CYA down over this week.
One thing I have noticed even after the replacement is that the chlorine levels do not seem to drop much if at all. Not sure if it is simply because the water temps are still in the 65-70 range so it simply is not oxidizing away at any appreciable rate or what have you.
My questions are should I perform a shock process since I don't really have any chlorine loss(I have read about the shock process vs throwing in some "shock" and calling it good)? I know once I get the test kit I can start getting a better idea on the day-to-day chem levels but I was just hoping for any guidance, ideas from all the experts here.
I have read through the pool school a couple of times since my first test (how I learned about the CYA/FC ratio issue) and I am using the pool calculator. I added some Muratic acid today to start reducing the PH since all my tests show it as in the 7.8-8.2 range.
Current results as of 3/30/13
FAC: 10
TAC: 10
PH 8.0
TA:150
CYA: 50
CH: 90
TDS: 500
Phosphates: 300
Prior Results on 3/23/13
FAC: 5
TAC: Not read
PH: 7.8
TA: 120
CYA:100
CH: 130
TDS: 700
Phosphates: 0
After the open I performed some tests with what I had here and my chlorine test turned dark orange, ph was ok and stabilizer was like 120-140. I added in about 2000-3000 gallons to bring the water level up and then took my first test to the pool store (3/23/13)
I have a TF100 kit arriving some time next week so I have been checking with test strips and a leftover Leslie's drop test kit (Taylor chemistry) although some of the reagents appear to be going bad. Since I did not trust the chem levels I have taken in a sample this weekend and last weekend (tests listed below). For the most part the pool store readings have been close to what I have gotten when it comes to FAC, PH, and CYA.
After my first test the pool store had told me that I should be able to start swimming in the pool. I listened to them and managed to end up with some sort of rash on my shoulders and torso. I started doing more research here and discovered that with the high CYA I was below the minimum FAC level. My hope is the rash is caused by the little critters in the water and not a chemical allergy so I performed a water replacement to bring my CYA down over this week.
One thing I have noticed even after the replacement is that the chlorine levels do not seem to drop much if at all. Not sure if it is simply because the water temps are still in the 65-70 range so it simply is not oxidizing away at any appreciable rate or what have you.
My questions are should I perform a shock process since I don't really have any chlorine loss(I have read about the shock process vs throwing in some "shock" and calling it good)? I know once I get the test kit I can start getting a better idea on the day-to-day chem levels but I was just hoping for any guidance, ideas from all the experts here.
I have read through the pool school a couple of times since my first test (how I learned about the CYA/FC ratio issue) and I am using the pool calculator. I added some Muratic acid today to start reducing the PH since all my tests show it as in the 7.8-8.2 range.
Current results as of 3/30/13
FAC: 10
TAC: 10
PH 8.0
TA:150
CYA: 50
CH: 90
TDS: 500
Phosphates: 300
Prior Results on 3/23/13
FAC: 5
TAC: Not read
PH: 7.8
TA: 120
CYA:100
CH: 130
TDS: 700
Phosphates: 0
