First Time Opening My New Pool

[kawisser]

No matter what FC is king and stays clear of minimum while we *anything*

Adjust ph to be in the 7s when need be.

CYA is good as is it.

Post up TA and CH. We're moving on to the long term things and have smooth sailing ahead.

PH = 7
TA = 100
CH = Maybe 300, maybe not. I always struggle with this one. It never seems to turn blue, but more of a faint purple. I've read suggestions on other posts, basically saying to prime it with some early drops R-0012. Doesn't really make a difference for me. Some posts say to use 10mL sample, others say 25mL. Can you offer alternative instructions I can try?

 

[Newdude]

PH = 7

Great. It'll probably rise over time.

TA = 100

Great again. It'll settle to where it wants to be while you manage a PH in the 7s.

CH = Maybe 300, maybe not

Close enough for you. Modern fiberglass doesn't need CH.

Gas heaters recommended 200 CH and that's outdated too, but it's easy enough to have to keep the warranty intact.

Some posts say to use 10mL sample, others say 25mL.

Use the 10ml for 25 CH per drop. You don't need to split hairs down to 10s.

Sadly that's all I got because I have vinyl and CH is more of a theory to me. Let's call @mknauss for tips.

Also,

Calcium Hardness

A drop-based test that measures the hardness in your water. Once measured, it is used … Read more…

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[mknauss]

Use 10 ml sample for CH testing. No need for fine detail. If your CH is around 300 ppm and you don’t add lots of high CH fill water due to evaporation, nothing to worry about.

 

[kawisser]

Use 10 ml sample for CH testing. No need for fine detail. If your CH is around 300 ppm and you don’t add lots of high CH fill water due to evaporation, nothing to worry about.

If I switch to 10 ml sample, then how many drops of the others do I use?

 

[mknauss]

Extended Test Kit Directions Archives

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[kawisser]

Extended Test Kit Directions Archives

www.troublefreepool.com

Well I waste less drops now, but I still can't get past the purple phase. Using the initial instructions, it turns purple at 12 drops. If I add five drops of R-0012 before adding anything else, it turn purple around 7 additional drops (12 total again). Just for fun, and no idea if this is accurate, but I also tried testing with ten drops of R-0012 before adding anything else, and it turned purple around 2 additional drops (12 total again). Coincidentally, this equates to CH = 300, same as the measurement I thought I got when using a 25mL sample. But again, all my tests ended in the purple phase. I'll have to pick up some distilled water and try diluting my sample.

 

[mknauss]

I use distilled water to cut it. Seems to help with the metal interferences

 

[Newdude]

But again, all my tests ended in the purple phase

Do you fill often ? I'm guessing not, with you averaging 3.5 ft of rain per year.

Test your fill water. If it's low, and you don't use it often, you can test CH alot less often.

 

[kawisser]

I use distilled water to cut it. Seems to help with the metal interferences

I think that did it. I went through all of last season without ever seeing blue. At 6 drops it was transitioning. At 7 drops it was fully blue. That's 4 tests that all say it's in the 300 range. I'm going with 300. Thanks so much.

 

[kawisser]

Do you fill often ? I'm guessing not, with you averaging 3.5 ft of rain per year.

Test your fill water. If it's low, and you don't use it often, you can test CH alot less often.

I only had the pool for a couple months last year but almost never added water.

So now that I confirmed my numbers, am I done? I can tell my kids to go swimming in the 53 degree water??

 

[Newdude]

I can tell my kids to go swimming in the 53 degree water??

Swimming is safe from min FC to SLAM per your CYA level.

You need to see bottom for swimmer rescue.

If the PH leaves a 7, little eyes might get a little red, but they'll live. It's pretty much no worse than being in any non TFP pool.

Hypothermia sets in quick at 53 degrees. Get in, shriek and laugh for a couple minutes (like 3) then get out.

I only had the pool for a couple months last year but almost never added water.

So be done testing CH this year. You'd need a 1/3 water exchange from rain to be a 200 which is what your heater manufacturer likely requests. Then more rain to be a chunk below that.

Meh. Test it mid season for funsies.