First Test Post

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amlez

amlez

0
Jul 7, 2018
27
Darwin, Northern Territory, (tropical) Australia
Hi all from down under :salut: - this is my first post after just receiving my CCL (Clear Choice Labs) test kit.

First a bit of back ground - the pool is now 9mths old, and I would hope has now 'stabilised'.

I've been floundering around between pool shop testing/recommendations and an Aquachek 7 in 1 Test Strip kit - neither ideal I know, but I've got to say the pool has never been anything but sparkling clear - other than regular (maybe 1ltr/week) Hydrochloric Acid dosing (which I believe is 'normal' for a concrete/pebble SWG pool ??) , and intermittent Cynuric Acid, I haven't had the need or been recommended to add much else.

So I unpack my brand new CCL kit, first test is CYA = 50 (Pool shop test has been around 40-45) - OK, not bad I'm thinking for 1st test?

Next test is Free Chlorine = 17 :(

At this point I stop as some research has shown that FC above 10 screws up other testing? ( I did test Salt which came up at 4400).

My Aquacheck strips have always shown 10 (also TC=10 on the test strips) - the pool shop tests sometimes don't show FC result, but when they have, the highest reading I've seen is around 8 - and they have never mentioned anything to me that my chlorine count is high (and until I recently found this site, I wasn't aware that I could have too much chlorine, as long as FC=Total Chlorine??)

I'm currently running pump 8 hours (on lowest eco setting) a day with SWG on 60% (I cut it back a few months ago from the 80% that the pool builder had it set on).

I vaguely remember researching months ago that with the volume of my pool, running the pump on lowest setting would need 8 hours to recirculate the required amount daily?

Should I cut the SWG back to say 40% in an effort to lower FC, and then recommence testing? Do I need to run the pump 8hours on lowest eco setting?

The numbers I've set as target from the Pool School page are :-
FC = 4
pH = 7.5
TA = 70
CH = 400
CYA = 70 (which is bit surprising as I'd always considered 40 to be adequate?)
Salt = 4000 ??

Do these sound reasonable?

Just some additional geographical info for you non-Aussie experts, Darwin is a full-on tropical climate - we have 2 seasons, Wet & Dry. Currently dry season (which is our 'stable' pool season) - we won't see rain for in excess of 7 months. Every day is between 20min & 32max deg C. Wet season is not so good for pools - every day between 27min and 36max deg C (with sapping humidity) and torrential monsoonal downpours that REALLY screw up pool balances, and when we really do need to be chucking 'stuff' in the pool to keep it swimmable.


Looking forward to your thoughts guys - and I promise to not be so verbose next post :cool:
 
Welcome to the forum! :handshake:

You started out with a great test kit. Good Job!

Next, we suggest reading Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry. Also there is the complete Trouble Free Pool School

Your FC is high because your SWCG is most likely making more chlorine than you need. Use SWG Run Time Calculator to determine how much chlorine your SWCG can generate at % setting and pump run time. Start with a daily loss of 4 ppm and adjust as necessary.

There is no 'turnover' requirement for pool water. Just run your pump long enough to generate the chlorine you need and keep the pool clean.

Your pH reading is not valid with a FC above 10 ppm.

We suggest a CYA of 70 for SWCG as it helps to maintain the FC during the sunny days.

Remember your Target levels are ranges. So do not force a TA to as specific number, neither pH or CH. Just keep them in ranges.
 
Thanks for your reply :goodjob:

mknauss said:
Your FC is high because your SWCG is most likely making more chlorine than you need. Use SWG Run Time Calculator to determine how much chlorine your SWCG can generate at % setting and pump run time. Start with a daily loss of 4 ppm and adjust as necessary.
Click to expand...

Not sure the Run Time Calculator is much good to me ATM - I have no idea what my "Average 24 Hr FC Demand" is, and my model SWG is not listed in the "24 Hr SWG FC Production" link, nor can I find any reference in the manual or online that shows this value for my SWG ?? I guess I'll back the % back incrementally and maybe reduce pump runtime an hour or so, and just keep checking FC??










mknauss said:
There is no 'turnover' requirement for pool water. Just run your pump long enough to generate the chlorine you need and keep the pool clean.
Click to expand...
So the 1.5/2 times per day turnover that I've always heard about is a myth :confused:




mknauss said:
We suggest a CYA of 70 for SWCG as it helps to maintain the FC during the sunny days.
Click to expand...
Do you think I should start adjusting this up now, or wait until I have the FC reduced to target range?
 
I looked up the manual online and could not find an output number either. So yes you will have to play with the percent or run time to find out where you need to be.
Wow, the manual says you can even use sea salt water! The optimum is 4000 PPM on salt for your pool though.
I am not an expert maybe one of them will chime in but yes I would go ahead and raise your cya to 70.
 
OK - update (firstly, just wanted to reiterate that pool water is, as has been mostly the case, still sparkling and a pleasure to swim in :swim: )

Rang the SWG support guys - my model is apparently 35gm/hr. I'd backed it back to 60% but was making no discernible difference to FC - Ol Mate on the Zodiac support line suggested bringing it way back to 20%, and finally after just over a week I've got FC to < 10 :D

Tested yesterday (in brackets are the Pool Shop results from same day just for a giggle :stirpot:) :-

FC = 8 (5)
CC = 0 (not tested)
pH = 7.4 (7.6)
TA = 20 (60)
CH = 475 (370)
CYA = 60 (70)
Salt = 4400 (not tested)

I'll continue to run SWG at 20% until I get FC=5, then bump it back up if that's what's needed after monitoring. (I did the OCLT and actually appeared to get a slightly increased FC in the morning - maybe my bad eyes, or different light in the morning? - so I'm calling it at 0 - I guess that's good??)

Trying to get to CYA 70 (from 50 a few weeks ago) - Pool Math advised 1.5kg of 'stabiliser' - I added 2kg in separate 1kg increments over a few days, but still only got to 60. Plan to add another kg or 2 and see where that gets me.

1/. TA at 20 is clearly low, however I see a fair bit of conflicting advise on here as to the relevance/importance of tinkering with it too much. Don't want to get into the never ending battle of low TA (add bi-carb), then have to add acid to reduce now high pH, then add more bi-carb for TA, etc etc
Is TA at 20 too low? Should I worry about it? - and how to proceed and not knock pH thru the roof?

2/. Is CH=475 a worry (ie any negative impact on equipment or pool at that value)?
Is it likely to keep rising, get lower, or remain stable? (bad question I know :joker:)

I really don't want to have to start dumping water and topping up!!

Thanks all in advance ..... :cool:
 
With a TA of 20 I am surprised your pH is stable. I would suggest adding enough baking soda to get it to 50 ppm. Let it mix a couple days and test again. Do the test carefully.

Did you add calcium or does your fill water have calcium? Test your fill water TA and CH. Your pool water CH may rise if your fill water has significant CH. If you get a lot of evaporation. But I think Darwin gets a touch of rain so you can manage that by draining down the pool a bit before a rain.

If your SWCG is keeping up without issue you can stop on adding CYA for now. See how it goes.
 

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mknauss said:
With a TA of 20 I am surprised your pH is stable. I would suggest adding enough baking soda to get it to 50 ppm. Let it mix a couple days and test again. Do the test carefully..
Click to expand...
Pool math is suggesting adding 4kg of bi-carb to bring TA to 50ppm - should I add this in one go? I'm thinking this will increase my pH significantly? Would I not then need to add acid to bring pH back down, which would then also decrease TA back down?? (my head hurts!!) :confused:


mknauss said:
Did you add calcium or does your fill water have calcium? Test your fill water TA and CH. Your pool water CH may rise if your fill water has significant CH. If you get a lot of evaporation. But I think Darwin gets a touch of rain so you can manage that by draining down the pool a bit before a rain.
Click to expand...
Tested tap water TA at 40 - tap CH is quite low - we have 'soft' water here. My CH was nearly non existent after torrential wet season rain over Xmas - pool shop advised adding 16kg of Calcium Chloride which I did.
 
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