Came back from pool store to verify annnd....

[Brick81]

Good day,
So I came back from the pool store (mainly just to verify the test results I’m finding with my taylor kit). They gave me this list of things to do before concentrating on what I went in for originally (which was to get my PH down).

1) Add 1L of phos defence (morning), wait 12 hours (no longer, no less)
2) Add 1 pouch zap oxidizer 600g directly into pool (night), Add 1 klear sok into pump basket
Wait 24 hours for water to clear up (water is quite clear now to be honest)
3) Vacuum pool
4) rinse cartridge very well (I’ve only had pool open for 2 weeks, do I really need to disassemble and rinse all the cartridges??? Was hoping to go 2 months before rinsing)
* re-test in 4-5 days and mention you were dealing with phosphates *

They said when I brought my water sample in that my FC was 0 (which I am going to verify tonight when I get home)

My original test results a few weeks ago were:
Salt 2900 ppm (just taken from prologic controller reading, not sure how accurate that is however)
Free Chlorine: 2.6 (13 drops x .2)
Combined Chlorine: 0 (never turned pink after adding 5 drops of R-0003)
PH: 8 (added 2 drops to get down to 7.6)
Alkalinity: 160 (16 drops)
Calcium hardness: 210 (15 drops it turned purple, another 6 tuned it blue)
Cyanuric Acid: I could always see the black dot, got a little cloudy at 30

Tested a few days ago:
Salt 3000
FC 3.6 (reduced my swg to 50% from 70% but now realize I was in the right ball park, the Hayward sticker said I should be between 1.0-3.0)
CC: 0 (maybe .5)
PH 8 (I’ve added a bunch of PH down from Walmart, hasn’t seemed to do anything yet hense my visit to the pool store)
Alkalinity: 180
Calcium hardness: 210
Cyanuric Acid: 30-40 (used the sock in the skimmer, quite the difference from the first test results)

Now should I go ahead with what the pool store said or maybe try another product to get my PH down (hth ph down was being used)??? Pool store said the stuff at walmart, canadian tire ect has more "fillers" in it (they sell ICP branded stuff). I also plan on adding some more Cyanuric Acid.

 

[pookiesunshine]

......
Now should I go ahead with what the pool store said or maybe try another product to get my PH down (hth ph down was being used)??? ......

you can wait for a moderator to give you better advice, but i'm pretty sure one will say forget what the pool store said. dont add any of that phos, zap, klear stuff whatever it is. Muriatic acid from box store, eg, Menards, home depot, etc, can be used to reduce pH. About $4 for a gal of 31% acid.

 

[Rollercoastr]

I'm not a mod, but I'm with Pookie. (minor exception: I have to pay $8 for a gal of acid, whether it's 31 or diluted)

 

[spinPHD]

You just experienced why everyone here recommends staying away from the pool store. The only two things you're going to need are liquid chlorine/bleach for sanitation and muriatic acid to lower ph. Also stabilizer if you need to raise CYA. everything else is a waste of money and ultimately cause more harm than good.

The one thing I noticed in your post is that it doesn't seem like you're testing often enough. You need to test FC daily, and I would also test PH daily until you get a hang of how often it rises. Test TA anytime you need to lower PH. CH and CYA you can test monthly once it's in check.

Edit:
I noticed you have SWG, so of course salt is another thing you need to add and you won't need the bleach once you get that running.

 

[kimkats]

MOD here.........easy for me. What they ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ said LOL

I am also going to share a set of links I put together for new pool owners:

Print these out:
Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule

Pool School - Recommended Levels

Bookmark these:

Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

Make sure to ask any and all questions you might have no matter how small! We have all been where you are at one point.

Kim

 

[Brick81]

Awesome, thanks for the responses. I got home and did a quick test on my FC (just before bolting out to take kids to dance class), it came back at 3... Needless to say it was not "0" and I will be returning what I can to the store. Went to add some CYA/stabilizer (hth brand) and it says not to add any chlorine for 24 hours...

Do I need to shut off my swg while adding this (via the sock in the skimmer method)?????

Thanks again

 

[mknauss]

No reason to NOT add chlorine while adding CYA. That is an odd warning. Only thing I can think of is that the CYA is acidic and if you mix it directly with bleach it would be harmful. Sounds like the nanny state gone wild on that warning.

 

[pooldv]

You are fine to leave the SWG on while adding CYA and adding bleach if you need to to keep FC up at target.

 

[Brick81]

Perfect, thanks for all the replies... Finally got a nice day yesterday and everyone got to use the pool for the first time!!!!!

Did a bunch of tests this morning and I think I'm on the right track now!!!! (tried returning chemicals to pool store, lesson learned on that one)

FC: 4.5 (9 drops x .5)
PH: 7.6 (figured why I couldn't get it to go down, read instructions thinking it said gallons, looked again and it was liters... Dumb move on my part, 16,000 gallons a little different then 60,000 liters)
TA: 160 (this seems high)
CH: 160/170
CYA: 40-50 it gets foggy now

Anyway, should be smooth sailing from here on out... Supposed to be nice weather the next few days. People have told me balancing when it's colder outside is easier, a different ball game when it's warm out side...

Thanks again all!!!!!!

 

[spinPHD]

Is your pool plaster or vinyl? If it's plaster you will want to raise your CH up to recommended range. If it's vinyl, then you can leave it where it is.

As for TA, don't worry that it's on high end. It will go down over time as you add acid to keep PH below 7.8.

Otherwise, you look like you're on right track. Cheers

 

[Bama Rambler]

You've already gotten the help you needed, so I'll just say, Good job on coming here and asking before you dumped a bunch of stuff in your pool.