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Thanks! How's this?? Pool School should probably be updated to reflect this. I was going off of the "recommended pool chemicals" article that says "
Solid cyanuric acid should be placed in a sock, and the sock put in the skimmer basket."
brand new pool owner, first time test results. Is this right?
- Thread starter sangree99
- Start date
Thanks! How's this?? Pool School should probably be updated to reflect this. I was going off of the "recommended pool chemicals" article that says "
Solid cyanuric acid should be placed in a sock, and the sock put in the skimmer basket."
As long as the pump runs continuously, there is no issue with adding CYA via the skimmer/sock method
Regarding your pump questions I run my pump 5 hours a day 3 hrs 12 hrs apart so I get skimming twice a day, 1100 RPM for 5.5 hours and .5 hrs 2300 plus the booster pump for the cleaner, not much debris entering the pool and current settings are keeping it crystal clear. When I was getting a lot of leaves I was doing the same amount of run time split into 4 times a day again for skimming. If it freezes where you live you may want to think about running some of the schedule during the coldest part of the night for me that is around 4:00AM to 6:00AM your pump probably has freeze protect but good to schedule it too. I would set your prim speed to at least 1700 for a couple of minutes especially if you are going to drop your filter speed below that, most of the time it will not matter but if you clean the pump basket or the filter that is when it may be needed. I also have my water feature scheduled to run a few times a week for a couple of minutes to ensure it gets water with fresh chemicals in it just to be safe. I don't think there is a wrong answer as long as the water looks good your setting are where they should be.
Are you running your pump at least 24 hours solid? I thought you were on a timer. Give that sock a squeeze. And is there gasoline in that can???
The pump IS set to run automatically on a timer, but I manually turned it on today to let it run for a full 24 hrs since I'm adding CYA. The sock has gone way down since I put it in front of the return. It was about twice that size! And yes, there's gas in the can- I needed something heavy to hang the sock from! Now that I think about it I can see why gas near the pool might not be the smartest. Work with me here, I'm new to all this!
Latest test results:
FC: 1 (didn't test CC b/c I don't see why it wouldn't still be 0)
PH: 7.35 (I overshot the acid a bit, but with the new plaster it should be back up soon)
TA: 55. This was after a 5-lb bag of baking soda. Just added another 5 lbs and will have to buy more tomorrow. Why does PoolMath (with TFP settings) recommend 100-120+, while PoolSchool says 70-90+ for plaster?
CH: holding steady at 300
CYA: didn't test- ongoing.
PoolMath has my current CSI at -0.67, with "corrosion of plaster likely." Argh! I'm doing everything I can to fix this. Looks like if I tweak the TA (and the PH) higher it comes into balance. Hopefully that'll happen in another day or so.
Good ideas. I didn't even think about the fact that water in the lines to the water feature could stagnate if we go a while without using it. I'll be making some adjustments to settings in the morning. Thanks!
So do you leave your Polaris 280 in the pool year round then?
What are the exact numbers you entered into PoolMath? I tried copying your numnbers and get different results. Could be me.... But I get 70-90 on pool math for TA. I get the higher range if I set PoolMath to trichlor as primary chlorine source.?.?
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Okay. I did your exact numbers. It is the difference between trichlor and bleach as the primary source of chlorine at the bottom. CSI gets fixed with bleach. What are you using?
- - - Updated - - -
P. S. your FC is low. Add some bleach/liquid chlorine.
- - - Updated - - -
P. S. your FC is low. Add some bleach/liquid chlorine.
I will be using bleach over the long term, but at the moment it's trichlor pucks because that's what PB put in there (floating dispenser), CYA is low so I'm not worried about the extra stabilizer in the pucks, the water's 48 degrees so I'm not too worried about anything growing in there right now, and I read that you're supposed to bring up the FC slowly for new plaster. But I can totally kickstart the FC with a gallon or two of bleach. Will do that today and report back. FWIW, the CSI didn't change for me when I switched the FC source from trichlor to bleach in PoolMath. Thanks again for all the ongoing help!
When they say CYA can take up to a week to register on tests, is that because it takes that long to dissolve, or that it doesn't register for a while even after it dissolves? The sock I put in yesterday is empty. Should I wait 6 more days to retest or will I get an accurate reading if I test now?
The big stuff is dissolved but it is not all of the way dissolved in the water. There is a complex answer written somewhere on TFP but I just know it takes a week for the finial number for in the CYA takes about a week to show up on the test.
Kim
Kim
A half gallon or so of bleach should be fine. That should take you to about 2.5ppm.
yup the Polaris "Jaws" (because he gets on the Baja shelf and sticks the collection bag out of the water like a dorsal fin) lives in the pool 99% of the time.
ok, I was gone a bunch today, and we got about 1/2" of rain. I just ran a new set of tests and here are my numbers:
FC: 3.5 (DPD test. I got a 5 with the OTO test). This was after adding about 1/2 gal of 8.25%
CC: 0
PH:7.5. good, right?
TA: 60. That was with another 5 lbs of baking soda! I'm going to add a 3rd bag right now (that'll bring me up to 15 lbs total.)
Didn't test CH or CYA.
PoolMath tells me my CSI is now at -0.48 which is merely "potential to become corrosive to plaster." Improvement! Thanks to you all for helping me save (what's left of) my plaster =) Any other suggestions? My wife wants to know if the pool is always going to take this much of my time!
On another note, I have a few waterline tiles that weren't cleaned up well and have some dried grout stuck on them. What's the best way to get that off? I noticed the muriatic acid bottles refer to using it to clean concrete and masonry surfaces. Or is it more a matter of plain old elbow grease with some sort of scrubbie?
FC: 3.5 (DPD test. I got a 5 with the OTO test). This was after adding about 1/2 gal of 8.25%
CC: 0
PH:7.5. good, right?
TA: 60. That was with another 5 lbs of baking soda! I'm going to add a 3rd bag right now (that'll bring me up to 15 lbs total.)
Didn't test CH or CYA.
PoolMath tells me my CSI is now at -0.48 which is merely "potential to become corrosive to plaster." Improvement! Thanks to you all for helping me save (what's left of) my plaster =) Any other suggestions? My wife wants to know if the pool is always going to take this much of my time!
On another note, I have a few waterline tiles that weren't cleaned up well and have some dried grout stuck on them. What's the best way to get that off? I noticed the muriatic acid bottles refer to using it to clean concrete and masonry surfaces. Or is it more a matter of plain old elbow grease with some sort of scrubbie?
You are going through the exact same thing I did when I took over my pool, TA was way low and the water temp dropped leaving my CSI on the lower end of the range. I brought my TA up to 70 and left it there for a while but because the water was so cold CSI was not much improved. I Took the TA up to 80 and finally 90 where it is currently and I am keeping my PH around 7.7 (drops to 7.60 when I add MA and gets to 7.75 within 24hrs when I add gain). I figure with my sheer I can drop the TA and target a lower PH when the water warms up in a few months. I asked and there are at lest a few of the more experienced members that keep there PH on the upper end of the range when the water is cold. http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/108207-Higher-PH-for-winter If Chem Geek and JoyfulNoise tell me it is OK I doubt I can go wrong 
.
My wife also made comments on my attention to the pool in the first month, I was brushing twice a day and testing at least as often mostly because it was a new toy. I am now down to brushing 10 min once a week, full test except CYA every couple of weeks, FC and TA every few days, and PH every day, takes me no more than 3 to 5 min to test and add MA. I do not have my Stenners running because the plaster is still new, taking a lot of MA and almost no chlorine, besides I want to be sure I truly understand how the pool behaves before adding a bit more automation.
Point is you will be doing fewer tasks fairly soon and those that you do preform will be much quicker due to practiced repetition.
For the grout I would use a block of wood something in the hardwood family and perhaps slightly wedge shaped that can pop the excess off without scratching or gouge the tile
One thing I did that is not widely in favor on this site is buy a digital PH meter $18 on amazon. I was having a hard time with the color comparison as was my wife. The main complaint about the meter seems to be they drift to often and require calibration. I bough a bottle of 7.0 buffer/calibration solution, I just stick the meter into the solution once a week or if I suspect an inaccurate reading and turn a screw on the meter till it reads 7.0, takes only a few seconds. When I calibrate the meter it has never been off by more than .05. Occasionally I do a side by side with the meter and drop test because I have been reusing the buffer solution and don't know how long I can keep that up before the solution either gets old or contaminated, it never has more than a .1 delta between the meter and the drop test and not always in the same direction so I feel fairly confident I am getting good results.
.My wife also made comments on my attention to the pool in the first month, I was brushing twice a day and testing at least as often mostly because it was a new toy. I am now down to brushing 10 min once a week, full test except CYA every couple of weeks, FC and TA every few days, and PH every day, takes me no more than 3 to 5 min to test and add MA. I do not have my Stenners running because the plaster is still new, taking a lot of MA and almost no chlorine, besides I want to be sure I truly understand how the pool behaves before adding a bit more automation.
Point is you will be doing fewer tasks fairly soon and those that you do preform will be much quicker due to practiced repetition.
For the grout I would use a block of wood something in the hardwood family and perhaps slightly wedge shaped that can pop the excess off without scratching or gouge the tile
One thing I did that is not widely in favor on this site is buy a digital PH meter $18 on amazon. I was having a hard time with the color comparison as was my wife. The main complaint about the meter seems to be they drift to often and require calibration. I bough a bottle of 7.0 buffer/calibration solution, I just stick the meter into the solution once a week or if I suspect an inaccurate reading and turn a screw on the meter till it reads 7.0, takes only a few seconds. When I calibrate the meter it has never been off by more than .05. Occasionally I do a side by side with the meter and drop test because I have been reusing the buffer solution and don't know how long I can keep that up before the solution either gets old or contaminated, it never has more than a .1 delta between the meter and the drop test and not always in the same direction so I feel fairly confident I am getting good results.
