Hi…we just built a new pool, and it was handed over to us on 6/19, so I've been working on it for a week. I made the first trip to Leslie's last week for muriatic acid and I did get some tricolor pucks (more on the WHY of that later…but there is a reason). I live in Houston, and aside from all the rain during our build, it has been hot. I have had to add water once (yesterday, and then it rained REALLY hard last night) -- so I was worried about the chemistry this morning. I am not sure on the actual gallons of my pool, but I have been using 22K gallons in pool math (when I had to add MA) and it worked 
So here are the numbers (yes, I have the TF-100 test kit)---and I've been testing almost everyday, just to get familiarity with the tests and making sure I am not missing anything (and because, it is kinda fun and exciting too!):
6/20: FC=.5, CC=.5, TC=1, CH=200, TA=120, CYA=30, pH=8.2. I immediately dosed with bleach and acid and freaked out on this day b/c the chlorine was so low and the pH so high. PB had been using tricolor pucks in the rainbow, but had dialed it back to a "2" and it was not enough!
I'll skip the next couple days (unless someone asks for the results, but it is more of the same as above, except that FC went to 4, and CC went to 0, and pH 7.5)
6/26: FC=6, CC=0, TC=6, CH=175, TA=120, CYA=30, pH 7.8
6/28: FC=3 (additional water add and lots of rain), CC=0, CH=150, TA=110, CYA=30, pH=7.8
I added chlorine this morning, after the rain -- but honestly, I didn't measure it out perfectly. I only had what was left in one jug, so added it and thought I will check it again this evening, when I get more bleach. It was about 64 oz, and pool math said around 96oz to get to 6. I am about to run up to the store and get something for the CH, I looked at pool math, and I either need 22 lbs of one or 30 lbs of the other type of calcium chloride.
I guess I just want to make sure I am looking at this correctly, and doing this right? Does this make sense.
Also, on the trichlor pucks I told you I purchased…we are going on vacation for 2 weeks out of the summer. I plan to use the pucks in the rainbow while we are gone. If my CYA goes up due to them, I think it is ok because I am only at 30 right now. I don't want to raise the CYA with stabilizer right now, just for the vacation issue. I want to make sure that my thought process is ok for this too -- it is ok to keep CYA on the very low end, knowing that I will raise it in a couple weeks, and then again in early August. The way the summer is here, I am going to be adding water throughout the summer anyway.
Ok, I think those are all my water chemistry questions for now. My only other thought is that, I may have gotten the FC and CC wrong on the first test, because it was the very first time using my test kit…but whatever I did, seemed to not "hurt" the pool. And the water is very blue and sparkly, and clear at this point. Oh, and one more thing…that CYA test is tricky. I really don't know if I am doing it "right"…I mean sometimes I think I can see the dot, but then sometimes I think I am imagining that I see the dot b/c I know it is there...
I hope I didn't forget any pertinent facts…
So here are the numbers (yes, I have the TF-100 test kit)---and I've been testing almost everyday, just to get familiarity with the tests and making sure I am not missing anything (and because, it is kinda fun and exciting too!):
6/20: FC=.5, CC=.5, TC=1, CH=200, TA=120, CYA=30, pH=8.2. I immediately dosed with bleach and acid and freaked out on this day b/c the chlorine was so low and the pH so high. PB had been using tricolor pucks in the rainbow, but had dialed it back to a "2" and it was not enough!
I'll skip the next couple days (unless someone asks for the results, but it is more of the same as above, except that FC went to 4, and CC went to 0, and pH 7.5)
6/26: FC=6, CC=0, TC=6, CH=175, TA=120, CYA=30, pH 7.8
6/28: FC=3 (additional water add and lots of rain), CC=0, CH=150, TA=110, CYA=30, pH=7.8
I added chlorine this morning, after the rain -- but honestly, I didn't measure it out perfectly. I only had what was left in one jug, so added it and thought I will check it again this evening, when I get more bleach. It was about 64 oz, and pool math said around 96oz to get to 6. I am about to run up to the store and get something for the CH, I looked at pool math, and I either need 22 lbs of one or 30 lbs of the other type of calcium chloride.
I guess I just want to make sure I am looking at this correctly, and doing this right? Does this make sense.
Also, on the trichlor pucks I told you I purchased…we are going on vacation for 2 weeks out of the summer. I plan to use the pucks in the rainbow while we are gone. If my CYA goes up due to them, I think it is ok because I am only at 30 right now. I don't want to raise the CYA with stabilizer right now, just for the vacation issue. I want to make sure that my thought process is ok for this too -- it is ok to keep CYA on the very low end, knowing that I will raise it in a couple weeks, and then again in early August. The way the summer is here, I am going to be adding water throughout the summer anyway.
Ok, I think those are all my water chemistry questions for now. My only other thought is that, I may have gotten the FC and CC wrong on the first test, because it was the very first time using my test kit…but whatever I did, seemed to not "hurt" the pool. And the water is very blue and sparkly, and clear at this point. Oh, and one more thing…that CYA test is tricky. I really don't know if I am doing it "right"…I mean sometimes I think I can see the dot, but then sometimes I think I am imagining that I see the dot b/c I know it is there...
I hope I didn't forget any pertinent facts…
