Hi everyone, I'm going to apologize in advance for rambling on in my post, but I'm going to try and give you a complete picture of what's been going on.
So.............. My wife and I just purchased a house back in November as we just relocated to Arizona from Boston. We always wanted to live here and we always wanted a pool. So we did just that. This is my first time owning a pool and having to learn how to care for it and keep the water in perfect condition at all times. (I'm seriously anal about doing things the right way, and not the cheap way)
When we purchased the house the pool was up and running and everything was working as it should, or so it seemed. I hired a local pool company to come out and go through everything and to tell me what was working and what was not. (Now keep in mind I have no knowledge on anything pools) Turns out that the pool had a SWG installed that was shot, they couldn't even get the filter open without snapping the nut off to get it open. Upon getting it open, the manifold was blown out with a hole the size of a half dollar, the filters were all collapsed and it was disgusting inside. They told me the water in the pool needed to be drained as it was past its usefulness. The pool was also running off a rebuilt single speed 1.5hp pump.
As you can imagine, I was beyond ******. (I know, my own fault for not having someone look at it before we closed on the house. Insert dunce hat here.) So I did my research and my homework, and had a new Hayward VS pump installed, and a new Hayward Swimclear Filter put in. ( I did not have the SWG replaced as I did not want a salt water pool) I also had them replace the pool light with a new LED one, as I'm all about saving $$ where I can. And I bought the Hayward Aquanaut pool vac, and filter canister for the hose.
I had another pool company come out and get rid of all the white calcium build up around the waters edge on the pool, and drain and refill the pool with fresh water. (This was done in February)
I am determined to learn to get things right, as I cannot see paying someone $100.00 plus a month to do something that I can do myself!
The pool guys had added all the chemicals to the pool when it was filled and everything has been fine until recently. I had purchased the Taylor K-2006 testing kit, buy my eyes seriously went cross eyed, and my frontal lobe felt like I just drank an entire milkshake in one shot upon reading the manual. So i was using the test strips, and they were coming back good. So I found the Clorox testing strip app a couple of weeks ago and starting using that, and that has led me to where I am today.... Going nuts!
That thing has had me adding stuff left and right to correct a bunch of problems with the water, and it all didn't seem right to me. So I've been reading up on this site, and finally got off my butt and figured out (I Hope) how to use the Taylor Kit. The results are as follows....
CYA 80
PH 7.7
TA 110
FC 2.5
CC 0.5
CH 270
Now, if what I've been reading is correct, in order for me to bring down the TA, I need to drop the PH down to 7.2 and then aerate the water to drop the TA but in turn it will raise the PH back up to 7.6-7.7?? Is that correct?
Also, I'm really confused as to how much liquid chlorine I need to add to bring the FC up a little bit. I went out and bought 2 gallons of 10% chlorine at the store today, so I have it when ready. Any advice On what to do, or you folks see anything else I need to pay attention to would be greatly appreciated!!!
P.S The pool is Chrystal clear, I just kept getting readings on the Clorox app to lower the PH, add Stabilizer, add hard metal remover etc etc.....
P.S.S What chemical brands should I stay away from, and which brands do you recommend?
Thanks in advance.
~Rob
So.............. My wife and I just purchased a house back in November as we just relocated to Arizona from Boston. We always wanted to live here and we always wanted a pool. So we did just that. This is my first time owning a pool and having to learn how to care for it and keep the water in perfect condition at all times. (I'm seriously anal about doing things the right way, and not the cheap way)
When we purchased the house the pool was up and running and everything was working as it should, or so it seemed. I hired a local pool company to come out and go through everything and to tell me what was working and what was not. (Now keep in mind I have no knowledge on anything pools) Turns out that the pool had a SWG installed that was shot, they couldn't even get the filter open without snapping the nut off to get it open. Upon getting it open, the manifold was blown out with a hole the size of a half dollar, the filters were all collapsed and it was disgusting inside. They told me the water in the pool needed to be drained as it was past its usefulness. The pool was also running off a rebuilt single speed 1.5hp pump.
As you can imagine, I was beyond ******. (I know, my own fault for not having someone look at it before we closed on the house. Insert dunce hat here.) So I did my research and my homework, and had a new Hayward VS pump installed, and a new Hayward Swimclear Filter put in. ( I did not have the SWG replaced as I did not want a salt water pool) I also had them replace the pool light with a new LED one, as I'm all about saving $$ where I can. And I bought the Hayward Aquanaut pool vac, and filter canister for the hose.
I had another pool company come out and get rid of all the white calcium build up around the waters edge on the pool, and drain and refill the pool with fresh water. (This was done in February)
I am determined to learn to get things right, as I cannot see paying someone $100.00 plus a month to do something that I can do myself!
The pool guys had added all the chemicals to the pool when it was filled and everything has been fine until recently. I had purchased the Taylor K-2006 testing kit, buy my eyes seriously went cross eyed, and my frontal lobe felt like I just drank an entire milkshake in one shot upon reading the manual. So i was using the test strips, and they were coming back good. So I found the Clorox testing strip app a couple of weeks ago and starting using that, and that has led me to where I am today.... Going nuts!
That thing has had me adding stuff left and right to correct a bunch of problems with the water, and it all didn't seem right to me. So I've been reading up on this site, and finally got off my butt and figured out (I Hope) how to use the Taylor Kit. The results are as follows....
CYA 80
PH 7.7
TA 110
FC 2.5
CC 0.5
CH 270
Now, if what I've been reading is correct, in order for me to bring down the TA, I need to drop the PH down to 7.2 and then aerate the water to drop the TA but in turn it will raise the PH back up to 7.6-7.7?? Is that correct?
Also, I'm really confused as to how much liquid chlorine I need to add to bring the FC up a little bit. I went out and bought 2 gallons of 10% chlorine at the store today, so I have it when ready. Any advice On what to do, or you folks see anything else I need to pay attention to would be greatly appreciated!!!
P.S The pool is Chrystal clear, I just kept getting readings on the Clorox app to lower the PH, add Stabilizer, add hard metal remover etc etc.....
P.S.S What chemical brands should I stay away from, and which brands do you recommend?
Thanks in advance.
~Rob