Balancing water?

[Kandis22]

Hello. New to the site but this is the third year I've owned a pool. The first year I did great the water was clear all summer. The second year I couldn't seem to keep the algae from blooming and this year I opened the pool and it took less then a week to get my water clear even without a proper test kit. I super shocked the pool, vacuumed, and cleaned until I could see the bottom. The pool looked great but to be safe I finally broke down and purchased a Taylor K 2006 kit just so I wouldn't have any algae problems like the previous year. Here to find out I wasn't doing as great as I thought, my water seems kind of unbalanced to me.

FC-2.4
CC-0.2
PH-7.4
Alk-60
CH-230
CYA- I'm assuming 0 because even all the way filled up I could see the black dot
My temp readings say 63-65 degrees F

Now I'm sort of at a loss on how to properly balance the water. If I am understanding correctly I need to raise the ALK first. To do that I'm assuming I need to add baking soda to the water? Or am I missing something else that needs corrected like the CYA. I really appreciate any feedback as I have two young kids who are dying to swim in the pool but I'm unsure on whether it is safe or not.

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

Nope, Alkalinity is the last thing you need to mess with. You need to get some CYA in that water so the chlorine will hold. That will keep the algae away.

Be sure you did the test correctly, and try to remember what sort of "shock" you added to the pool, because it's rare to see no CYA except on a fresh fill.

​

Anyway... let's say you did things right. Assume the worst and say you have less than 20 CYA in there. Target 50 on poolmath and see how much stabilizer it says to add. Measure that out into a sock and set it in the skimmer if you can do it without restricting the flow. Otherwise hang it in front of a return.

At the moment, your FC level is safe to swim, and so is the pH. Assuming the water is clear and you can see to the bottom, the only thing keeping the kids out is the temperature. If the kids do get in, take the sock out and set it in a bucket so they don;t start playing with it and spill it out. You will need to raise the FC as the CYA dissolves. You will need to add some every day, regardless. If TA is still low like that in a week, then consider adding some baking soda. But if the pH holds steady, you lucked into the sweet spot and can leave it alone. After a week, check the CYA and see where it is and add more if it's needed.

Once you start doing it, the testing and dosing will start to make more sense.

 

[Azgirl71]

First you want to get FC up. When you test CYA you want the water to be at least 70*. You can get a sample of water and set it in the sun to let it warm up and then test. If it is still low, use the Pool Math Calculator to determine how much Stablizer you need to at least get to 30. How does your water look?

Welcome to TFP!

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

The most important part is to keep your chlorine level above the minimum level for your CYA level on the Chlorine CYA Chart. Allowing FC to drop below the min will let algae start growing.

The next most important part is to keep your PH between 7.2 and 7.8. See links below on how to adjust it.

Richard has you covered on adding CYA/stabilizer. We can work on TA and CH later.

Here are some intro Pool School articles to read
TFPC for Beginners
ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry

Here are the Recommended Levels for your pool.
Here are the Recommended Pool Chemicals to maintain your pool and how to add them.
Use PoolMath to figure out how much to add.