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Ascheick

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Oct 31, 2013
17
I've been ripped by my pool store for months now and am diving into the bbb program. I've reading all of the great info on the site but I can't say I've got it all down yet. I won't bore anybody with my long story so I will stick to the facts. Hundreds at the pool store as they helped me setup to leave the country for a few weeks. Come back and it's a complete swamp, and this happens every month. I ordered the Taylor 2006 kit before I left since I knew I would have a problem when I returned. Now I'm having a hard time knowing where to start since some chemicals directly effect multiple levels/readings. I didn't want to throw anything in until I was sure.


Here is what I'm at: I know; it's bad
Fc 1.2ppm
Cc. 0 ppm
Ph 6.7
Ta 70ppm
Ca. 140 ppm
Cya 100

16,000 gallon pool, painted plaster, cartridge, 2hp pentair. 60 year old pool all new equipment


Thanks a ton
 
Welcome to tfp, Ascheick :wave:

Ascheick said:
Here is what I'm at: I know; it's bad
Click to expand...
No worries, we'll help you through it.

How did you measure ph that low?

I would start by getting the ph up to at least 7.2 using Borax. Use the "Pool Math" calculator near top left of page to do the calculations.

Next, you need to do a significant drain/refill. When the kit measures cya of 100, it often can be much higher. In order to know how much, I would repeat your cya test, this time mixing 1/2 pool water with 1/2 cya free water (tap water is fine for this) and repeat the test. When you get that new result, multiply it by two to get a better estimation of your cya.

Post back your results.
 
Welcome to the forum. These guys are great and very helpful. I just started on this forum myself with the same issues you seem to have. My CYA was 100 or so I thought. It turned out to be much higher and it took 5 partial drains/refills to bring CYA down to 45. Don't be surprised if it takes several drain/refills before you start seeing a change in CYA. It just takes a little time but if I can do it anyone can.
 
Ascheick:
Everyone has provided great advice, so I will simply welcome you to TFP! :wave:

Sorry to hear about your pool store experience, but you are not alone. We'll help you set things straight. I would suggest spending some time in Pool School, beginning with the article ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry. This will give you a good baseline on water chemistry from which the remaining articles will make much more sense. If you invest the time reading these articles over the winter, you will be much more in command of your pool come spring.
 
Thank you for the warm welcome. I will read through the pool school again tomorrow to get a better feel of the chemistry. I'm in Orlando, so winter is a long ways away and it won't last long. I need to get this fixed so I can swim! :) Pool season is far from over
 
I have added the borax and I am waiting a hour or so before I retest the Ph.

I redid the cya test and got a reading of 90. The definition of "just disappears" i feel is a little vague. My results were somewhere between 100-80 cya depending on what your definition of what just disappears is.

I ran the CYA test again the way you recommended with 3.5ml of tap water, and 3.5ml of pool water. Then 7ml of the solution. I could fill the whole tube then, and still see the dot. So now I'm lost. 1 drop changes the reading by 10ppm, and I feel just disappearing could be debated by 3 drops if you are outside in the sun.

I have drained and refilled about 1.5 ft of the pool, since my last test.

Thanks again for the help
 

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What do you mean 1 or 3 drops could change the CYA reading? Your 2 tests are not consistent for some reason.

That test should always be done outside with your back to the sun and the tube at waist level. Pour the solution back and forth to until you get consistent readings.
 
Okay I re-did the test. I'm unsure what I did wrong last time, but this time I got 90ppm. When I split it in half I got 45.... So now we are consistent. I have added the borax and tested the ph at 7.7.
 
Is your pool going to stay open, or are you closing it? If you are keeping it open, then the first thing to do is reduce the cya to ~ 50 ppm. This will require ~45% drain/refill. Do you know what your ground water level is? If it is possibly high, then you need to drain in smaller increments, or use another approach.
 
Okay the cya reads 42ppm after about a 45% drain and refill. My ph read 7.8-7.9, so it's high. Idk if I added to much borax a few days ago or if the tap water affected it. I was going to add some mutation acid to drop the ph then SLAM. Is that correct?
 

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