Hi, I've been lurking for a while and the recent closings of the pool companies in my area have prompted me to get more involved in the testing and such of the pool. So with that in mind, I have a K2006 on its way to me and will be here in a week or so.
That being said, I took off the cover, pulled the pump and such out of storage and hooked everything up. As the pool was filling up, I downloaded Pool Math, subscribed for the logging and pulled out the new bottle of test strips (a new brand called Runbo off of Amazon) that I had picked up. I also got some AquaChek strips with some of the chemicals that I had ordered. Here's where my questions start.
Just as a background (I think this shows up in my profile, but I'll put it here anyways), my gear is as follows - 15' diameter AGP, Hayward SWG, cartridge filer and Hayward heater (bypassed to start the season).
After filling the pool and letting the pump swirl things around a bit, I did a test strip and saw that the TA was about 100, pH was really low at 6.2, FC was minimal (0.1 and probably from the water I added), CC was also 0.5, CYA was 15, I can't read the salt content yet and the water was 48*. Today was slightly changed, TA was still around 100, pH was closer to 6.6 and the rest of the figures were about the same. Then I pulled out the AquaChek strip and tried it and the pH was off the chart, probably 8.0 or 8.2, I re-checked with an older hth strip from last year, and it was showing a similar high pH reading.
I checked the reviews for the strips on Amazon (should have done this before I guess...) and there were several that mentioned that the pH and TA were reading low. The TA seems to match up with the other strips, as do the other values.
I plan to get cleaning tomorrow (throwing the automated cleaner in the pool and letting it run around). The water is clear and the circulation has moved all the debris to the middle of the pool, so I should be able to get most things cleaned up.
I am waiting for the email telling me I can go pick up the order for my liquid chlorine (I can't turn on the SWG as it is too cold) and my salt as the place I get that from is only doing curb orders.
So with all of that, I am wondering what my next steps are...
I had thought to get TA cleaned up first (and I think it's close, just a bit high) and then get pH settled, brush, vacuum and then clean the filter and things out. After that, add the liquid chlorine and see where things are.
Should I be waiting for the K2006 so I can get a reliable reading for the various readings, or should I start lowering the pH in order to bring down the TA a bit to get the process started (based on the fact that two of three strips have a high pH and the TA is around 100)? Also, I was wondering about the TA value. According to Pool School, my SWG-equipped pool should have a TA between 50 and 90 (ideally between 60 and 80); however, all of the test strips are saying that the TA should be between 80 and 120, and looking at the recommendations from previous water testing, they say TA (with stabilizer correction) should be between 80 and 110 which are both higher than the TFP recommendation.
Does any of this make sense? I was hoping to get things ready to fire up the heater in the next week or so; however, I am doubting now...
That being said, I took off the cover, pulled the pump and such out of storage and hooked everything up. As the pool was filling up, I downloaded Pool Math, subscribed for the logging and pulled out the new bottle of test strips (a new brand called Runbo off of Amazon) that I had picked up. I also got some AquaChek strips with some of the chemicals that I had ordered. Here's where my questions start.
Just as a background (I think this shows up in my profile, but I'll put it here anyways), my gear is as follows - 15' diameter AGP, Hayward SWG, cartridge filer and Hayward heater (bypassed to start the season).
After filling the pool and letting the pump swirl things around a bit, I did a test strip and saw that the TA was about 100, pH was really low at 6.2, FC was minimal (0.1 and probably from the water I added), CC was also 0.5, CYA was 15, I can't read the salt content yet and the water was 48*. Today was slightly changed, TA was still around 100, pH was closer to 6.6 and the rest of the figures were about the same. Then I pulled out the AquaChek strip and tried it and the pH was off the chart, probably 8.0 or 8.2, I re-checked with an older hth strip from last year, and it was showing a similar high pH reading.
I checked the reviews for the strips on Amazon (should have done this before I guess...) and there were several that mentioned that the pH and TA were reading low. The TA seems to match up with the other strips, as do the other values.
I plan to get cleaning tomorrow (throwing the automated cleaner in the pool and letting it run around). The water is clear and the circulation has moved all the debris to the middle of the pool, so I should be able to get most things cleaned up.
I am waiting for the email telling me I can go pick up the order for my liquid chlorine (I can't turn on the SWG as it is too cold) and my salt as the place I get that from is only doing curb orders.
So with all of that, I am wondering what my next steps are...
I had thought to get TA cleaned up first (and I think it's close, just a bit high) and then get pH settled, brush, vacuum and then clean the filter and things out. After that, add the liquid chlorine and see where things are.
Should I be waiting for the K2006 so I can get a reliable reading for the various readings, or should I start lowering the pH in order to bring down the TA a bit to get the process started (based on the fact that two of three strips have a high pH and the TA is around 100)? Also, I was wondering about the TA value. According to Pool School, my SWG-equipped pool should have a TA between 50 and 90 (ideally between 60 and 80); however, all of the test strips are saying that the TA should be between 80 and 120, and looking at the recommendations from previous water testing, they say TA (with stabilizer correction) should be between 80 and 110 which are both higher than the TFP recommendation.
Does any of this make sense? I was hoping to get things ready to fire up the heater in the next week or so; however, I am doubting now...
