New Pool Owner from Long Island!

[goisles1]

Hi All,

My name is Rob and I just took my first dip in my 21 ft AGP!!

Will be building the side deck this week. I may even snap a few photos

Anyway.. been reading heavily here and I think I'm pretty preparred for pool ownership. My AquaTrol SWG seems to be pumping out chlorine and my pool is crystal clear.

I do have one quick question..

I noticed this afternoon that my PH and TA are both low (compared to the recommended number on both pool school and the Aquatrol manual.

Will added baking soda do the job to raise both?

Here are my numbers:

FC - 5 (need to dial down the SWG)
CYA - 50 (added my first dose of Conditioner a few days ago. I will wait a few more days to make sure the numbers are accurate before I add any more)
PH - 6.8 (hard to tell exactly with the Strips I have. But it's def below the recommended 7.5)
TA - 30
Salt - Strip says 3200 AquaTrol readout is saying 3300.
Temp 65 - Yikes!!

Also.. I ordered the TF100 testkit last week and it should be here tomorrow. I'm currently using the test strips that Hayward included in the SWG.

This site is awesome!

 

[chem geek]

Welcome to TFP!

Yes, with the pH being low, adding baking soda will raise both the TA and the pH, though it mostly affects TA. So you can certainly use it to raise the TA to around 60 ppm and then see where the pH is sitting. If the pH needs to be raised more, you can use 20 Mule Team Borax for that, at least to get to around 7.5, but with your saltwater chlorine generator you should find that the pH will tend to rise over time (keeping the TA lower helps to prevent that). If your TA is still too low (say you want to get it to 70 ppm) then you can add a touch more baking soda at that point.

However, since you are getting your test kit tomorrow, I'd double check the readings with that kit since the test strips may be off.

 

[goisles1]

Thanks... I'll wait for the test kit and post "real" numbers.

 

[goisles1]

Hi again,

OK got my TF-1000 test kit and gave it 7 days for my CYA to register. Here are my numbers.. Am I good? Pool water is crystal clear BTW:

FC = 4.5 (9 drops)
CC = 0
TA = 80
CYA = 35
PH = 7.2
Temp = 78

Thanks!!

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

Hi again,

OK got my TF-1000 test kit and gave it 7 days for my CYA to register. Here are my numbers.. Am I good? Pool water is crystal clear BTW:

FC = 4.5 (9 drops)
CC = 0
TA = 80
CYA = 35
PH = 7.2
Temp = 78

Thanks!!

CYA is a bit low for a SWG. I think your manual recommends 60-80. The SWG won't have to work as hard at that level.

Don't forget to test CH once in a while. Low CH is okay for a vinyl pool, high CH can still cause scaling or deposits on the SWG element.