Advice on what to tackle?

[rednecked]

So the pool has been done for a couple of weeks now and I have my TF100 test kit. I’ve been measuring and learning the kit. I don’t think anything is too far out of whack but I have a few issues to tackle. Wondering what order I should take them on?

FC 3.5
pH 7.5
TA 160
CH 250
CYA 37
CSI .03

A couple of days ago TA was 240 but I’ve added some Muriatic Acid. Keep going with that or take on CH?

 

[JJ_Tex]

Looks pretty good. The first priority should be making sure your FC doesnt drop and getting it back in range. For your CYA (37 is a weird number for CYA so I'm calling it 40), your FC should be between 5-7.

Get that squared away and you can look at TA and CH adjustments.

 

[rednecked]

For the CYA I was just going of the test tube markings and it was between 30 and 40 but closer to 40.
on the chlorine since I have the automatic puck doodad andliquid chlorine is hard to come by I figured to just let it do it’s thing. Iwill “turn up the volume” on it and see what happens.

 

[Cwiggs]

For the CYA I was just going of the test tube markings and it was between 30 and 40 but closer to 40.

I think for the CYA test you round up/down to the nearest line.

on the chlorine since I have the automatic puck doodad andliquid chlorine is hard to come by I figured to just let it do it’s thing. Iwill “turn up the volume” on it and see what happens.

Just make sure to test the CYA more frequently when using those pucks, don't want it to get too high. In my area Walmart is out of bleach/liquid chlorine, but home depot and ace hardware had a ton, might want to check there if you want to go the liquid chlorine route.

 

[mknauss]

I think for the CYA test you round up/down to the nearest line.

You round up, not down.

 

[Cwiggs]

You round up, not down.

Ah okay, thank you for correcting me.

 

[rednecked]

I was at my local Lowe's the other day and noticed that they have at least 1 pallet of Kem-tek chlorinating liquid. I'm thinking about buying a few bottles this afternoon

 

[rednecked]

OK, so still working through this.
4/20 readings:
FC 4.0
CC 0
pH 8
TA 140
CH 275
CYA 30
CSI 0.53

I'm working on refining my testing techniques and I think that may have changed the CYA reading. We got some rain too, which may be affecting some of the numbers as well.
I added 32 oz of 10% bleach and 32 oz of 31.45% muriatic acid per pool math recommendation

yesterday's readings
FC 5.0
CC 0.0
pH 7.5
TA 120
CH 275
CYA 30
CSI 0.0

time to work on CH or TA next?

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

With a CSI of 0.0, I wouldn't mess with a thing. Keeping you CSI in the slightly negative range (-0.30 to 0.0) will help to reduce the chance of scaling. Your CH level is at a great starting point. Since calcium doesn't leave with evaporation, your CH will continue to rise with top-offs. Each time you adjust your pH with MA, your TA will drop a bit. Things look good.

Great job on balancing your pool.

 

[rednecked]

With a CSI of 0.0, I wouldn't mess with a thing. Keeping you CSI in the slightly negative range (-0.30 to 0.0) will help to reduce the chance of scaling. Your CH level is at a great starting point. Since calcium doesn't leave with evaporation, your CH will continue to rise with top-offs. Each time you adjust your pH with MA, your TA will drop a bit. Things look good.

Great job on balancing your pool.

I wonder if that will work though. I tested my tap water and got these readings:
pH 7.8
CH 100
TA 350

so if I want my CH to be more in the ideal range of 350-550 it seems I'll need to add Calcium Chloride
and if I want my TA down to 50-90 I need to do the acid/aerate dance.

correct?

 

[Msch99]

You can go slow with TA/PH adjustment. As you add acid to lower PH when it climbs, your TA will come down. I was bored one week and increased aereation to speed up the process but no real need to do so.

Unless an expert chimes in otherwise I wouldn't sweat the CH either. Just enjoy the pool!

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

Your CSI right now is good. Adding calcium chloride will increase your CSI. Higher TA levels also increase CSI. With the high TA of your fill water, you'll probably be fighting to keep your TA under control all season. Keeping your CH where it's at now will make it easier to keep CSI within range.

 

[rednecked]

thanks folks! it might be actually be warm enough this evening or tomorrow evening for a swim!

 

[duraleigh]

Reinforcing what others have said, leave your pool chemistry alone.

CH will slowly come up and TA will slowly come down.....that's all good.

Keeping adequate chlorine in your pool is your number one job. Second is keeping your pH in the seven's. Test you TA every other week or so.

As the water gets warmer, you will need to bring CYA up to around 50. You can do it now if you like or in the next few weeks.....either way.

 

[rednecked]

yup. plan for now is to let the automatic chlorinator doodad do it's job and keep track of the chlorine number and CYA number to make sure they both move/stay where they belong. I have liquid chlorine so if it starts pushing the CYA number too far too fast I can shut off the automatic. if it doesn't add CYA fast enough I'll have to buy some stabilizer. If it works as the pool people claim then I won't have to do anything. Got the bases covered!