First Time Poster-Help balancing TA and Chlorine levels

[Leah Baker]

I have been reading different articles on this site and have also read the manual on my new Taylor 2006C. Second time testing and my levels appear to be really high. FC=19 CC=2 (I believe this to be correct as my sample never turned red but pink) TA=200!!!! PH=7.2
So I believe in the Taylor instructions it says take care of the TA first then PH and then Chlorine. Well my PH is fine....and in my Taylor instructions it says to use Muriatic Acid to lower TA but your site I believe said using MA to lower your PH which I don't want to do. I can figure out the measurements of how much to use to lower but I guess I want some guidance on 1.) Should I attach TA first and use Muriatic Acid?? 2.) Then move to PH if step 1 lowers my PH? 3.) By doing step 1 and possibly 2 will this fix the chlorine or what do I do to lower that?? New pool owner and my pool company is zero help...they keep having me add algecide and pool complete and our hair is turning green so I know that is not what I should be doing. I want to learn how to maintain without having to add all these extra things causing problems.....

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
The Taylor 2006C is great test kit, just do not follow their guidance on water chemistry.
Recommended Levels
Green hair means you have copper in the water. Do NOT add algaecide.
Post a full set of test results.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

 

[Leah Baker]

Welcome to the forum!
The Taylor 2006C is great test kit, just do not follow their guidance on water chemistry.
Recommended Levels
Green hair means you have copper in the water. Do NOT add algaecide.
Post a full set of test results.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

Results on original response. Did not test Calcium yet because I got to CYA to test and the instructions on the Taylor booklet to run testing are not understandable. I do not understand how to test the CYA in the Taylor kit so I need to find a video or something. Yes I have learned that I should NOT be using algecide. Definitely copper in my water. So I will no longer use. But I need to figure out how to balance everything so I don't run in to a problem with algae. Some of your other responses say don't worry about TA if your PH is fine which mine is 7.2. But my chlorine is very high so I need to figure out how to lower that now.....I did read the ABC's....checked out a lot on here prior to registering.

 

[mknauss]

Your chlorine will lower on its own. Your pool is consuming 3-4 ppm FC per day just with the sun shining on the surface.
Your pH test is not valid with a FC above 10 ppm. Retest that when your FC is lower.

The copper is now in your water. It would be best to drain/exchange a large portion of your water to get rid of it. Up to you.

 

[Leah Baker]

Welcome to the forum!
The Taylor 2006C is great test kit, just do not follow their guidance on water chemistry.
Recommended Levels
Green hair means you have copper in the water. Do NOT add algaecide.
Post a full set of test results.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

May I please ask you one more question? Very hard for me to do the CYA test due to my eyes. I want to do the diluting with tap water method but can't find anywhere if the tap water can be softened water or does it need to be water that is not connected to the water softener? Thank you in advance for your response.

 

[mknauss]

Any tap water will work for the CYA dilution test. Softened or not. Bottled water if you like.

 

[Leah Baker]

Any tap water will work for the CYA dilution test. Softened or not. Bottled water if you like.

Thank you!!! I am in the process of lowering my CYA. I tested yesterday using softened water twice and came up with 100ppm. Because I started at 191 (yes horrible Dang pool builder) I was super excited to get this reading. So I decided to go check at a pool company to see what their test showed (which last week showed 133 and then I did two more 4 inch lowers and refills) and they had me at the same number. Do you think I trust my reading or their reading? I know I need another large drain and refill but hard to do with well water so I am doing them smaller and using my softened water to refill. Thank you as always for answering my questions-you have been great and this site has been VERY helpful!!

 

[mknauss]

Do not go to pool stores. You have a quality test kit. Use it.

 

[Leah Baker]

Do not go to pool stores. You have a quality test kit. Use it.

Yes I am definitely doing that. I only went because the CYA test in the K2006C seems to be the only one in that kit that could be very subjective based on your eyes...it is not as definite as the others that you can really measure out.....that is the only reason why I went. And with my high CYA I really need to be on top of where I keep my FC at to prevent algae so that is why I was going....going out to test again right now...

 

[mknauss]

The pool store test method has more error than your own. The CYA test is subjective.
When you do the CYA test, try this next time.

Once you have your solution ready, back to the sun, etc. Fill the vial to a line, say 80, lower the vial to your waist level and glance for the dot, you see it, add solution to the 70 line, glance, see it, repeat until you no longer see it with a glance. Then use the CYA value one step above the line you read. So if you stopped at 50, use 60 ppm CYA.

The vial is in logarithmic scale. So it is not viable to interpolate between the lines. Just use the whole numbers, such as 50, 40, 30, ....

 

[UnnecAbrvtn]

Hi Leah,

I've recently been through a CYA lowering process where my local pool store had me at between 110ppm and 130ppm multiple times. When I got my reagents for the Taylor test, I was consistently no higher than 90 (still higher than I needed for a SLAM in my particular case), so take those under-the-counter spectral analysis results with a honking grain of salt (no pun intended).

To me the Taylor CYA test is the most subjective of the series, but I counter that by following the guidance as closely as possible and testing in 'strong yet indirect light' . Because the 14ml sample is typically enough to perform the dot test at least twice, I usually ask my wife (who's eyes are far younger than mine) to perform it independently. Almost always our numbers agree, so we round up to the next line and that's our working CYA.

Good luck!

 

[Leah Baker]

The pool store test method has more error than your own. The CYA test is subjective.
When you do the CYA test, try this next time.

Once you have your solution ready, back to the sun, etc. Fill the vial to a line, say 80, lower the vial to your waist level and glance for the dot, you see it, add solution to the 70 line, glance, see it, repeat until you no longer see it with a glance. Then use the CYA value one step above the line you read. So if you stopped at 50, use 60 ppm CYA.

The vial is in logarithmic scale. So it is not viable to interpolate between the lines. Just use the whole numbers, such as 50, 40, 30, ....

Ok that is what I have been doing. I can see dot at 60 and possibly at 50 so to be safe I am saying I am in between 100-120. I did do the test and put it in between 50-60 and could still see the dot. I am going to continue on my path-just lowered another 2 inches or so and am refilling. Will keep doing this every day. More manageable than a big drain due to my water conditions.