First Test - Home Tap Water

Your spigot water (it's the same as your tap, right?) is just fine.......excellent in fact. Low CH is a blessing. You may have to add some CH to get to the 250 level when you start but your build-up will be very slow. In short, that's good water for a pool.
 
Um..I kind of disagree....

In the long run, yes it is nice to have low CH water for filling the pool. It means your CH will build up very slowly over time with evaporation and refill. That's a good thing in the long run.

Initially however, you have to fill your newly plastered pool with water. With a CH that low, the water can very easily become aggressive toward the plaster surface as it is curing and will actually leach calcium from the shell which is not something you want to do. Initially your water will have high pH, about 8.2. The water results you are showing are not aggressive towards plaster because the CSI is close to 0. BUT, if you adjust the pH down to 7.6 and leave everything else the same, the water becomes very aggressive towards plaster (CSI ~ -0.65 depending on water temp). So having low CH initially can be somewhat detrimental to a new plaster surface. How detrimental it will be and whether or not you'll even see it is not something I can answer.

I'd feel more comfortable if we brought in some of our plaster experts on this because you may want to treat the water prior to or during the fill. Or, it may not matter as the fill water will increase in CH from the plaster dissolving a little bit into the the initial fill. I'm just not sure what the right approach is here. I'll PM the plaster guys and get their opinions.
 
Several other pools have been built in the Woodlands and I don't recall low CH numbers?

At any rate, I would suggest adding calcium as the pool fills to maintain a CH level of 250-300 ppm or consider adding sodium bicarbonate to use the alkalinity to buffer the low calcium carbonate levels. A combination of both ideas is probably an even better idea.

Does your plasterer have a plan?
 
Pool up and running for several days now. Water looking good to the eye. Test this morning:

OAT 63
Water Temp 70

CL 5
FC 3.5
CC 0
PH 8.2
TA 90
CH 125
CYA <20 (dot barely visible when tube was filled)

PB is choosing to build CH slowly for now as advised by the PebbleTec Rep. Any input on that one? I added Muratic Acid after this test, half-gallon as advised by PB, will test again this afternoon. Still brushing plaster twice a day, but don't notice nearly as much debris as a few days ago. There are Trichlor tabs in the dispenser for now.
 
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