I got my kit today

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reindeerboy

reindeerboy

0
LifeTime Supporter
May 27, 2008
519
Jamestown, ND
I too got my kit today.

FC - 1
CC - 1.5
TC-2.5
PH-7.3
TA - 120
CH- 400
CYA - 70

Just need to get my chlorine levels up a bit is all. Pool temp is 68 as it started to rain right after I took this test and its been cool all morning.

Pool is crystal clear, looks great, no scalling at all.

I have not converted to the BBB method and am using a product called EZ Pool. It is working really well and is fairly inexpensive when I started to add up the cost of using bleach, Soda, and Alkalinity up. You add that all together and the cost for me for the summer was much less than that of the BBB method.

My local pool dealer helped me convert and so far, it is working like a charm. No shocking required with this either as long as your TC levels stay consistant levels. The secret in this is that it eliminates any chloramines in the pool water causing no algae.

About the only time needed to shock is spring and then when you winterize it.

I do understand that the CH is a bit high, however I have a vinyl liner and I added calcium only a couple days ago so that is why its a bit high.

All else looks good and by the way, that test kit is AWESOME.

I do still plan to take a sample to the pool place about once a month, but since I live 100 miles from the closest pool dealer, this kit will really help me save time and money in the long run.

Thanks guys! Was the best $ I spent all year! :-D
 
Hi, Rudy,

Thanks for the very nice words about the kit.

Please don't drive down to NC and kick me in the butt for taking some exceptions to your thoughts. :lol: :lol: :lol:

The big issue I see is your chlorine results especially when compared to your CYA level.

Witha CYA of 70ppm, the forum suggests a constant chlorine level somewhere between 6-8ppm....yours is obviously much lower. Additionally, the presence of 1.5ppm CC's is a pretty good indication of the need to shock your pool. We like to see CC's of less than .5ppm.

You'll need to shock at about 27ppm or so.

I am puzzled why you added calcium to your pool? You are aware that it's high but I couldn't figure out from your post why it was added. No big deal but I am curious.

The big issues that I see again are that your FC is too low and, importantly, you DO have CC's of 1.5 in your pool and that strongly siggests the need to shock.
 
Yea, I knew I was going to catch some responses based on the comments I had.

I will visit some more with my pool representative about what you stated on shocking to that high of a level. Yes I do know that there are some CCs in the pool. No tooth fairy involved!

I did have algae issue when I opened up a couple weeks ago and I know that I will have to shock due to the recent rain we just had and that is why the CCs are there. It was below .5 a couple days ago according the the pool test so I do understand that.

The calcium, I was told, helps to soften the vinyl liner so that it doesnt crack. I know its a bit high and now with the rain we are getting, I know that will drop. I only added a bit when I open the pool and I just did it a few days ago.

I plan to shock it again once its done raining here in a day or two according to the weather.

I will plan to retest everything again by Friday and will do the CL and PH test more often as I have continued to do.

Pool still looks great, so there dang it! :)
 
Thanks Brian. I due appreciate it.

Dave, I do appreciate the direction, but why such a high level of chlorine? When I shock I get it to 20, but once it holds then I usually let it drop. I will shock it once the rain stops, but I usually leave the TC levels at 3 to 5 ppm. The EZ Pool is the sanitizing agent to an extent, along with the TC.

I do have some info that I can escan to you tomorrow if you wish?
 
Refer to the "stickies" in the black bar in the header at the top of this page and look at "chem geek's CYA/chlorine relationship chart.....the higher the CYA, the higher you must bring FC to obtain breakpoint chlorination....in your case with a CYA of 70, about 28+ppm

There was a discussion here on the forum a week or so ago and most folks feel that rain has little to do with any significant changes in your pool chemistry unless runoff is running into your pool.

Support for alternative sanitizers may be a little hard to come by on the forum. Most of us feel that, since you need chlorine anyway, the alternatives provide little benefit. Actually, ezpool is discussed in another thread very recently on the forum. search "ezpool" (or a variation) and you should be able to find it.

Rudy, I'm sure not trying to be adversarial but rather to convey a consensus of opinions on the forum that have proven to be pretty accurate over time. Folks much smarter than me taught me this stuff....I'm just the parrot repeating what I've been taught......but we have all found that it does work. :lol:
 
I am not saying you or anyone else on this forum is wrong Dave.

I too am learning as I go and plan to do more reading and research all the time. I will look those items up on here and that will give me some more information to then talk to the guy that has been helping me with my pool management.

If you are correct and I need to do a massive shock of chlorine, then I do have access to liquid chlorine and will work with my pool guy to see how much PPM each bottle will add to my pool, then I will most likely do a massive shock to kill anything known to man in that pool.

Most likely then, I probably did not shock the pool enough when I first opened the pool or didnt put enough in initially to get the killing effect that I needed.

I want to thank you Dave for you comments and I do respect everyones recommendations here on the forum as I have learned much already.

Thanks and have a nice evening!
 
Duraleigh, I actually recommend a shock level of 20 when CYA is 70, as does Ben's Best Guess chart.

When CC is above 0.5 it is a good ideal to shock till CC goes back to zero. It wouldn't hurt to wait a day and see if it goes down on it's own, but if it doesn't go down fairly quickly you will need to shock.
 

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OK, just had a conversation with the pool guy.

First of all, I just want to clarify that EZ Pool is NOT a sanitizing agent. Its an agent to help control your PH, Alkalinity ect from having large fluctuations. That way you will be spending less money on Soda & Alkalinity.

I did read the blog on EZ Pool and suggest you maybe research the EZ Pool website more? Maybe you have already and I am not trying to step on anyones toes here, but from the few entries I read on EZ Pool, I cannot see why I would not want to use it. It has done a great job in helping me manage my balance of my pool. I will now switch to using liquid chlorine from the pool place as he has it at a really cheap price and the content is 2 times that of regular bleach. It does not contain anything except for chlorine content which is exactly what I want to be using. The EZ Pool is doing the rest of the work of controlling the balance of the PH, Alkalinity and oxidation of the pool.

There is a website if some of you are interested and maybe you already know it. www.apiwater.com.

I thought I would pass this along.

Now the pool guy said he has had the most success with using chlorine as your sanitizer along with the use of EZ Pool to help manage your pool.

I did visit with him about the CC issue, and he did suggest shocking the pool and did concur with what you all had stated. He did mention that I needed to do this right away when I opened up the pool and like I said earlier, I obviously did not do it from the start.

The pool is clear, but it still has some chloramines in it that I plan to get ride of tonight when I shock the pool.

I am picking up more liquid chlorine tomorrow to help with my overall sanitation of the pool.

Now, I hope I did not offend anyone here! I am still new at all of this and am repeating what I have learned. I honestly do respect you all and am learning greatly from the seasoned pool people on this site. I do appreciate your help as learning this is the key to becoming better at my pool management and maybe I can save some cash at the same time.

Again, I thank you all for your opinions and expertise in all of this.

Have a nice day! :-D
 
I don't think anyone feels like their toes have been stepped on. Personally I've used this sit to learn all I that I know about water chemistry and my pool has been very easy to take care of and deal with the issues that pop up from time to time. Due to the success of BBB, I'm hesitant to venture outside my comfort zone as I'm sure others are as well.
 
Exactly! This has worked well for me thus far, except for not enough chlorine, but either than that, it has worked well so do what works well for you.

Why change something that isnt broke? Thats what I say.

Also I feel that every pool is a bit different due to weather issues, temp, ect!
 
I wonder what is in E-Z Pool. From the description at their web site it is very difficult to guess. I much prefer not to put things in my pool that I don't know what they are. Anyone could write some wonderful marketing literature and then put something which does nothing in the bucket. I am not saying that is what they did, but there is no way to tell from that web site.

Some other web sites show it as having six to eight different features, things which are not normally found in one chemical. You get a great deal more control if you only add what you need and don't add a bunch of other things you don't need just because they are available as a package.
 
The pool guy listed them out and I have them somewhere. He mentioned that most of the items on that list are added usually only weekly. That is why they state a weekly dose and not a large amount.

You still have to test the water and balance accordingly. So farm I have been using if for over a month now and I have not had to add much PH and TA at all. Since my calcium is a bit high, I decided to hold off in adding any more of the product.

With the rain now, I have had to actually vaccum on waste and then I added some new water. Also I did take your advice Dave and shocked the heck out of the pool last night. So here are my new test results:

6/3/08 - 6am-temp is 68
fc-7
cc-.5
tc-7.5
PH-7.3
TA-120
CH-400
CYA-60

Then at noon I added some more shock. Then I retested just now and got these results:

6/3/08 8PM - 68 is pool temp

fc-15
cc-0
tc-15
ph-7.3
ta-120
ch-350
cya-55

Thanks again you guys for all your advice and comments.

Dave- I am loving that test kit. Can I order refills then online as well?

Thanks
 
Your numbers look fairly good. It sounds like you are on the right track.

On E-Z Pool, I never use clarifier, scale inhibiter, softener, or non-chlorine oxidizers. I only use algaecide once a year. And there is no such thing as a single alkalinity, PH, and CH balancer that works in all situations. All three of those can either be too low or too high or just right independently of each other and the treatment is different in each case.
 
Really. Good to know.

Gives me more to think about.

Yea, I think my numbers are on. Pool is clear.

Weather sucks! Its 60, rainy, and all I can do is look out the window at my pool.

Pool water dropped to 65 now.

Been a heck of a spring I got to say. Hopefuelly summer will improve.
 
6/3/08 8PM - 68 is pool temp

fc-15
cc-0
tc-15
ph-7.3
ta-120
ch-350
cya-55

Thanks again you guys for all your advice and comments.

Dave- I am loving that test kit. Can I order refills then online as well?
Click to expand...

Wow!! What a change in your numbers, Rudy. Very nice work! I'd let the FC drift on down to about 3-6ppm and you're in for a great summer. That's the way I like to see excess CC's dealt with...swiftly and surely.

Yes, refills are available as a set or individually on the website. Thanks again for the nice words about the kit.
 
Tested it this morning and its down to 5 ppm. Perfect.

Sample from the pool place came as follows.

FC-5
CC-.5
TC-5.5
PH-7.2
TA-100
CH-290
CYA-70

Very close to my numbers and the CC is a bit high due to a huge storm and wind that went through. I have to vacuum and do a small amount of shock to kill everything off again.

Got some liquid chlorine and wheyee that stuff is strong. Should work well. Plan to put that in tonight unless it storms again. Rain and wind forecasted all day today so we will have to wait and see to maybe tonight I think.

Again, thanks to everyone for their help. I think I am on the right path now.
 

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