Back with more water tests on new pool

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Bethany1983

Bethany1983

Well-known member
Jun 7, 2021
67
Blackshear Georgia
Hello all. I was here on June 7th with some questions about testing my own water instead of the pool store. The advice I got here was to add liquid bleach to reach about a 6 of FC. I still don't understand why, but I trust you guys, so there's that :). Anyway, My pool was clear already before then (and still is) looking amazing and clear but I still wanted to test my own water to get the experience and learn. These were my readings back in June when I came here to learn about what this all means:
FC: 2.25
CC: 1
CH: 275
TA: 140
CYA: 45
Salt: 3200

So that was in the beginning of June. I had added some Lo N Slow, and also added some liquid bleach 10% to bring the chlorine to a 6, as I was advised in these forums to do. All was well as far as I was aware and I tested a couple more times and it seemed fine I guess but I really don't understand what my numbers should be I guess, but pool looked good so kinda ignored it for the most part.

I like to keep my salt at 3200 and since that time in June, the salt went down to 2900 a few weeks after coming to you on the forum here, so I added 2 bags of salt to bring it back up to 3200, and also turned my salt cell to 90% and started running my pump 11-12 hours a day instead of the 9 hours a day I was running it before. OK, Now...

Fast forward to about 6 weeks later after adding those 2 bags of salt, my salt is back down but even lower, it's at 2500. I haven't tested the water in a few weeks so I tested it today. Here are my readings:
FC: 4
CC: 0
TA: 140
CYA: 35
Salt: 2500

Can anyone translate this to english? Why do I have zero CC? Is it ok to have zero CC and is that a good thing or a bad thing? I don't even know what CC does, lol, I just know I had a level of at least 1 CC every time I've checked it until today.

Anyway, I guess I'm also wondering is it normal to need to keep adding salt in the summer? The pool was built in January so it's brand new. I've only added salt once so far, in June, those 2 bags. Now I will need to add more, probably 3.5 bags. I haven't been to the pool store yet to get it. Also my CYA is 35, isn't that too low?? It's always been high 🤷‍♀️
Someone on a FB group said you shouldn't be losing salt or else something is wrong, so that kinda worried me. Then someone else said it's normal, so I'm all confused.

ALSO, it's hot as heck here in south georgia. The pool water itself has been 94 degrees more days! The pool is in direct sun all day long and it's very humid, also it's been raining EVERY SINGLE STINKING DAY OF THE MONTH. Not even kidding. I'm very particular about keeping filters clean, backwashing (once a week or two) and brushing the walls, I'm definitely taking care of my pool the best I can, the water "looks" great, but... it is actually great looking at the test results? 🤷‍♀️

I did not test calcium hardness cause the forums told me vinyl pools don't need calcium eventhough the pool store said it does 🧐

TIA!
 
Welcome back Bethany !!! The rain is flushing out your salt. It’s a freakishly wet year for you so you are going through more than normal. Although, the least few years have been freakishly wet, Maybe it’s who you are now. :) Anywho don’t sweat it. Get water softener salt from Home Depot. It’s slightly bigger chunks and $5 a bag. Make sure it says pure or 100%.

Your CYA needs to come up to 70. It protects the FC from the sun, and you guys have some serious sun (when it’s not raining). Always round up, treat your 35 as a 40.

CCs are what happens when the chlorine does it’s thing. It’s kinda like proof there was work to be done. It’s not absolute but having 0 CCs generally means things are good. You can also have them without things being bad as well. Say, after swimming. So don’t worry too much one way or the other. We use them as one of several things to tell the whole story.

Your TA is higher but I want you to rerun that test. The bottle goes completely upside down. Ever so gentle squeezes to make gravity make the drops. Wipe the top of the bottle at each drop. The new kits get static charged in shipping and test high if the bottle isn’t wiped good. Anywho if you rerun the TA carefully and it’s still a 140 we can work on that easy peasy.
 
Newdude said:
Welcome back Bethany !!! The rain is flushing out your salt. It’s a freakishly wet year for you so you are going through more than normal. Although, the least few years have been freakishly wet, Maybe it’s who you are now. :) Anywho don’t sweat it. Get water softener salt from Home Depot. It’s slightly bigger chunks and $5 a bag. Make sure it says pure or 100%.

Your CYA needs to come up to 70. It protects the FC from the sun, and you guys have some serious sun (when it’s not raining). Always round up, treat your 35 as a 40.

CCs are what happens when the chlorine does it’s thing. It’s kinda like proof there was work to be done. It’s not absolute but having 0 CCs generally means things are good. You can also have them without things being bad as well. Say, after swimming. So don’t worry too much one way or the other. We use them as one of several things to tell the whole story.

Your TA is higher but I want you to rerun that test. The bottle goes completely upside down. Ever so gentle squeezes to make gravity make the drops. Wipe the top of the bottle at each drop. The new kits get static charged in shipping and test high if the bottle isn’t wiped good. Anywho if you rerun the TA carefully and it’s still a 140 we can work on that easy peasy.
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Ok I will retest. But, my alkalinity is ALWAYS high. Actually, this is the lowest it's ever been. HAha. The pool store told me that it's always high with salt pools 🧐 . Everytime I went in there they were having me add stabilizer. Thus the reason I'm trying to do this myself. I will check the pool math app to see what I need to do to increase the CYA I guess...
 
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Bethany1983 said:
Do I count it at the time it shifts and goes back, or only when it stays red
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I believe it’s when it stays red as the others are real close but not quite there. But I lost my pool when we moved and haven’t tested for TA in a while so hang tight if somebody needs to correct me. :)
 
@Newdude is correct. You go until it stops changing color. Usually you will get it to turn red, add another drop and see if it turns more red. Then add one more and if no change subtract that drop from your total drops.
Basically you want it as red as possible and the last drop just confirms that you are to that point.
 
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