Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!?

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Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

Re-tested before adding more bleach - FC - .05 CC 5

CC is dropping. I'll hit it once again tonight and check in the AM.
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

So I added 840 more ozs of 8% bleach.

At what point am I endangering my vinyl liner?

I've added approx. 40 x 121 oz bottles of 8% over the last 2 days.

I still don't understand why my FC isn't holding at all, but on the bright side - CC is declining. Is that how this normally works? When I read "maintain" shock level, I assumed I should see FC level at shock level. Maybe I misunderstood that.

It's night , and the water looks amazing when I put a flashlight on it. I do notice that there seems to be lots of tiny fizz when I shine the light down through the water.
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

Something is consuming it, and I'm wondering if its ammonia, tho you don't usually see such clear water with ammonia situations. You will not endanger your liner provided you don't go higher than the recommended shock level.
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

Looks like CC is heading down. Keeping my fingers crossed.

FC was near 0 this AM with CC at about 2 - 2.5.

Added another 7 gallons. I need to start going into the next town for bleach.... I've pretty much exhausted the local food lions, Kroger and Harris Teeter....

Crossing my fingers that my FC will start to hold....
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

I can check around. The company that installed my salt cell probably has it. They don't have a store front, but they may sell chemicals. My local Leslie's does not carry liquid ch. I've used up somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 gallons so far....

After treating again this AM - YES!!!! Holding FC at 3.5, CC still shows 3. At least I'm gaining on it a bit.

Kicked the WG back to boost - and keeping my fingers crossed that it will hold til I get home tonight.
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

Readings this am show barely a trace of chlorine - this is with the SWG running on BOOST level 8 + hours.

FC .05 CC 1.

Given the past results -if I add 7 gallons of clorox, the FC will jump to 5, or more and the CC will jump by 1 ppm or so - then drop like a rock to almost 0 fc, and low cc.

I'm a bit concerned about the PH. It's been extremely low for a couple days now, and I'm wondering if I'm fighting a losing battle until I get the PH back up. It registers under 6.8. It also explains why my chlorine gets used up so quickly.

I'll see if I can bump that back up some and see how my FC levels hold.

BTW - TA is 30.

Pool caclulator says 9lbs baking soda for TA, and 11lbs of soda ash for PH. So - off to Walmart this AM to get some washing soda, and some baking soda.

Get the PH back up to 7.2 or so , and see if I can raise the TA back up after.
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

Soda ash raises PH AND TA
Borax raises PH will little effect on TA
Baking Soda raises TA with little effect on PH.

I would use enough Baking soda to reach 60, let it circulate for several hours, then retest both. If you hit your mark on TA, and the PH is up just a tad, recalculate the dosage for PH and use Borax.
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

OK.

Wondering:

Why not PH first?

Does it make a difference?

Keeping my fingers crossed that I've killed most of whatever was causing the high cc.
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

Because TA that low you can get drastic swings in PH, so it's easier to target the TA accurately with Baking Soda, and since the Baking Soda does affect the PH too, do it first then adjust the PH after with Borax. Also I usually recommend this route simply because its hard to find the correct amounts of washing soda to be honest.
 

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Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

Lots of washing soda locally - only 1 store carrying Borax.... but it's close by as well..

Glad I found this site.

Thanks for your info and advice. I want to get the darn thing balanced so I can kick back enjoy and maintain.
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

Just for the heck of it, I bought an ammonia test kit at Petco and have ruled out any ammonia in the water.

That leaves me with mustard algae.

Has anyone had any experience with "Yellow Treat"? I've already spent over $150.00 on bleach. It might be worthwhile to try an algaecide - if they actually work.

I've also been told to add sodium bromide? Not sure why I would do that. everything I've read here would make me wary of going that route.

I've got a 3 day weekend. Perhaps I can finally get my chlorine up to shock level and kill this Crud.
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

Found a local pool supplier that sells 12.5 % for $22.59/case - 10% off when you buy more than 1. I'm picking up 3 cases on the way home.

I oughta be shocked and re-balanced over this weekend.
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

When there is yellow/mustard algae, we usually don't see the CC as high as you are seeing. Just in case, you should check behind light niches, under any removable ladders, check the skimmer and pump basket and the filter. There's something in the pool that is consuming lots of chlorine. If it were ammonia, it would tend to react even faster than you are seeing to form CC and you wouldn't see hardly any FC at all within even minutes of adding chlorine. So it appears that it's something else. It's possible you've got biofilm in your sand filter, though usually one only sees that in higher bather-load commercial/public pools.
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

Just removed the light fixture this evening and brushed out the housing. Definitely some crud in there. The good news is - that it looks like I'm getting to shock level.

The bad news is - my light's shorted out and I'll have to leave it until I can find a new gasket. It's an older pentair, and says "fresh water" only. I'm not sure why that would make a difference as long as I keep the water balanced.

The fixture should probably be replaced, but I'm not looking forward to a pool drain, and re- installation - I assume that's required.
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

You shouldn't need to drain the water to replace the light, assuming the niche itself is intact and doesn't need new plastering. I just had my two 10-year-old pool lights replaced as they started to leak (they tried to fix that, but it still ended up leaking). Those lights aren't cheap. Their wire is threaded through the electrical conduit to an electrical connection not too far from the pool and then from there to the circuit breaker in the pool equipment shed.
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

Electrical and plumbing are the only 2 things I hate to mess around with. I worked as a carpenter gutting and remodeling. I can rewire, but electrical around 20K gallons of water - I'll pass until I see it all done and understand it.

Same with pool maintenance. This is my first experience with it and I wanna be sure I'm doing things right. FWIW.

just measured my evening numbers -
Been running .00 - 0.5 all day on CC. Fc has steadily dropped from 20's to about 17 last test - bright sunny day. No signs of algae - the water looks better than ever.

I'll see where we are in the AM, and keep my fingers crossed that I'm ready to add a little borax and enjoy!
 
Re: Adding acid, dialing back salt generator - TA going up?!

Pool numbers have been pretty steady for the last couple days with CC remaining at 0 -0.5.
This evening I'm reading FC 6, CC <0.5, TA 80 and PH 7.4 ish.

Many thanks to everyone for all the great advice. I've become an official BBB evangelist. I'm stocked up on Acid, Borax, baking soda, and Austins 12.5 Shock -13.95/case at BJ's!. Life is good.
 

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