Am I on the right path? New pool owner - inherited a beast?

[TexEdmond]

Maybe, maybe not. Say the PH is really a 5. It would take 84 lbs to raise it to 7. But the test only reads to 6.8 so only a few pounds are recommended. The new test reads 6.8 when the PH is now 5.3 (?). It may take many tries to get a readable PH in range.

Sounds like a digital pH meter might be a help.

The previous owners

OMG don't get me started on those guys... I think they owned our house too... but dang that's one heck of a story. Thanks for helping me understand.

 

[Newdude]

Sounds like a digital pH meter might be a help

Very much so. Or just patiently adding enough to be back in range. And enough from 6.8 again. And enough from 6.8 again.

The PH meter would have helped in my story as my sky high FC was making my PH read ‘high’ which was still off the charts low. It can read to its abilities when the FC is 10+ unlike the drop test.

 

[Amajo]

I am blown away at how everyone is so helpful on this forum. THank you again!

HI all, I would like to try and address the pH issue and then decide about draining/replacing water - would it be better to go ahead and drain at end of season and try to get CYA/Copper under control or wait until beginning of next season to "start over"?

Did a reading this afternoon:
FC: 10.2
CC: 0.8
pH - still under 7.0 but I think it's improving because I only added 4 drops to get it to show 7.0 color and 7 drops to get it to show 7.2. If you notice when I first started, I was having to add 30 drops to get pH reading to 7.0. I may invest in the digital pH reader.

This is our updated plan:
Tonight: add another gallon of the 6% bleach and some Borax to raise pH; test CYA using the diluted method
Order the electronic pH tester
Continue to monitor FC and pH daily, adding the 6% to reach higher FC levels - thanks for the tips on that!!
This weekend - backwash and/or take apart the filter, then add DE to skimmer
Our TA was good when we started, I guess we added too much baking soda.

 

[mknauss]

would it be better to go ahead and drain at end of season and try to get CYA/Copper under control or wait until beginning of next season to "start over"?

I would be concerned your pH will rise over winter (which is pretty normal) and thus the metals can come out of solution and stain the pool. Getting rid of the copper is paramount before it stains.

 

[Newdude]

I would be concerned your pH will rise over winter (which is pretty normal)

Or the long off season in Wichita averaging 57 inches a year in rainfall will keep the PH down.

@Amajo what kind of cover do you use ? If it's a solid one is there any chance you can go without this year (once all the leaves fall?) If you drained a few times from the bottom it would sure help with all the precipitation.

 

[HermanTX]

From what I read previously on TFP and on general internet info is to reduce copper in solution is that you must drain the pool water. Not sure if it is a ratio like CYA i.e. if you want to reduce the copper by 50% then drain 50% of pool water. I think the OP stated copper was at 3ppm so that would be over a 95% drain to get to 0.05ppm of copper.
But the CYA also needs to be reduced and that could require draining 2/3 or more to reduce the CYA. I don't think the OP has done a dilution test, so how high above 100 is still to be defined.

Also the OP stated that water is expensive so is there a better time when the water is less expensive?

Draining the existing pool water will reduce both the copper and CYA but at a cost when winter is starting to come into play. It will also create a new starting point for TA and pH that will need to be addressed as well with the new fill water whether that is city water or rain water.

 

[aussieta]

when i bought my house my ph was 4.8 based on taylor acid demand test and ph probe
now be aware if and when you raise your fc above 10ppm , your ph will read falsely higher than it actually is
so with your high ta level your ph will want to rise on its own, so you may need to allow fc to drop below 10 once per week or so to check your ph level

 

[dianedebuda]

@Amajo , have you checked out getting water from a bulk supplier rather than using city water? I did a quick Google for Swimming Pool Water Delivery in Wichita KS and 7 suppliers were listed. Maybe one of them would be cheaper? Could be there's a lot of hidden charges in the city's rate that wouldn't be in a bulk delivery? Just a thought.

 

[Amajo]

All great advice! The water rate in Wichita is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper from Dec - Mar, and not only is it cheaper, the summer rate per 1,000 gallons is based on your winter usage. So if I end up using more in the Dec-Mar timeframe, my summer rates will be lower. Sounds weird, but true. If under 100% of winter average, summer charge is $2-something per 1,000g. If between 100%-110% of winter average, summer is $9-something per 1,000g. If over 110% of winter average, summer is $13-something per 1,000g.

I would LOVE to wait until March to drain/refill. @dianedebuda The water service sounds promising and I had thought of that, but wasn't sure how that would work since with a vinyl liner, I can't simply drain and refill, I can only probably do about 12 inches max at a time. If we have to do it, we have to do it, it will be worth it. Knowing nothing about what happens to a pool in winter, I wasn't sure if I wanted to drain since we are going into fall/winter.

re: rain - most of our rain comes in spring and summer though we do have rain in fall too. If we have "rain" in late fall and winter, it's usually in the form of snow

Last night we added 8 lbs of Borax. Hope we didn't over do it for pH considering our FC is now above 10, the pH reading may have been off. Looked at digital pH meters and will research on forum. The cheap ones on Amazon $15 may not be the best to use???

@Newdude - our cover is an automatic cover. The fabric is 10 years old and will likely be replaced very soon, probably next season. It's got a few tiny holes that the previous owner said to just put clear silicon glue on the tiny hole, so that's what I'll do this weekend too. I'm not sure about leaving the pool cover open over winter. That sounds scary to me.

 

[Amajo]

Forgot to mention, tested CYA using dilution method and the black dot disappeared - still the line was under 100. That leads me to believe our CYA could be 200 or more!!! Recall our Leslie's readings ranged between 125 to 177.

 

[DorsalSpine]

Depending on the local water table you can pump down a liner pool pretty far. If you water is trucked in, you can refill it in a couple of hours depending on the number of trucks in use and the turnaround time. When I was dealing with a high CYA level, I pumped the water level down to about 12" - 18" in the shallow end. The trucks had the pool filled in a couple of hours.

This is do at your own risk advice kind of advice.

 

[HermanTX]

The cheap ones on Amazon $15 may not be the best to use???

If you are going to get a pH meter, it is better to spend more money on it. I did buy a <$20 meter and it was constantly needing calibration before every test, even if I did it daily. Then I compared it to a better pH meter my neighbor had and was significantly off by several tenths which is a lot when measuring pH. I went back only to the drop test but the pH meter is on my Christmas wish list.
A lot of members have recommended the Apera PH60 - see below

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01ENFOIQE/?coliid=I2VR6G2D3JHYIZ&colid=2YR8PYKMON60D&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

[HermanTX]

Forgot to mention, tested CYA using dilution method and the black dot disappeared - still the line was under 100. That leads me to believe our CYA could be 200 or more!!!

There is a way to do a further dilution but the error of measurement becomes larger with each dilution step. Just remember you still have to add the R-0013 as you do for the standard test. You are only diluting the pool water sample.

See below

Test Dilution	Pool Sample Volume	Tap Water Volume	Multiply CYA level by:
Standard Test	1	0	1
50%	1	1	2
33%	1	2	3
20%	1	4	5

 

[Amajo]

FYI only - some follow-up testing earlier today:
FC 10.6
CC 0.8
pH - was very close to 7.0, but not quite! Added only 4 drops to get it to read 7.2. This is a GREAT improvement from where we started.