Ugh. Another stupid question...

[lissyloo]

I feel like I am NOT getting the hang of this. Our brand new pool startup was about a week ago, we had no chemicals in the pool as the builder did not get us started with chemicals, and we did not know to ask them to. So we started from scratch ourselves and are really wanting to get a handle on this pool ourselves.

I got my TF100 test kit....here are my results from today:

FC-14.5!!!
CC-0
TC-14.5
CH-475ppm
TA-280
CYA-45ish

We started out with 0 CYA, but shocked the pool with 3 bags of chlorbrite per the "poolstore" guy.....then put a couple of pucks in the dek-clor hole as we were told.....now it looks like I have WAY too much chlorine in there and have about maxed out the allowable CYA....

We have more muriatic acid and will add more tonight......I used Poolmath.....and this is the only thing it says to do? Is there something that I am missing here?

I am worried about the chlorine and the CYA level being so high already. We haven't purchased any liquid bleach to use yet, but what % chlorine bleach should we buy.....and when do you think we will need it?

Thank you for your invaluable help!

Lissy

 

[Smykowski]

First of all, take a breath, cause you're doing fine. There's nothing in your numbers to worry at all about. I'm going to let those with new contruction startup experience chime in with more info.

Also, to set your mind at ease, with a CYA of 45, I wouldn't call your FC high. I would call it "high end of the range."

 

[JasonLion]

Keeping the PH under control is your main project for a while. You will probably not need to add chlorine until the day after tomorrow.

TA is high which will raise the PH, and fresh plaster also raises PH, so you will be adjusting the PH down quite frequently, possibly twice a day, for a while. The rapid PH increase should slow down in three or four weeks.

 

[pwrstrk]

Your CYA level is ok. 30-50 ppm is what we recommend for a non SWG pool. Your high FC level will just drift down on its own.

Get what ever % liquid chlorine is cheapest. I usually buy bleach at Walmart. In the summer Ollie's has 12.5% at good deals so I buy that when they have it.

Use this for your FC levels. http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock

 

[jblizzle]

Since the CYA and CH are what they are, you just need to stop using any solid forms of chlorine and switch to liquid. At this point you can likely not add any chlorine for 2-3 days and wait for it to drop back down to the target range.

That TA is really high, did the drops for that test seem big and well formed like the other tests or were they small and shooting out quickly? Make sure to wipe the tip as the instructions tell you.

What is your pH? That is what determines if you need to add acid.

Use whatever % strength bleach you get the best deal on. Check out this tool that a member made to help know what is the best deal:
http://poncatechsquad.com/dan/calc/chlorine/

- - - Updated - - -

Holy cow ... you just got SLAMed with responses Kind of a slow day I guess.

 

[pwrstrk]

Nice thing about it is we are all in agreement. ?

 

[Richard320]

Be careful about adding acid to lower pH. When FC is above 10, the pH test results are skewed. Take a look at the captioned photos in this thread: http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/58834-Accurate-pH-test-during-shock-levels-with-R-007

And take a half-second to wipe the tip on the R-009 Reagent with a damp paper towel when doing the TA test, to be sure it's accurate. Static electricity can cause smaller drops than usual, which makes it seem higher than it is. Also, if the test goes blue --> yellow instead of green --> red/pink, that's normal with high FC.