Chemicals seem to have no effect

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proavia said:
As long as you add what was recommended and continue to use liquid chlorine (or a SWG) it won't matter.
Adding 3" Trichlor tabs or additional CYA (above what was recommended) will cause the CYA to increase.
But you need 40-50 CYA to keep the FC from burning off quickly in the AZ heat/sun. It's supposed to be mid-90's by mid next week.
Add enough stabilizer/CYA to increase your CYA to 40-50.
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OK. I will start at 40. Maybe get that going tomorrow. Check my logs. I got tired of adding chlorine every day so I shot for 8.0ppm (since we’re not swimming) and I think this is the first time that I’ve actually added chlorine and it went where I wanted it to.
 
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proavia said:
As long as you add what was recommended and continue to use liquid chlorine (or a SWG) it won't matter.
Adding 3" Trichlor tabs or additional CYA (above what was recommended) will cause the CYA to increase.
But you need 40-50 CYA to keep the FC from burning off quickly in the AZ heat/sun. It's supposed to be mid-90's by mid next week.
Add enough stabilizer/CYA to increase your CYA to 40-50.
Click to expand...
I understand. This is a philosophy. I think I get it.
 
Great!

Get the CYA in there as soon as you can.
Use the sock method to add the CYA.
Once you have the CYA filled sock soaking in the water, consider it as added (even though it won't register on the CYA test for a few days) and dose FC according to the FC/CYA Levels for CYA 40.

It's safe to swim with FC anywhere between minimum and SLAM level for your CYA.

Continue to add muriatic acid to keep your pH in the 7's. Dose for 7.2-7.4 until your TA drops to about 60. Having a TA around 60 will help slow the pH rise. Once TA is 60-ish, keep the pH 7.6-7.8 or so.
 
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proavia said:
Great!

Get the CYA in there as soon as you can.
Use the sock method to add the CYA.
Once you have the CYA filled sock soaking in the water, consider it as added (even though it won't register on the CYA test for a few days) and dose FC according to the FC/CYA Levels for CYA 40.

It's safe to swim with FC anywhere between minimum and SLAM level for your CYA.

Continue to add muriatic acid to keep your pH in the 7's. Dose for 7.2-7.4 until your TA drops to about 60. Having a TA around 60 will help slow the pH rise. Once TA is 60-ish, keep the pH 7.6-7.8 or so.
Click to expand...
Sounds great. This is the first time in this process (I think) that we’ve really discussed TA. Without me running off and doing research which I know I should do… What is going to make the TA come down? PH?
 
First and foremost, get the CYA dissolving in the pool and dose FC accordingly.

TA is one of the last things to be concerned with.

Adding muriatic acid will lower pH and lower TA a little.
You need to wait until pH rises again to add more acid - which will again lower pH and lower TA a little.

You can test your fill water for TA, pH and CH so you have a reference for your fill water.
I'm in Chandler and my fill water TA is about 120. At times, I need to activvely work to lower my TA as I like it around 60. With high TA fill water, it can be a process to keep TA in check.
 
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Perfect!
That should take your CYA from 30 to 40.
Don't bother to test until several days after it's fully dissolved.
Just dose FC for a CYA of 40 - and keep the FC on the high side of the target range.
 
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proavia said:
First and foremost, get the CYA dissolving in the pool and dose FC accordingly.

TA is one of the last things to be concerned with.

Adding muriatic acid will lower pH and lower TA a little.
You need to wait until pH rises again to add more acid - which will again lower pH and lower TA a little.

You can test your fill water for TA, pH and CH so you have a reference for your fill water.
I'm in Chandler and my fill water TA is about 120. At times, I need to activvely work to lower my TA as I like it around 60. With high TA fill water, it can be a process to keep TA in check.
Click to expand...
My TA is about 90 on the fill water. I’ll test again once my CYA is done. I’ll do a full set of analysis after that and maybe 90 is close enough for allowing it to creep down with acid additions? We don’t swim in this pool a lot unfortunately. Probably just July August, September, when the water is about 83°+.
 
I fully get the 83+ water - too cold otherwise. :drown:
My solar cover is going on today to help retain the heat.

With a fill water TA of 90, you won't have to work too hard to get the TA down which managing your pH.
 
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I could tell you but then you'd need to drive to Chandler and take care of my pool as well. :laughblue:

So - when making a post look at the top of the message box for the line with
B I U etc. Go to the right of that and you'll see a smiley face. Click it. ;):cool::p:LOL::ROFLMAO:
 
Hi there. My pH seems to stay high (8.1-8.2) for the next morning reading when I make small adjustments to bring it down to 7.5. How hard should I try to keep the pH at 7.5? Is 8.2 an OK place? Or should I aim lower such as 7.2?
 
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CarefreeTee said:
Hi there. My pH seems to stay high (8.1-8.2) for the next morning reading when I make small adjustments to bring it down to 7.5. How hard should I try to keep the pH at 7.5? Is 8.2 an OK place? Or should I aim lower such as 7.2?
Click to expand...
You should aim higher (7.6 or 7.8) not lower. Once your TA comes down a bit more the pH should rise much slower.
 
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Just bring it down to 7.5. As your TA gets closer to 60-ish, the pH rise will slow.
Once your pH goes above 7.9, add muriatic acid to lower it to 7.5.
Once the TA is 60-ish, you should be able to keep the pH about 7.8-7.9 easier - and if the pH goes high, then just lower it to 7.8-7.9.

Speaking of TA - I see you report it at 80.
Try the TA test again - continue adding drops until the color doesn't change, and subtract the last drop that doesn't change the color.

Turn on 'Track CSI' in PoolMath. Try to keep CSI in the 0.00 to -0.30 (negative 0.30) to minimize calcium scaling.
 
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proavia said:
Just bring it down to 7.5. As your TA gets closer to 60-ish, the pH rise will slow.
Once your pH goes above 7.9, add muriatic acid to lower it to 7.5.
Once the TA is 60-ish, you should be able to keep the pH about 7.8-7.9 easier - and if the pH goes high, then just lower it to 7.8-7.9.

Speaking of TA - I see you report it at 80.
Try the TA test again - continue adding drops until the color doesn't change, and subtract the last drop that doesn't change the color.

Turn on 'Track CSI' in PoolMath. Try to keep CSI in the 0.00 to -0.30 (negative 0.30) to minimize calcium scaling.
Click to expand...
 

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Been testing every other day. I added enough chlorine to be up to 8.0 2-days ago. I’m down to 2.0 this morning. I have not been testing after I add the chlorine. Frankly, I’m getting a little worn out on testing all the time. I can see why people go to chlorine tablets. But I am committed to this method though I feel like this is going to be much more expensive in the long run. :/ Disappointed in the FC stability. We’ve been at about 91° the last few days. Need a pep-talk ;)
 

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