New pool; Newbie operator; Help with test results?

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Wrobert

LifeTime Supporter
Apr 12, 2014
21
Virginia
Hello, love the site been reading for awhile, but just got a login so I could ask some questions. We just put in a pool late last summer/early fall and have been in it twice before it got too cold. It's a plaster pool, between 24 and 25k gal. We went through the procedures we were told to do when it was first filled (brushing, backwashing, chemicals etc...) for a little over three months even though we couldn't swim. I just opened it about two weeks ago. It was a light green, I got it crystal clear and brought a sample to the local store and most all seems great. After doing a lot more reading and looking through Pool School, I got my TF-100 kit and ran my own tests several times (I love new toys, the SpeedStir is great) with my results all ending the same. As I was expecting (from reading here) they were different from the pool store. Some differences are significant others not so much. I assume everyone here is going to agree to follow my results. Here are all of the results, I'll ask questions after:

Day 1 8:00 pm:
temp 67
pH 7.6
FC 14.5
CC .5
TC 15
TA 110
CH 130
CYA <20

Day 2 (next morning):
Temp 66
pH 7.6
FC 12.5
CC <.5
TC 13 approx
TA 100
CH 130
CYA <20

Same sample from Day 2
Pool store #1
pH 7.1
FC 6.8
CC 1.6
TC 8.4
TA (w/ stabilizer correction) 42
CH 51
CYA 2

Pool store #2
pH 7.7
TC 9.6
FC 9.6
TA 89
Adj. TA 69
CH 171
CYA 65

As you can see the results differ. I am currently using Trichlor and it's covered with a solar blanket. I realize that the TC will drop once the cover is off and the CYA is so low. The questions: What would a pool guru do? I'm concerned with hardness, Pool math says add 30lbs of CaCl2 one store says 48lbs the other says it's ok. My results say TA is ok; pool stores say add 36 or 26lbs of their stuff. From these results what should I worry about? One place said let it sit until it warms some more and the cover had been off for awhile.

Any advice and tips would be greatly appreciated.

Wade
 
Welcome to TFP!

First, trust your results and ignore the pool store results. You are getting consistent values and are probably already better at testing than they are.

FC level is way too high given your low CYA level. Sunlight will take care of that.

You need to raise the CH level. CH should be raised to roughly 300.

We don't recommend using trichlor for the long run. As long as you are continuing to use trichlor you want TA a little higher, at least 120, and CYA is good where it is. If you stop using trichlor (recommended) you will want to let TA drift down and raise CYA to the 40 to 50 range.
 
Those pool store results are impressively different. I can hardly imagine the wrong stuff being sold to people with results that bad. Might as well just spill a Wheel of Chemicals and put in whatever it lands on.
 
Thanks for the input. My thinking was to use the trichlor while my CYA is low and monitor my TA and pH (I have a 50# bucket of the stuff), when the CYA is closer to where it should be then switch over to bleach. Am I correct in understanding that if I use the trichlor it's going to to drive my pH down, while pushing my CYA up and if it's pushing pH down that's why I need to try to keep my TA higher. Having the the CYA lower will only make it necessary to put in more trichlor more often until CYA starts to climb, right? Would this be a good strategy or would it just be better to put in the CYA and go straight to bleach and just use the trichlor if I go on vacation?
 

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You seem to have a pretty good grasp of things, aside from wasting time going to the pool store. Unless you're just doing it for entertainment.

Anyway... You can use trichlor to raise FC and CYA. It will tend to drive pH and TA down. You can use Effects of Adding Chemicals down at the bottom of Pool Math to see what it will do. Most pucks are 8 oz. You could also use Cl-hyp to chlorinate, which will raise the CH and the FC and pretty much leave everything else alone. As long as you pay attention to how much CYA or CH you're adding, you should be okay. One way to do it is to figure out how much each bag of cal-hyp adds to your pool and figure out how many pounds total you will need, and only buy that much. Then just use that to chlorinate every day until it's all gone. Same with the trichlor. Just don't mix the two! Once they're dissolved and circulated, it doesn't matter, but keep the powders and pucks away from each other. Only add one at a time to the pool.

[Edit: Butterfly]To avoid confusion,[end edit] you might want to add each chemical separately. Personally, I'd add enough CYA to get to about 40 using the sock method and chlorinate with Cal-hypo until CH got up into the 200s somewhere and save the pucks for vacations.
 
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