Fixing Water Chemicals

[Silva1181]

good morning, so has noted by mknauss by using soda ash my TA level jumped significantly. Lesson learned!! As of this morning my readings are:

FC 10
PH 7.6
TA - 250
CH - 370. (is this too high)
CYA - 40

To lower TA per pool math I should add about 70 oz of MA. Then I have the jets pointed upward in hopes this helps to aerate. Please let me know if this is the correct approach.

thanks in advance.

 

[mknauss]

No reason to focus on TA. Just lower pH to 7.6 every time it goes to 8. May be a couple times a week. Test TA when you are going to add acid as you need the TA test result in Poolmath.

Or, if you want to lower TA, follow Lower Total Alkalinity - Trouble Free Pool

 

[Richard320]

good morning, so has noted by mknauss by using soda ash my TA level jumped significantly. Lesson learned!! As of this morning my readings are:

FC 10
PH 7.6
TA - 250
CH - 370. (is this too high)
CYA - 40

To lower TA per pool math I should add about 70 oz of MA. Then I have the jets pointed upward in hopes this helps to aerate. Please let me know if this is the correct approach.

thanks in advance.

You're no longer going to the pool store for advice, so get off the merry-go-round. You don't have to constantly add chemicals. making you go up and down again and again but you always end up right where you began. The pH will probably be ripe for adjustment tomorrow and then you can knock it back. That'll reduce TA. It'll take the same amount of acid whether you're patient or go after it aggressively, so I'd just wait. It won;t take that much longer.

I do see a problem with the CH. It's a multiple of 10. That's a lot of drops and a lot of swirling and a lot of room for error and tired wrists. In the future, 10 ml water, 10 drops of R-0010, 3 to 5 drops R0011L (so the color is deep enough to see), and multiply the R-0012 by 25. Does it really matter if you get 375 instead of 370? No. But it uses a lot less reagent and takes a lot less swirling.

 

[Silva1181]

Thank you both for your input and advice which I appreciate. All the testing and adding of chemicals can get a bit stressful, especially when I don't want to make mistakes. As I still consider myself somewhat of new pool owner 1.5 yr, I seem to want to aggressively attack any off numbers but need to learn to be a lot more patient.

Yes, definitely no more pool stores for chemicals.

 

[IceShadow]

The important thing is to know what numbers really matter.

FC. pH. These are the things to keep in line. CYA you need to know to know what your FC target is. TA you need to know when you adjust the pH so you can add the right amount of acid. CH you need to know so that you can get a CSI result to keep it in line for your plaster. But you don’t need to chase those things unless something is really out of line or has a drastic effect on your pH or FC.

 

[Silva1181]

Thanks Iceshadow. Richard, thanks for the alternative method of measuring CH, I got better results using your method.
We had a lot of rain in my area yesterday and more expected all week. The water level is noticeably higher.

I decided to test the water now, just to see what affect the rain had.

FC - 8
PH - 7.8
TA - 130 (this is a huge drop from yesterday mornings reading. Does rain lower TA?)
CH - 350
CYA - 40

I am feeling good about these numbers

 

[IceShadow]

If you got a sizable amount of rain you might have had the water dilute. And rain won’t have any TA to start. Some rain is also acidic which would cancel some of the TA.

 

[Silva1181]

Hello All,
since I started this thread, I've given more attention to monitoring the chem levels, since I thought we would be using the pool more, but we haven't. We used the pool twice since posting this over 4 weeks ago. we've had a little rain here and there but not much. A lot of sun and now in the past week or so high temps.

What I am noticing is how quickly my PH keeps rising. This past Monday it was at 8, and all other levels (FC, CYA, TA) were good. I added MA and brought it back down to 7.2.

This morning I noticed the water level has dropped a lot due to the heat/evaporation so I filled it to an approporiate level again. As of this morning these are my readings:
FC - 4
PH - 8 (on 6/8 evening it was at 8 and I add MA to lower to 7.2)
TA - 100
CYA - 40
CH - 300

Am I doing something wrong? If PH is the only level that's out of line, should I keep lowering it even if we're not using the pool? The water is clean and clear. There are no longer any signs of algae.

I am stumped!

 

[IceShadow]

Yes, test often (if not daily, every 2-3 days) and adjust pH. Add FC daily - once you know what you're adding you can add every day and test every 2-3 days to make sure you're on track.

 

[Silva1181]

Thanks.