close the combined is less than .5, looks good so far, depending on your CYA level, note the CYA test needs to be done outdoors in full sunlight with the sun to your back for best results (watch the youtube video)
Wasn't expecting a pool?!
- Thread starter Cm_ls1
- Start date
- Dec 13, 2013
- 128
- Dec 13, 2013
- 128
- Dec 13, 2013
- 128
The calcium one was a bit of a funny one when I added the drops it sort of went to the bottom and wouldn't swirl to well , so I put the lid on and gave it a good shake , it then took 20 drops to go blue , if you look closely you can see like little particles suspended in there 
- Dec 13, 2013
- 128
Added pool water to the first line in the supplied bottle ,
then filled it with the cya agent (Dang that wastes a lot of the bottle to fill to the second line)
Anyway shook it really well for 30-40 seconds.
And started filling the small tube with the black dot ( sorry Issac I missed your post to have sun to my back) it was in the afternoon daylight though)
Looked at the gauge - between 30-40 , around 34 to be exact, nearly filled to the top before the black dot was completely gone.
then filled it with the cya agent (Dang that wastes a lot of the bottle to fill to the second line)
Anyway shook it really well for 30-40 seconds.
And started filling the small tube with the black dot ( sorry Issac I missed your post to have sun to my back) it was in the afternoon daylight though)
Looked at the gauge - between 30-40 , around 34 to be exact, nearly filled to the top before the black dot was completely gone.
Ok, so far so good, everything looks promising, CYA is a little lower than ideal, but not too much and your FC is a little higher than needed for your CYA level. Often what we see is the other way around, yours will be much easier to fix. You will not need to test / adjust CYA often, but do remember it can take up to a week to show up on test after adding powdered CYA to the pool (also when adding we suggest using an old sock and hanging it in front of a water return, CYA is acidic and very slow to dissolve) Assuming you did the CYA test in direct sunlight your reading is probably a bit on the high side, so I would work with assuming CYA of 30 for now, but either way at that end of the scale you should be close. (in direct sun tends to read low, in low light levels like indoors it tends to read high, this is part of why we tend to dis trust pool store testing on CYA so much as they rarely have correct lighting).
I am not sure what is going on with your CH, perhaps someone else here will know
Ike
I am not sure what is going on with your CH, perhaps someone else here will know
Ike
Looks like you did a good job. And learned why we tend to recommend the other kits ... The k2006 just does not have enough of some of the reagents.
- Dec 13, 2013
- 128
So fc is a little high , that's probably cause of the granular chlorine my dad threw in last week when we moved in, it was originals according to the first pool shop 9.5ppm , and now it's sitting at around 7.5 a week later , I've had the swg at 80% for about 4 hrs a day, but yesterday turned it back down I just over 50%
Alkalinity is a bit high according to pool school for swg , should be 60-70 but my ph is fine, so should I add acid to lower TA , and then try to increase ph by aeration?
Calcium hardness is a bit low at 200 as well, you say for swg 250-350 (plaster )
Cya @ 30 is also low , recommended 60-70 for swg
, don't get me wrong I've gone for a swim and the water feels great , I just want to get it perfect by the numbers and bbb method , although I am open to using chemical that are already here , for example there is Muriatic acid , there is an unopened bag of calcium hardness increaser etc etc
Alkalinity is a bit high according to pool school for swg , should be 60-70 but my ph is fine, so should I add acid to lower TA , and then try to increase ph by aeration?
Calcium hardness is a bit low at 200 as well, you say for swg 250-350 (plaster )
Cya @ 30 is also low , recommended 60-70 for swg
, don't get me wrong I've gone for a swim and the water feels great
, I just want to get it perfect by the numbers and bbb method , although I am open to using chemical that are already here , for example there is Muriatic acid , there is an unopened bag of calcium hardness increaser etc etc
Lets take those 1 at a time:
You may want to just turn off the SWG for a few hours during the day and let the FC drop which should happen fairly fast with your low CYA level while the water is exposed to sunlight. Alternatively you can let it drift down now that your SWG is turned down to 50% This is not one I would worry about much either way since you have already turned it down some.
Don't worry about TA yet, it is really a fine tuning thing, wait until you get everything else in line first
You will want to get your CH up, but it would probably also be a good idea to test the CH of your fill water so you will get an idea of what to expect in terms of long term drift.
With a CYA of 30 your pool is burning through Chlorine much faster than needed as a result your SWG is having to run at higher levels to maintain appropriate FC levels, this in turn means shorter SWG cell life.
On a positive note it looks like you may get to use up some of those pails of dry chemicals, Balance Pak 300 adds CH, and depending on if it is dichlor, trichlor, or Cal-Hypo dry chlorine products add either CYA or CH as a secondary effect.
Ike
You may want to just turn off the SWG for a few hours during the day and let the FC drop which should happen fairly fast with your low CYA level while the water is exposed to sunlight. Alternatively you can let it drift down now that your SWG is turned down to 50% This is not one I would worry about much either way since you have already turned it down some.
Don't worry about TA yet, it is really a fine tuning thing, wait until you get everything else in line first
You will want to get your CH up, but it would probably also be a good idea to test the CH of your fill water so you will get an idea of what to expect in terms of long term drift.
With a CYA of 30 your pool is burning through Chlorine much faster than needed as a result your SWG is having to run at higher levels to maintain appropriate FC levels, this in turn means shorter SWG cell life.
On a positive note it looks like you may get to use up some of those pails of dry chemicals, Balance Pak 300 adds CH, and depending on if it is dichlor, trichlor, or Cal-Hypo dry chlorine products add either CYA or CH as a secondary effect.
Ike
- Dec 13, 2013
- 128
See my natural way forward on this is to add chemicals conservatively and test more often , but then I've got the test kit to conserve lest needing to buy more reagents doh.
how much calcium should I add?
The water looks clear during the day, but turning on the pool light at night reveals like millions of tiny suspended/floating particles , could that be algae?
I've tried to take pic , but not sure how well you see it
Close up
how much calcium should I add?
The water looks clear during the day, but turning on the pool light at night reveals like millions of tiny suspended/floating particles , could that be algae?
I've tried to take pic , but not sure how well you see it
Close up
Looking at the water at night with the light on always reveals floaties ... you just need to filter more if it bothers you.
Check what ingredients the dry chems have and then use Pool Math to tell you what they will add to the pool.
Check what ingredients the dry chems have and then use Pool Math to tell you what they will add to the pool.
I doubt you have a algae problem at the moment given your relatively high FC to CYA ratio, and lack of CC, you could do an overnight chlorine loss test to confirm though. This involves testing FC from dark in the evening until dark before sunrise and making sure you have less than a .5 ppm loss during the night when there is no UV burn off to account for. Needless to say you should not swim or add anything to the pool while doing this test.
If you post back a list of the ingredients and rough amounts of the dry chemicals you have available along with the size of your pool we will help confirm your doseage to get things in order.
Ike
If you post back a list of the ingredients and rough amounts of the dry chemicals you have available along with the size of your pool we will help confirm your doseage to get things in order.
Ike
- Dec 13, 2013
- 128
Ok these are the supplies I've found -
Calcium hardness increaser 1.5kg (doesn't say ingredients)
Calcium hypochlorite - 4kg
Black spot algecide (100g/l benzalkonium ch and 50g/l copper complex)
Ph buffer (sodium bicarbonate)
Stabilized chlorine (sodium dichloroisocyanurate)
And -
Aqua shine (liquid grade flocculant)
Phosphate remover ( lanthanun chloride)
Maxi floc - (polyaluminum chloride)
And-
Cell cleaner- (phosphoric acid complex)
Hydrochloric acid(Muriatic acid)
Calcium hardness increaser 1.5kg (doesn't say ingredients)
Calcium hypochlorite - 4kg
Black spot algecide (100g/l benzalkonium ch and 50g/l copper complex)
Ph buffer (sodium bicarbonate)
Stabilized chlorine (sodium dichloroisocyanurate)
And -
Aqua shine (liquid grade flocculant)
Phosphate remover ( lanthanun chloride)
Maxi floc - (polyaluminum chloride)
And-
Cell cleaner- (phosphoric acid complex)
Hydrochloric acid(Muriatic acid)
- Dec 13, 2013
- 128
Also I'm no expert but one section of the pool has a raised garden next to it , I can't imagine it would be good for the pool when it rains or watering the garden for water and soil to run off into to pool ?!?
Ok working with what you have on a 26,000 liter pool math calc.html tells us that 1.5KG of Calcium Chloride will raise your CH by 52 ppm, the MSDS sheet for Balance Pak 300 claims it is 74-97% calcium chloride. So adding all of it should put you on the lower end of the acceptable CH range. Before adding more than that I would suggest checking the CH of your fill water, as CH will naturally build over time as water evaporates and Calcium is left behind, the rate of course depends on the Calcium level in your fill water. ( suspect yours is relatively low, but only testing will tell).
As to your CYA, you can either get some granular CYA and add it to the pool (remember to wait a week after it dissolves using the sock method before retesting) OR you can temporarily turn off your SWG and chlorinate with the dichlor dry chlorine you already have. Slowly using the 2 KG of dichlor over the course of the next few weeks for chlorination would have the secondary effect of raising your CYA by 39 ppm, which would put you right around that desired 70-75 ppm CYA for SWG pools.
At 7.6 your pH is a little on the high side, normally you would adjust this with the Hydrochloric acid you found, but since both granular CYA and Dichlor are acidic using either of the above to raise your CYA level will have the secondary effect of lowering your pH.
Ike
p.s. you are right soil in the pool is not good
one more thing NEVER mix cal-hypo with dichlor as they can react explosively, just mentioning this since you have containers of both of these types of dry chlorine
As to your CYA, you can either get some granular CYA and add it to the pool (remember to wait a week after it dissolves using the sock method before retesting) OR you can temporarily turn off your SWG and chlorinate with the dichlor dry chlorine you already have. Slowly using the 2 KG of dichlor over the course of the next few weeks for chlorination would have the secondary effect of raising your CYA by 39 ppm, which would put you right around that desired 70-75 ppm CYA for SWG pools.
At 7.6 your pH is a little on the high side, normally you would adjust this with the Hydrochloric acid you found, but since both granular CYA and Dichlor are acidic using either of the above to raise your CYA level will have the secondary effect of lowering your pH.
Ike
p.s. you are right soil in the pool is not good
one more thing NEVER mix cal-hypo with dichlor as they can react explosively, just mentioning this since you have containers of both of these types of dry chlorine
- Dec 13, 2013
- 128
Thanks Issac , every one else agree , as I'm going to add it tonight , do I need to keep the pumps going when I add it premix in bucket or just straight in the pool
Assuming you are talking about the CH increaser, you can broadcast it over the surface of the pool, it dissolves very fast in water.
Ike
Ike
- Dec 13, 2013
- 128
Thanks champ , kids have been swimming all day , the water wasn't the clearest when they where done , but thanks for the tip I'll broadcast it tonight and let the pump run for an hr or two
- Dec 13, 2013
- 128
The pool water is looking good , we've had a hot week here in Aussie .
The pool water level is a bit of a concern , it seems to be losing around 1/2 inch a day, is this evaporation? I might do the bucket test just see.
What concerns me is out the front of my house on the curb is a gentle trickle of water which now has a green slime on it , I know drains junction with other properties but just worried I'm losing water , because its a small pool it doesn't take much to fill it to the tile line half way up the skemer box.
Any thoughts ?
The pool water level is a bit of a concern , it seems to be losing around 1/2 inch a day, is this evaporation? I might do the bucket test just see.
What concerns me is out the front of my house on the curb is a gentle trickle of water which now has a green slime on it , I know drains junction with other properties but just worried I'm losing water , because its a small pool it doesn't take much to fill it to the tile line half way up the skemer box.
Any thoughts ?
