Hi Guys/Gals,
I posted some of the information on my pool over in introductions, but I figured that wasn't the right place to continue the discussion, as it's getting hairy, so I figured I'd restart it here.
Background on pool is in my sig (per forum directions). However, I just found out that the pool is one of those "pristine blue" installations, and I'm not keen on having my 4 year old daughter (or anyone in my family) potentially exposed to bacteria or virii, so I want to convert it to BBB.
In any event, while I am waiting on my Taylor 2006 kit, I went down to Walmart and got a HTH 6-way test kit.
For some reason, the TA test is already red when I add the drops, it's never green, so I have no green->red conversion with the titrate added.
Weather: 67 degrees, Sunny - not sure what the temp of the poolwater is though and don't have a way to test it (no thermometer)
Here's the best numbers I can come up with so far (remember, this is the HTH 6-way test kit for now):
pH: <= 6.8 - the vial was yellow, didn't even approach the higher numbers after adding 5 drops of phenol red
FC: <= .5 ppm (the water was clear after adding the 5 drops of OTO)
TA: 0 ppm (the water was immediately red after adding the indicator solution, therefore, no titrate was added for 0 ppm)
CH: 150 ppm (added 15 drops of titrate to the 25ml vial after adding 5 drops of indicator - of course stirring and looking between drops)
CYA: < 30 ppm (utilized the entire "squirtbottle" of pool water and CYA solution - 14ml total, 7ml of water, 7ml of solution) - the vial was overflowing due to surface tension, so I have no way of knowing what the exact number was below 30ml - that was the last graduation on the vial)
So, (please correct me if I'm misinterpreting), it seems that:
pH is low by about oh, .6
FC is low by around 2.7 or so
TA is non-existent
CH is about in the middle of the range
CYA is low (but by an unknown value)
Additionally, from what I've read, since this is a pristine blue pool, and I don't have any way to test copper, I have no idea what the concentration of copper is currently.
So, where do I go from here? It seems first step is to bring up the pH yes? Based on numbers in the pool calculator (and a gallon size of 17,130) it's saying I should add:
-160 oz of 6% bleach to bring FC from .5 to 5
-26 oz of borax to bring pH from 6.8 to 7.6
-362 oz of baking soda to bring TA up, but this will also increase pH it says, so should I just do the baking soda first, and leave out the borax until that's incorporated?
-I don't need to add any CaCl since CH seems to be dandy
-91 oz of stabilzer (or a whole bunch more of liquid stabilizer) to bring CYA from some unknown low number to 40 ppm.
I should lastly add that:
-the pool filter is currently running (10psi - no idea what nominal is for this pool, but I imagine it's ok here until I see a rise)
-the wife and I have added chemicals that were existing yesterday based on bad knowledge (i.e. before I found this site)
-the pool has algae in it from my previous stupidity (didn't clean the pool cover in my haste)
-the pool has detritus in it (leaves, bugs, etc.) again from my stupidity with the cover, and I don't currently have a way to get the scum out, since all the pool cleaning stuff is broken (but new stuff is on the way, should be here mid-weekish).
Does this all seem correct to you wizards of pool care?
Thanks!
-Mike-
I posted some of the information on my pool over in introductions, but I figured that wasn't the right place to continue the discussion, as it's getting hairy, so I figured I'd restart it here.
Background on pool is in my sig (per forum directions). However, I just found out that the pool is one of those "pristine blue" installations, and I'm not keen on having my 4 year old daughter (or anyone in my family) potentially exposed to bacteria or virii, so I want to convert it to BBB.
In any event, while I am waiting on my Taylor 2006 kit, I went down to Walmart and got a HTH 6-way test kit.
For some reason, the TA test is already red when I add the drops, it's never green, so I have no green->red conversion with the titrate added.
Weather: 67 degrees, Sunny - not sure what the temp of the poolwater is though and don't have a way to test it (no thermometer)
Here's the best numbers I can come up with so far (remember, this is the HTH 6-way test kit for now):
pH: <= 6.8 - the vial was yellow, didn't even approach the higher numbers after adding 5 drops of phenol red
FC: <= .5 ppm (the water was clear after adding the 5 drops of OTO)
TA: 0 ppm (the water was immediately red after adding the indicator solution, therefore, no titrate was added for 0 ppm)
CH: 150 ppm (added 15 drops of titrate to the 25ml vial after adding 5 drops of indicator - of course stirring and looking between drops)
CYA: < 30 ppm (utilized the entire "squirtbottle" of pool water and CYA solution - 14ml total, 7ml of water, 7ml of solution) - the vial was overflowing due to surface tension, so I have no way of knowing what the exact number was below 30ml - that was the last graduation on the vial)
So, (please correct me if I'm misinterpreting), it seems that:
pH is low by about oh, .6
FC is low by around 2.7 or so
TA is non-existent
CH is about in the middle of the range
CYA is low (but by an unknown value)
Additionally, from what I've read, since this is a pristine blue pool, and I don't have any way to test copper, I have no idea what the concentration of copper is currently.
So, where do I go from here? It seems first step is to bring up the pH yes? Based on numbers in the pool calculator (and a gallon size of 17,130) it's saying I should add:
-160 oz of 6% bleach to bring FC from .5 to 5
-26 oz of borax to bring pH from 6.8 to 7.6
-362 oz of baking soda to bring TA up, but this will also increase pH it says, so should I just do the baking soda first, and leave out the borax until that's incorporated?
-I don't need to add any CaCl since CH seems to be dandy
-91 oz of stabilzer (or a whole bunch more of liquid stabilizer) to bring CYA from some unknown low number to 40 ppm.
I should lastly add that:
-the pool filter is currently running (10psi - no idea what nominal is for this pool, but I imagine it's ok here until I see a rise)
-the wife and I have added chemicals that were existing yesterday based on bad knowledge (i.e. before I found this site)
-the pool has algae in it from my previous stupidity (didn't clean the pool cover in my haste)
-the pool has detritus in it (leaves, bugs, etc.) again from my stupidity with the cover, and I don't currently have a way to get the scum out, since all the pool cleaning stuff is broken (but new stuff is on the way, should be here mid-weekish).
Does this all seem correct to you wizards of pool care?
Thanks!
-Mike-