First Test Today

[Uncle Salty]

Pool has been in my hands since Monday and it was a beautiful day around 78* so I popped my cover off and did my first test, results:

FC - 3.4
PH - 7.4
TA - 65
CH - 60
CYA - 30
Water temp - 62*

Should I be concerned with the CYA at 30? I realistically won't actually use the pool for at least another month or so when the weather stabilizes a bit more.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

No, 30ppm is fine if you don't have a salt water chlorine generator. Come summer when its a lot sunnier and hotter, you might find it helpful to raise the CYA by 10 or 20ppm max, but go cautiously. Once CYA is in the water...it stays! The only way to lower the cya is to drain and refill. Baby steps are best

For 30ppm CYA your goal FC is 4-6, with the basement bottom level of FC being 2ppm. So dose it for 5 or 6 and see if the daily loss stays above your bottom line of 2ppm. You might not see a lot of chlorine loss yet with the cooler water, weather and winter sun. Its still going to get cold down here before it gets hotter... it always does! My azaleas are in bloom, and daffodils blooming... <sigh>

Yippee

 

[Uncle Salty]

No, 30ppm is fine if you don't have a salt water chlorine generator. Come summer when its a lot sunnier and hotter, you might find it helpful to raise the CYA by 10 or 20ppm max, but go cautiously. Once CYA is in the water...it stays! The only way to lower the cya is to drain and refill. Baby steps are best

For 30ppm CYA your goal FC is 4-6, with the basement bottom level of FC being 2ppm. So dose it for 5 or 6 and see if the daily loss stays above your bottom line of 2ppm. You might not see a lot of chlorine loss yet with the cooler water, weather and winter sun. Its still going to get cold down here before it gets hotter... it always does! My azaleas are in bloom, and daffodils blooming... <sigh>

Yippee

I do have SWG that's what I was concerned about, I didn't mention that but it's in my signature. Daffys are blooming here but no Azaleas, we have lots of Azaleas and Dogwoods all over our property so pretty in spring here I can't wait.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Ooops, you sure do have a SWG! Ok, well then you need to refer to this for your goal levels: [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]

If you have any hint of algae that needs to be taken care of, do that before raising your CYA level.

 

[Uncle Salty]

Ooops, you sure do have a SWG! Ok, well then you need to refer to this for your goal levels: [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]

If you have any hint of algae that needs to be taken care of, do that before raising your CYA level.

So I should add conditioner then and shoot for around 70, will that automatically bump the FC level up if Ican hit 70 CYA or not.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

You can add the CYA slowly over the next month (since its not warm anyway) by putting the amount PoolMath tells you in a sock and letting it slowly dissolve sitting in the skimmer basket. I would suggest only adding about 3/4 of what PoolMath tells you just to prevent any risk of overshooting. You don't want too much CYA in the water.

As your CYA level rises, so does your FC requirement. Best thing to do is to use liquid chlorine to reach your desired level immediately, then tweak the SWG so that it maintains that level.

Here is your reference: [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]

 

[Uncle Salty]

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

 

[Uncle Salty]

Just did another test after work tonight, results:

FC 5.41
PH 7.3
TA 122
CH 72
CYA 27
CSI -1.01
Water temp 65

So in my observations(pool school freshman) the TA is a little high but my CSI is okay(vinyl pool) and PH is good(using sense & dispense for Muriatic acid) so no need to worry, right? The CYA is still low but FC is good so should I bother adding stabilizer at his point(pool math says I need to add 4 gal. to get to 75) that seems like a lot. Maybe add 1-2 gal. and retest? Also because I'm using liquid stabilizer can I test shortly after or what is the optimum waiting time?

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Yeah, I think you can re-test in a couple of hours of putting liquid stabilizer in and it should show up. Just keep the pump running to mix it all together good.

 

[domct203]

Pool has been in my hands since Monday and it was a beautiful day around 78* so I popped my cover off and did my first test, results:

FC - 3.4
PH - 7.4
TA - 65
CH - 60
CYA - 30
Water temp - 62*

Should I be concerned with the CYA at 30? I realistically won't actually use the pool for at least another month or so when the weather stabilizes a bit more.

Just did another test after work tonight, results:

FC 5.41
PH 7.3
TA 122
CH 72
CYA 27
CSI -1.01
Water temp 65

So in my observations(pool school freshman) the TA is a little high but my CSI is okay(vinyl pool) and PH is good(using sense & dispense for Muriatic acid) so no need to worry, right? The CYA is still low but FC is good so should I bother adding stabilizer at his point(pool math says I need to add 4 gal. to get to 75) that seems like a lot. Maybe add 1-2 gal. and retest? Also because I'm using liquid stabilizer can I test shortly after or what is the optimum waiting time?

Welcome to the forum.

I'm curious how your TA level almost doubled in four days. Did you add baking soda?

 

[Uncle Salty]

Good question, I think it was a recording error on the first test. Going to wait till the weekend and test again before I add any conditioner to see if I get the same low CYA reading.

 

[Uncle Salty]

New test numbers:
FC 8.4
CC .3
PH 7.5
ALK 132
CH 70
CYA 77
Salt 3000
Temp 68

Finally got the CYA where I want it, I've reduced pump times & speed and cut the SWG back as the FC seems a little high, trying for 5-6 range but shouldn't be a big deal where it's at, correct? Plan on knocking the PH back to 7 this weekend and aerating to lower ALK into the target range. Am I overthinking this or am I on the right track? BTW the water is crystal clear.