A little (A LOT) Overwhelmed

[mayny80]

Hi Guys,

Been reading these forums for a bit and trying to be prepared and informed. We officially have the pool opened this past weekend, the pool guy came out set everything up and seemed like threw in shock and some chlorine tabs.

I believe the pool is 13-15,000 gallon semi-above ground oval pool.

I did my first testing yesterday with a Taylor K-2006, and from what I'm understanding it seems like everything is out of whack and now i'm all nervous because I will have family over this Saturday to jump in. I'm using Pool Math as well to get organized but I'd like some personal info from seasoned vets to really feel at ease.

So the tests came out as so:

PH: Very low, the watered stayed yellow for over 10 drops of the other dropper (cannot think of the name at this time. I entered it in as 6.0 just to get things moving.
TA: 10
CH 130
CYA: 90

I do believe I followed the instructions of the testing very well, but I can't help to think I messed up somewhere. The water does look decent, just needs some more vacuuming.

According to Pool Math it told me to add a gallon and quart of liquid chlorine, I'm using 10% bottles, so I added in 1 gallon last night.
It also said to add 4 pounds of Baking Soda which I did as well. The other thing it said was to add Calcium Chloride which I just ordered and will pick up today.

Please if you can let me know if I am on the right track or what I should be doing at this point to correct all of this. I do filter the pool everyday for 8 hours thus far as well.

I appreciate any help!

 

[IceShadow]

The biggest issue is the CYA. Using tabs to chlorinate adds more and more CYA - you really don’t want more than 50 or so. What fill water do you have available? At 90 CYA you want to drain down about half of the water and refill, then move to only liquid chlorine.

If you’re going to do this, it will change your other chem levels so don’t worry about adding other chems until you’ve drained/refilled, if you can start that soon.

If you can’t drain water you will need to increase your TA and pH. Soda ash will do both. Add about half of what you need to get to 50 TA and re-test pH and TA. If your pH is still low add the other half. If the pH is in line but TA is still low, switch to adding baking soda instead to get the TA up the rest of the way.

If you stick with 90 CYA you will need to add a LOT of liquid chlorine to keep it sanitary. It will be quite high and will screw up with the pH test, but you could let the FC drop enough to get the pH test done then get quickly back to sanitary levels.

You have a vinyl liner so you don’t need calcium. Ignore that recommendation.

 

[mguzzy]

Howdy and welcome to the club.. Ice is right on with his recommendation. If you can reduce your CYA by half you will retain chlorine better . If you have ready access to drain and refill your pool (like tonight), you can probably be ready for your visitors this weekend.
Also If you could add your equipment to your signature it helps us have a quick reference for your setup

 

[mayny80]

The biggest issue is the CYA. Using tabs to chlorinate adds more and more CYA - you really don’t want more than 50 or so. What fill water do you have available? At 90 CYA you want to drain down about half of the water and refill, then move to only liquid chlorine.

If you’re going to do this, it will change your other chem levels so don’t worry about adding other chems until you’ve drained/refilled, if you can start that soon.

If you can’t drain water you will need to increase your TA and pH. Soda ash will do both. Add about half of what you need to get to 50 TA and re-test pH and TA. If your pH is still low add the other half. If the pH is in line but TA is still low, switch to adding baking soda instead to get the TA up the rest of the way.

If you stick with 90 CYA you will need to add a LOT of liquid chlorine to keep it sanitary. It will be quite high and will screw up with the pH test, but you could let the FC drop enough to get the pH test done then get quickly back to sanitary levels.

You have a vinyl liner so you don’t need calcium. Ignore that recommendation.

The fill water is just the hose water, not sure what that would be considered.

If I drain and fill with the same water, wouldnt the CYA still stay high like that?

Or if I stay with the 90 CYA, what is considered a lot of liquid chlorine to keep up with it? A gallon every few days?

Draining might be a little difficult to do quickly, as there arent any sewers near and would just have to drain the water onto the dirt/land around the pool.

 

[mguzzy]

Are you on a septic? You can drain into a sewer cleanout.
Review ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry and FC/CYA Levels. You'll see why you need to get the CYA down. For your pool you should be at half the CYA level for the chlorine to be most effective. Otherwise the chlorine is all bound up in the CYA and there is less to sanitize the pool.

 

[mayny80]

Are you on a septic? You can drain into a sewer cleanout.
Review ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry and FC/CYA Levels. You'll see why you need to get the CYA down. For your pool you should be at half the CYA level for the chlorine to be most effective. Otherwise the chlorine is all bound up in the CYA and there is less to sanitize the pool.

No, we are on a sewer line. So wouldn't using the same water to fill the pool again keep the CYA level the same after filling?

 

[mayny80]

Sorry, double post.

 

[mayny80]

Howdy and welcome to the club.. Ice is right on with his recommendation. If you can reduce your CYA by half you will retain chlorine better . If you have ready access to drain and refill your pool (like tonight), you can probably be ready for your visitors this weekend.
Also If you could add your equipment to your signature it helps us have a quick reference for your setup

Thank you for the info. I have also updated my signature.

 

[splashpad]

No, we are on a sewer line. So wouldn't using the same water to fill the pool again keep the CYA level the same after filling?

No, CYA is not in tap water

 

[splashpad]

The fill water is just the hose water, not sure what that would be considered.

If I drain and fill with the same water, wouldnt the CYA still stay high like that?

Or if I stay with the 90 CYA, what is considered a lot of liquid chlorine to keep up with it? A gallon every few days?

Draining might be a little difficult to do quickly, as there arent any sewers near and would just have to drain the water onto the dirt/land around the pool.

Draining the pool by half, should reduce the CYA by half (theoretically).
The water from the pool can go out on the grass as long as it's not flowing into a pond/stream situation

 

[splashpad]

Welcome! Everyone will get you in the right direction!

I did my first testing yesterday with a Taylor K-2006, and from what I'm understanding it seems like everything is out of whack and now i'm all nervous because I will have family over this Saturday to jump in. I'm using Pool Math as well to get organized but I'd like some personal info from seasoned vets to really feel at ease.

So the tests came out as so:
PH: Very low, the watered stayed yellow for over 10 drops of the other dropper (cannot think of the name at this time. I entered it in as 6.0 just to get things moving.
TA: 10
CH 130

The PH is the red drops (which should be peach/orange colored in low PH), and should have been 5 drops or so? (I don't have the K-2006, so I will google it just to be sure)
Are you sure the TA is only 10?
IF those are correct you need to get Washing Soda in the pool ASAP. Low PH is damaging to vinyl

CYA: 90

Was this done in bright in-direct light?

 

[IceShadow]

No, we are on a sewer line. So wouldn't using the same water to fill the pool again keep the CYA level the same after filling?

What splashpad said. CYA is not in tap water - it's only added afterward via stabilizer (liquid or granules) or trichlor/dichlor (pucks and some shock).

 

[mayny80]

Welcome! Everyone will get you in the right direction!



The PH is the red drops (which should be peach/orange colored in low PH), and should have been 5 drops or so? (I don't have the K-2006, so I will google it just to be sure)
Are you sure the TA is only 10?
IF those are correct you need to get Washing Soda in the pool ASAP. Low PH is damaging to vinyl


Was this done in bright in-direct light?

Thank you for the info!!

I will re-do the testing today, but from the initial test, the PH stayed yellow. I actually did a ph test yesterday and it became peachy colored after about 5 drops.
I did add Baking Soda to the water, about 6 pounds at this point.

The testing was done under the sun, was a pretty bright day, we do not have much shade covering from trees so the pool is constantly under the sun.