Hi From Dallas TX, help needed

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missourian

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Sep 11, 2013
119
DFW Metroplex
Hello All, First time homebuyer and pool owner, knows nothing about pool, its been 2 weeks still struggling to set the pool right before I allow my kids to swim. I have ordered my TF100 kit and it should be here by mid next week, below are the readings from Leslies ( Got this two days back)

Free Chlorine - 0 (LOW)
Total Available Chlorine - 0 (LOW)
Calcium Hardness - 300
Cyanuric acid - 70
TA - 60 ( LOW)
PH - 7 (LOW)
Phosphates - 100

Based on Leslies recommendation, I added below items to the pool as per the instruction label
1. CHLOR BRITE - 3lbs ( He told this is shock)
2. SODA ASH - 4lbs

Added # 1 and #2 after 12 hours apart, pool running at least 8 hours per day, water looks clear. Also, sine I am unable open the inline chlorinator cap, dumped three 3" tablets each in two skimmers. Please help me in getting the chemistry right so that kids can swim at least by this Sunday if possible.
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

Well you made one step forward by ordering a good test kit, but 2 steps back by listening to their advice.

The CYA number is already high and you just added 3 pounds of dichlor which will add another 15ppm of CYA. Also that dichlor only raise the FC by 17ppm and according to the FC/CYA Chart to properly SLAM the pool, you need to maintain the FC at around 30ppm ... depending on what your CYA really is.

And on top of that ... you are continuing to use the tablets (which should never be put in the skimmers BTW) which are made of trichlor and adding even MORE CYA to the pool.

You need to take a step back and read and learn the info in Pool School starting with these:
ABCs of Water Chemistry
Recommended Pool Chemicals
How to Chlorinate Your Pool

What does your water currently look like?
Likely it "could" be safe to swim this weekend, but you really need better test results and you need to be using liquid chlorine / bleach and NOT any more solid forms of chlorine.
 
Welcome to tfp, missourian :wave:

jbliz beat me, but here are my comments:

missourian said:
I have ordered my TF100 kit
Click to expand...
:goodjob:

I would wait to add anymore stuff (except bleach/liquid chlorine) until your test kit comes.

missourian said:
2. SODA ASH - 4lbs
Click to expand...
Soda ash is fine when your TA is really low, but yours wasn't too bad. It would have raised your TA by about ~ 30 ppm which puts you at the top of our recommended range (70-90 ppm TA). Unless you are planning on using trichlor to chlorinate (pucks, sticks, etc.), we would have recommend borax to raise ph.

missourian said:
1. CHLOR BRITE - 3lbs ( He told this is shock)
Click to expand...
Chlor Brite appears to be dichlor and no more should be added to your pool if 70 ppm is correct for your cyanuric acid (cya) level. Dichlor adds cya to the pool. Our recommended range is 30-50ppm cya.

missourian said:
Also, sine I am unable open the inline chlorinator cap, dumped three 3" tablets each in two skimmers
Click to expand...
We do not recommend adding the tablets (they are trichlor as mentioned above) to a skimmer, it can be hard on the equipment. Trichlor also adds cya to the water, which as mentioned above, you have too much already (assuming we trust the leslies test, which I wouldn't...you could even be higher). Stop using the Trichlor and only use bleach/liquid chlorine for now. See: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/types_chlorine_pool and http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/pool_water_chemistry

missourian said:
Please help me in getting the chemistry right so that kids can swim at least by this Sunday if possible.
Click to expand...
What do you have for a test kit at home right now? Do you have the drop based chlorine and ph kit? (sometimes called a 2-way or 3-way kit...the vials for the two tests are usually attached to each other with a color comparators also attached).
 
jblizzle said:
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

Well you made one step forward by ordering a good test kit, but 2 steps back by listening to their advice.

The CYA number is already high and you just added 3 pounds of dichlor which will add another 15ppm of CYA. Also that dichlor only raise the FC by 17ppm and according to the FC/CYA Chart to properly SLAM the pool, you need to maintain the FC at around 30ppm ... depending on what your CYA really is.

And on top of that ... you are continuing to use the tablets (which should never be put in the skimmers BTW) which are made of trichlor and adding even MORE CYA to the pool.

You need to take a step back and read and learn the info in Pool School starting with these:
ABCs of Water Chemistry
Recommended Pool Chemicals
How to Chlorinate Your Pool

What does your water currently look like?
Likely it "could" be safe to swim this weekend, but you really need better test results and you need to be using liquid chlorine / bleach and NOT any more solid forms of chlorine.
Click to expand...

Thank You, I should stop listening to Leslies guy :-D , I will spend the rest of this afternoon in readings the topics you listed.
 
missourian said:
Please help me in getting the chemistry right so that kids can swim at least by this Sunday if possible.
Click to expand...
What do you have for a test kit at home right now? Do you have the drop based chlorine and ph kit? (sometimes called a 2-way or 3-way kit...the vials for the two tests are usually attached to each other with a color comparators also attached).
Click to expand...


Thank you, I don't have any kit to measure chlorine and ph available at home, do you recommend something until I get my TF100, I live 3 miles of Leslies? I just removed all six 3" tablets from skimmer. Where to get liquid chlorine? I read from one of the post that if cyanuric went too high it will be difficult to bring it down.
 
If the CYA is too high, you have to drain and replace water to get it back down to the recommended range. Although this is usually only "required" if you end up with algae and need to SLAM the pool.

If the water is clear, and the CYA is not astronomical (>100) then you can get by with just maintaining a higher FC level.

You can find liquid chlorine (10% or 12.5%) or bleach (8.25%) at Walmart or any hardware store or even Leslies probably has the 10% stuff, but it will be cheaper going somewhere else.
 
Just for clarification ... Bleach ( Clorox, Walmart house brand, Home Depot etc) are liquid chlorine.

The liquid chlorine at the pool store is just a higher concentration.

For the time being just go with the generic 8.25% stuff (usually comes in a 121 oz bottle and says "concentrated - same as 196 oz").

Once you wrap your head around effective cost per oz start exploring other concentrations. That's a lot to absorb on day zero.
 
jblizzle said:
If the CYA is too high, you have to drain and replace water to get it back down to the recommended range. Although this is usually only "required" if you end up with algae and need to SLAM the pool.

If the water is clear, and the CYA is not astronomical (>100) then you can get by with just maintaining a higher FC level.

You can find liquid chlorine (10% or 12.5%) or bleach (8.25%) at Walmart or any hardware store or even Leslies probably has the 10% stuff, but it will be cheaper going somewhere else.
Click to expand...

Thank you
 

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Thanks everyone, while I am waiting for my TF100 to arrive( FedEx already reported that the shipment is delayed because of Colorado floods). I am planning to do the shock only after having TF100 in my hand, I have purchased an 4 way kit from Ace and I added below things;

1. One Gallon of HTH liquid chlorine(10% available chlorine).
2. 4 lbs of Borax
3. Approx 4 lbs of Baking Soda
4. Some muriatic acid to balance the Ph spike.

Already noticing my water is sparkling and we were able to swim, there is no chlorine smell whatsoever, but there is a mild burning sensation in our eyes.Here is my reading from my 4 way kit and Leslies (They both almost matching)

FC 3.0 (OK)
PH 7.5 (OK)
Alkalinity 90 (OK)
Cyanuric acid 90 ( I am worried, Only Leslies able to report this)
Phosphates - 300 ( it went from 100 to 300, but according to this forum I shouldn't pay attention to it?)

I don't have an answer for why my Cyanuric acid went from 70 to 90. I am worried if I did something wrong? I learnt so much in past few days by reading this forum and I appreciate the experts from this forum for keeping it live. I already cancelled my pool cleaning guy for this week. I pay $35 on a weekly basis to balance the chemicals and do some basic cleaning.
 
The burning sensation may be CC in the water.

Ignore the leslies cya measurement, it is probably wrong. Were you using triclor pucks or dichlor granules to chlorinate previously?

Ignore phosphates, they do not matter in a properly chlorinated pool.

I would stop adding chemicals other than chlorine till your kit comes since it looks like you are chasing your tail with the chemicals you added.
 
linen said:
The burning sensation may be CC in the water.

Ignore the leslies cya measurement, it is probably wrong. Were you using triclor pucks or dichlor granules to chlorinate previously?

Ignore phosphates, they do not matter in a properly chlorinated pool.

I would stop adding chemicals other than chlorine till your kit comes since it looks like you are chasing your tail with the chemicals you added.
Click to expand...

Yes I was using dichlor before, I won't be adding any more chemicals to the pool until I have my TF100
 
Got the TF100 today and ran my tests today, testing is little tricky especially CYA, here are my readings.


FC 1.4
CC 3.0
TC 4.5
PH 7.8
Alkalinity 100
CYA 40 ( Leslies reported this as 100 )

I just added liquid chlorine(45 oz of 8.25% bleach) to bring FC to 4 based CYA chart, hope I am doing good, I never shocked my pool before, do I still need to do the shock?
 
missourian said:
FC 1.4
Click to expand...
How many drops was this? There is a misprint in some tf-100 kits that says to multiply drops by 0.05...it should be multiply number of drops by 0.5.

missourian said:
CC 3.0
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How many drops was this? I assume 6? If yes, your result is right and you have high CC and need to do the SLAM process: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/shocking_your_pool Before you start I would drop you ph down to 7.2-7.4 with Muriatic Acid.

missourian said:
CYA 40 ( Leslies reported this as 100 )
Click to expand...
I am glad you waited for your kit before doing a drain/refill...yours is at a good level!

missourian said:
I just added liquid chlorine(45 oz of 8.25% bleach) to bring FC to 4 based CYA chart, hope I am doing good, I never shocked my pool before, do I still need to do the shock?
Click to expand...
Yes do the SLAM process.
 
How many drops was this? There is a misprint in some tf-100 kits that says to multiply drops by 0.05...it should be multiply number of drops by 0.5.
Click to expand...
it is 3 drops, yes I noticed that error in the waterproof instruction sheet, thanks for correcting it.
missourian said:
CC 3.0
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
How many drops was this? I assume 6? If yes, your result is right and you have high CC and need to do the SLAM process: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/shocking_your_pool Before you start I would drop you ph down to 7.2-7.4 with Muriatic Acid.
Click to expand...
Ok thanks I will bring it down before slamming.
 
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