Balancing with BBB method - ???

[ruralfish]

Hello Hello!

This is my first post to this site. I've done my homework at the "pool school" and I'm so very excited about changing my pool over to the BBB method. Awesome. I've been looking for this kind of site for YEARS! Thank you so very much for this very indepth site!

My question is this: I ordered my TF-100 kit and received it today. AWESOME! :-D
Here are my results:
FC = 0
CC = .5
TC = .5
ph = 8.1
t/a = 230 ???
ch = 20
cya = 12

My question is . . . what do I adjust first? I'm not sure what order I need to take to get my pool back in tip top shape! The water looks clear, but the results are definitely not OK.

P.S. I have an inground pool with 17,500 gallons. Sand filter. Hayward inline chlorine feeder.

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum.

In this order, I would suggest...

1. Lower your pH down to around 7.4 with muriatic acid (Your TA will come down some as well

2. Bring your chlorine up to around 5ppm...Clorox is best for now.

3. Confirm back both your CH and CYA tests...they both look unusual....report CYA in 10's (20, 30, 60, etc.) We'll suggest some adjustments after you have confirmed them

4. What have you been chlorinating with to this point?

 

[Butterfly]

Hello and welcome to the forum

First, I suggest you lower your pH to around 7.4-ish.

What is your pool surface? This will help

You need to get enough chlorine in your pool to get a FC of about 2 for now.

How did you determine/measure your CYA at 12?

What is your water temp?

Where do you live? City and State?

Congrats on ordering the TF100 test kit

 

[ruralfish]

Thanks so much for getting me going in the right direction. My pool is inground with vinyl sides, approx. 17,500 gallons. I live in central Alabama, where we've have a great deal of rain in the past two weeks, and really hot, humid weather. My pool went CRAZY with algae, and I've just cleared it up, thanks to your advice on this site. I used a LOT of bleach and ended up vacumming to waste a LOT of dead algae. Groce. But it is looking clear, but the numbers are not looking so good.

The numbers might be crazy because this is the first time I've used my new testing kit, and I probably did something completely wrong. But my CYA is a guesstimate. It is really LOW. I followed the directions, and I kept pouring and pouring the water into the little tube and the tube was almost completely full before the dot in the bottom was unclear. I know it is a little about 0, and 12 was just a weird guess.

I added the muriatic acid . . . I'm assuming I should wait to add the chlorine until the ph is down??

 

[duraleigh]

Go ahead and get the chlorine in there now. I suggested a little more than Butterfly only because I was concerned you hadn't had it in there for a while.

The single most important thing you must remember to maintain a pool correctly is chlorine must always be in your pool. Since chlorine is constantly being used up, you must be adding chlorine on a daily basis.

So go ahead and put enough CYA in your pool to get it up around 30-40. Directions are on the container.

Meanwhile, keep adding clorox daily....about one small jug. As soon as you get the CYA in your pool, start testing your chlorine....you want to keep it around 3-5ppm all the time.

Go back up to pool school and reread what the basics are and reread what are normal parameters for them.

After your pH, chlorine, and CYA are stabilized (may take a few days), we'll help you get your TA and CH adjusted if necessary.

 

[anonapersona]

Have you been using the inline chlorinator? Adding pucks to that weekly?

Funny that the CYA is that low, unless you just dumped water and refilled.

 

[ruralfish]

I did dump a lot of the water to clear up the algae last week. . . then we got about 6 days of rain and I had to dump some even more . . . it has been an absolutely tropical forecast here in Alabama. I am surprised it was that low, but considering the algae went nuts and the heavy rains . . . I guess it makes sense. . .

Thank all of you so much. I will go ahead and add a little chlorine to keep it "under control."

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

If you haven't added the CYA yet -

Some containers tell you to "broadcast" it into the pool - don't. Either add it directly to the skimmer and leave the pump running for 48 hours while it dissolves (and then wait a week to retest for it) or use the sock method - take an old tube sock and fill it with CYA (use the Pool Calc to determine how much) and then either tie the sock so it dangles in front of the return or set it to the side in the skimmer. This method allows you to backwash/clean your filter if necessary.