Borates - Refreshing Qty Question

[Bama Rambler]

What happens is that as you adjust the pH the TA will be affected and you'll get to a point that you'll adjust the pH less and less as the TA reaches equalibrium. I'm not saying you'll never have to adjust it, just that you'll have to adjust it a lot less frequently.

 

[K G G]

Okay... test kit arrived and I did my own first testing on Sunday, then brought a sample to the store for comparison.
(Side note: we got over 1" of rain on Friday and I drained about 3-4 inches afterwards.)

Readings are mine with the Taylor Kit (and store in brackets).

FC 3.0 ppm (2.2) - I lowered my auto feeder from 3 to 2 1/4 setting
CC 0.0
TC (2.2)
--> I gather from these two I have no separation as intended. Y/N ?

PH 7.6 (7.4) - looks good to me, maybe a third of a pint added all week

TA 110 ppm (99 ppm) - per reco's on this board I am letting this go down to 80-90 per my readings

CH 160ppm (107) - that should be fine - Y/N ?

CYA >100ppm (101) - I may have to rent a draining pump, the option after the pump took ~1 hr/inch

Comments ?

 

[JasonLion]

You need to get your CYA level down, and CH level up. Ideally you want to get CYA down to around 60. Only after doing that, adjust CH up to at least 250.

 

[Bama Rambler]

The problem with CYA being 100 is that it may actually be higher. Since you use a tablet feeder you should target a little higher on the TA and a little lower on the CYA.

 

[K G G]

any advice how to best drain a large amount of water?

 

[Bama Rambler]

I use my vacuum hose and siphon it out. You'd be surprised how much water a 1-1/2" hose will move.

 

[K G G]

How do you hook it up?

 

[linen]

It's a siphon, where you fill the whole hose up underwater then cover one end with your hand and move it out of the pool below the pool's water surface. Works really good, just keep an eye on it because as Bama says, it can move a lot of water.

Do you have a main drain? You could pump to waste from there.

If you don't have a main drain and you cant get your siphon hose below your pool surface, then a cover pump/submersible pump will work.

Do you know how high your water table is? Plaster pools can float up (pop) due to ground water being too high, once they have been drained part way.

 

[Bama Rambler]

An inground pool is a little more of a challenge to siphon unless you have a slope below the pool. If you don't you'll need a pump to move the water.

 

[K G G]

Thanks everyone. I'll give it a try with the vaccuum hose. Should be just enough of a decline towards my gate to get some of the water out to the street.
(No main drain; water table not an issue per our builder; draining ~1/3 to start with)

 

[TheGoose]

What exactly are borates? The pool store tried to sell me some today while I was picking up some filter sand. Sounded like snake oil to me.

 

[feetr2c]

The pool stores Borates ARE fancy labeled and have pretty pictures on the container. They are also waaaay overpriced. Around here, we go to the grocery store and buy 20 Mule Team Borax in the green box in the laundry aisle. Borates act as an enhancer for the water, creating a more comfortable swimming experience. The water feels softer and less drying. They also greatly reduce and sometimes even eliminate white scale buildup on equipment such as the Liquidator. It basically makes your water behave like soft water even if you have high calcium levels, such as if you fill your pool from a well.

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[TheGoose]

OK, I read up on it last night. They wanted to charge me $300 for two big jugs for my pool. I smiled and politely said "No Thanks!".

 

[linen]

@ Thegoose

Boric acid is another alternative to borax and MA. dudadiesel usually has pretty good prices. Looks like about $75 bucks pulse shipping (something like another $15) for 55 lbs, your pool would need about 43 lbs to get to 50 ppm borates.

 

[K G G]

A lil update...
Its' been a few months of me testing my own water with the TFT kit and I kept pretty good at TA in the 80-100 range, PH hardly needs adjusting and CYA steadily drops (now in the low 100's).
Water feels and looks good. TY all for all you advice ! I am saving quite a few bucks on chems these days.

 

[RobbieH]

When you do adjust pH, do you bring it down to 7.2? You'll have to adjust even less if you can get that TA down to 70.

 

[K G G]

ph stays pretty much in the 7.2-7.4 range actually

 

[RobbieH]

I wouldn't change a thing!

 

[feetr2c]

Thechemistrystore.com is a fabulous site. They sell many different chemicals. I buy phosphates from them for the dishwasher. They also have alum (pool floc) priced at 12.99 for a 9 pound pail. FWIW, alum will also lower copper levels for those of you that are troubled by it.

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[tcjack]

I just read this whole thread and had a question. Doesn't CYA float near the top of the water and that is why it blocks the UV from zapping the free Cl? If that were the case when you have to drain the pool to reduce CYA isn't it mostly at the top and therefore you don't have to reduce much volume to get a large decrease in ppm?