Balance is way off

[Mtpisgah]

I admit that I did not test very often last year because the pool looked good, but I know that looks can be deceiving. We opened the pool a few weeks ago and then had a bunch of rain, so I waited until this weekend to test it. I ran the tests twice today just to confirm the numbers:

Test 1 9am/ Test 2 2pm
FC 1.8 1.4
CC 0.2. 0.2
pH 7.5 7.4
TA 50. 50
CH 140. 140
CYA 70 70

I usually use tablets with the occasional shock but have only put tablets in it this year.

What do you guys recommend I do to balance? TC is obviously very low, TA is low, CH is low, and CYA is too high.

Thanks

 

[tim5055]

I admit that I did not test very often last year because the pool looked good, but I know that looks can be deceiving. We opened the pool a few weeks ago and then had a bunch of rain, so I waited until this weekend to test it. I ran the tests twice today just to confirm the numbers:

Test 1 9am/ Test 2 2pm
FC 1.8 1.4
CC 0.2. 0.2
pH 7.5 7.4
TA 50. 50
CH 140. 140
CYA 70 70

I usually use tablets with the occasional shock but have only put tablets in it this year.

What do you guys recommend I do to balance? TC is obviously very low, TA is low, CH is low, and CYA is too high.

Thanks

Add some liquid chlorine to get the FC up. You want to add calcium to get to 350 and no more tabs. The only way to lower CYA is through a water change, but if you have no algae you can just keep your FC at the correct ratio for the high CYA. At 70 CYA your FC should never be below 5, and you should target 8-10 to make sure it never goes that low.

What terst kit are you using to get those numbers?

 

[Mtpisgah]

I have a Taylors K 2006.
I will start on your recommended routine tomorrow, need to pick up liquid chlorine.

I stopped by Leslie's today to have them test it just to see what their results would be. My local shop closes at 1pm so I was too late to have them test it.
FC. 1.5
Total available 1.5
CH 150
CYA 50
TA 100
pH 7.4

A couple of thing were close, a few were way off. Is the typical Leslie's testing accurate? My gut says no, but I do not know of mine is either.

The water is clear, but there is a little alge on the walls.

 

[tim5055]

Don't bother testing at a pool store. Not much credence is given to pool store testing around here. While you would think that a "professional" would be the best, unfortunately in most cases it is quite the opposite. Between employees who blindly trust the word of chemical sales representatives and high school kids working in the pool store for the summer you end up with poor results from their testing. But, what can you do?? We base our pool care system on accurate testing and only adding what the pool needs, when it needs it.

I'm sorry to say, if you have visible algae then you need to SLAM Process

SLAM Process = water exchange to get that CYA in a reasonable level....

 

[Mtpisgah]

Thanks for the input Tim. Unfortunately I do not have time over the next two weeks for a proper SLAM so I put five gallons of liquid chlorine in today and scrubbed what I could. I also put some alkalinity hardness raiser in.

I am going to do a test tomorrow morning and scrub some more and see how it is doing, I will test again and add some more chlorine in the evening. Due to work and life in general, that will probably be about all I can really do dedicated this week. It will be two weeks before I can devote a full weekend to doing it right, but I will get it right this spring.

Is to ok to use a wire bristle brush on gunite? The plastic bristle does not seem to do much. Is it ok to run my Dolphin with the high level of chlorine?