Chemical levels - Too much information?

[VA2AZ]

First time pool owner of just over a year (purchased a house with a 10 year old pool). I have been managing/monitoring my pool for a year now and it seems like I am missing something (or am I). My "pool-guy" tells me about my chlorine and PH levels (once a week), and I add Chlorine (increase SWG %) or not, and add acid or not. When I do a sanity check with a very reputable pool store, they tell me all is looking great, or add a little acid to bring down the PH. None of the other chemical levels are out of whack or even discussed.
SWG is turned on in late April ( at 25%) and off in early October. I am told this increases the life of the SWG.
I use chlorine tabs from October thru April. Both, keeping chlorine at 3-5, require acid to keep the PH down. Water clarity is crystal except during a Dust storm episode (Jason knows about those). SWG is run 1 hour for every 10 degrees of ambient air temp. Right now 10 hours at night (off peak rates).
Up to this point, I don't have any challenges with clarity, or human comfort/discomfort with the water.
Neither does my wife, who will let me know if her skin does not feel right.
Side note - Probably of little consequence, but I created a "manual" self fill by running a 1/4 inch irrigation hose from my house water softener system (use potassium chloride) to a leaf basket lid. It maintains the level fairly well with 1/4 inch inline valve adjustments. I doubt that the introduction of the little amount of potassium has anything to do with this chemistry of my pool, just wanted to complete the picture.
Should I be concerned about all these other levels, as I have seen in the Pool school and posts, or should I just continue to jump in and do my laps?
Thanks for any comments.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

You should be concerned if they are out of our recommended ranges - see the article in Pool School. Would you like to share what your "sanity check" -latest results - are?

 

[Bama Rambler]

You definitely should be aware of what all the levels are so you'll know which ones to be concerned about. Given your location I'd be aware of all the parameters but especially the pH, FC & CH. There's a chance you may not have to change anything but you need good accurate test results to base your decision on.

 

[BoDarville]

VA2AZ:

Welcome to TFP

When I do a sanity check with a very reputable pool store, they tell me all is looking great, or add a little acid to bring down the PH. None of the other chemical levels are out of whack or even discussed.

First thing I would recommend is posting a full set of test results using one of the recommended test kits. There is a reputable pool store near me but, just for grins, I have had them run a series of tests using the same sample water and some of the results (especially CYA) are significantly off from the test I had run 10 minutes before.

I use chlorine tabs from October thru April. Both, keeping chlorine at 3-5, require acid to keep the PH down.

Assuming the chlorine tabs are trichlor (very likely), those are quite acidic. Wouldn't think you would need to lower pH while using those. Also, by using the tabs for half the year, your CYA could be much higher than recommended. All the more reason to run and post your own test results.

 

[VA2AZ]

I am out of town for a few days, will not be able to check water until next week. Since everyone says the water is good, I don't remember numbers.
Will provide as soon as I can.
************UPDATE*************
FC = 5
CH = 400
CYA = 95
TA = 80
PH = 7.4
Salt = 3400
Taken about 830AM - sunny temp 80 - pool temp 78

 

[VA2AZ]

I am not sure an update (edit) displays as new info, so here are the readings:
FC = 5
CH = 400
CYA = 95
TA = 80
PH = 7.4
Salt = 3400
Taken about 830AM - sunny temp 80 - pool temp 78

 

[JasonLion]

Your CYA is too high. You don't want CYA above 80. One of the risks here is that the common CYA test will report very high CYA levels are numbers around 100, so there is no telling what your CYA level really is. I recommend replacing water until CYA comes down below 90.

CH is a little high, but still manageable, especially with your slightly lower than normal PH and appropriate TA.

 

[Isaac-1]

That off season use of trichlor pucks is likely slowly inching your CYA level up, and even with the use of a SWG it is getting into the danger zone. As Jason said the limit of the common CYA test is around 100, so any time we see results showing in the 100 range we do try to warn that the real CYA might be much higher, 150, 200, or even more. Yours may really only be at 95 this year since you use a limited number of trichlor pucks only in the off season, but it would still be a good idea to try to get it down some and to discontinue their use next winter. Even a 10-15% water replacement would help here.

Ike

 

[VA2AZ]

Thank you Jason and Ike. I will do what I can to get the CYA level down where it is supposed to be.
Have a great FREEdom Weekend, and thank a Vet for being able to.