First time pool chemist

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Rookiegardener

Rookiegardener

0
Jul 12, 2017
5
Sellersburg, IN
Hello! I am a first time pool owner. I have the Taylor k1004 test kit and the pentair cyanuric acid test kit. When I had the pool installed, my goal was to use liquid chlorine but of course that has been hard to come by this year. (I just saw liquid bleach at Walmart this week for the first time in a couple months). So I have been using trichlor tablets and powder shock for the time being.

anyways, I need some guidance with my test results. This morning I had: FC 5, CC 5, ph 7.8, CYA 40, and TA 140. Do I need to bring down the TA? Or will that naturally begin to happen as the pool is used more? To switch over to the slam method, how much bleach would I need to have on hand for regular maintenance? I don’t want to start it and then be in a situation where I can not locate bleach anywhere. I would like to try and build up a small stockpile before changing over.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post!
 
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Don't worry about TA. When you adjust pH, aim low -- like 7.2 or 7.3 -- and it will come down quick enough on its own.

I worry about your CC. The formula is FC + CC = TC. TC is what the colorblock tester reads. I hope its just a simple misunderstanding or arithmetic error.

You should test CH. If you've been adding powdered shock, you could be making a bad situation worse, or you could have found a solution to the bleach situation. So let us know what that is. And what type of powdered shock you used.

The SLAM Process is only for when you are clearing algae. Daily pool chemistry is the TFP method. This time of year, it seems all the new people are SLAMming. Easy mistake to make.

How does your water look? Clear, murky, cloudy, opaque, green? That determines what you need to be doing.
 
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Rookiegardener said:
Thanks for the reply! Misunderstanding on my part. Free chlorine is 5 and total chlorine is 5. My water is totally clear right now. I’ve been using bioguard shock, as that is what the pool store gave me in my initial chemical set.
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Check the label. It could be dichlor or trichlor or Calcium Hypochlorite. It makes a huge difference.
 
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Welcome! You don’t need the SLAM part at this time just maintaining target as per the FC/CYA Levels & your cya is plenty @ 40 so no more dichlor!
It’s time to put your pool on a diet of liquid chlorine? you can find it in the pool section of most hardware stores or Walmart. Average daily chlorine loss is 2-4ppm. Use PoolMath to help u calculate additions. The app is great ?? & ReadABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Your kit only goes to 5 fc so thats as high as u can test - see Test Kits Compared
 
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