Newbie Newb With Numbers!

[TabiD]

Hello All,

I've been lurking about for several weeks reading, rereading, and reading things over again!
I did order and finally get my TF-100 today ( DHL ... TFTestkits), and now have actual real and useful information to post and question.

FC 8
CC 0
TC 8
pH 7.2 (more on this later...UGH)
T/A 200
CYA 100
Temp 90*

According to the Clorine/CYA chart I should raise my clorine almost double.

According to the things I am reading here, I am terrified to think what my CYA levels were before this year and all the rain we have had. Does my CYA need to be lowered, or is it best just to keep it where it is and be mindful of keeping the pool more clorinated?

If I understand what I have read here, having a high T/A level tends to increase your pH levels. Am I correct in this assumption? If that is the truth, does anyone have any best guesses as to why it's been so difficult to get my pH raised this year. When we started the year it was lower than 6.8 according to testing. (The color was closer to a dark yellow than to the almost orange of the indicator on the kit.)

Thank you for any and all knowledge you folks can share. This is the first year we have tried the BBB method. We are about 40 miles from the nearest pool store so this is an amazing boon for us.

Just a bit about our pool use (hopefully the statics are added correctly into my signature). My husband and I share a home with my sister and five of her six children. My parents live next door and two of my teenage neices live with them. My brother and his three children live one block down the street. I have an young adult neice that spends every other weekend with my parents. The family living in this house use our pool every single day from early morning to late evening. The family next door use our every day, at least once a day. The family living down the block use our pool at least once a week. So we have a LOT of pool traffic! And it's important to us to keep it clean and safe for all of us.

Thanks again for any help!

Tab

 

[Swimgirl]

An expert should chime in shortly. I think high T/A levels tend to lock your Ph, making it more difficult for the Ph to rise and lower.

Maybe get your T/A down some w/ muriatic acid, and raise your Ph by aerating your water? I did that just by turning the return jet upwards so the water broke the surface, and I was surprised at how much my Ph went up!

Also, there has been some posts lately that the tip on the reagent used for T/A test (0009) in some of the TF-100 kits is bad. Are you sure your T/A reading is right? I just got my TF-100 last week, and my tip is good, btw., so not all new kits are affected like that. The way to tell is if your drops from the 0009 bottle are about the same size as the drops from the other bottles.

 

[JasonLion]

One of the problems with a CYA reading of 100 is that many of the CYA tests will read 100 when CYA is actually much higher than 100. It would be a really good idea to lower your CYA level down below 100 and preferably much lower. The only practical way to lower CYA is by replacing water.

One of the things you need to do is to look at how the CYA level got so high. Trichlor tablets contain CYA, as does Dichlor based chlorine granules, often sold as "shock". If you keep using either of those products you are going to continue having CYA problems.

High TA levels both make it difficult to change the PH and tend to slowly push the PH up. In some pools high TA will push up the PH rapidly, in other pools very slowly. If you have been using trichlor tablets, they will tend to push the PH down, which may be why you have been having trouble keeping the PH up. If you can create some aeration, fountain, waterfall, pointing a return up so it breaks the surface, that will cause the PH to rise.

You might want to check out this post about possible problems with the TA test in recent TF100 kits.

 

[duraleigh]

More and more, I am convinced the problem with the R-0009 and the alkalinity test was static electricity. Wiping the dropper tip with a damp clean cloth before starting the drop count seems to cure that issue each time someone tries it.

The remaining mystery is how a batch of R-0009 fluid is able to have a different electrical charge than another. We sold this product for 15 months without a complaint and our newest batch of R-0009 seems to behave normally when dropped from the bottle. I am still at a loss to determine exactly which bottles were affected or how we can prevent it in the future.....very frustrating but apparently resolved.

 

[TabiD]

No wonder we have felt like we've been fighting a losing battle. We have been.

Trichlor/Dichlor, are probably the main offenders. When we opened the pool for the season, it was black (a first for us) and took us two weeks and a lot of bad advice from and a lot of money to the pool store to get it cleaned up and swimmable (I wish I had found this site first!).

Hubby is trying to nix the water replacement because of high temperatures this week, but a few quiet moments alone will allow him to see things more clearly! It's difficult to explain things clearly when the kids are clamoring because hubby just got home.

I actually had another TA test kit here (from earlier this year) and was able to do both, one right after the other and came up with the same results. I was easily able to count drops and there was no 'droplet jumping' I took this to mean my TA test from the TF100 kit is fine.

Looks like tomorrow is a fine day to rinse and repeat...or empty and refill as the case may be!

Thanks for the help!

 

[Swimgirl]

Don't need to empty the pool and replace all the water; just enough of it to get the CYA down to a manageable level, about 50 or so. I know that some people have replaced water in stages, but I know that also means more water total replaced to get down to the target level. Anyway, I think you need to replace about half your water. Better than replacing the whole thing, isn't it? (Actually if you don't want to replace that much, I know some have said they have run the pool a little higher with the CYA, to about 70 or so, just used more chlorine.)

And the high CYA is probably why you had a black pool for the first time when you opened it this year.