Fresh refill and most readings are too low

[Cane4705]

Hi TFP Community,

Im hoping someone can provide some input. We recently had our roughly 30k gallon pool resurfaced, end of February with pebble and plaster (stonescape). Sine then Ihave been trying, unsuccessfully, to get my pool chemistry in order I have been adding calcium chloride and cya hoping to get in range of what Pool Math shows. I am adding calcium in small amounts by desolating the powder in a bucket of water and then dispensing around the pool. The cya I am adding incrementally as well by putting the powered in a sock and leaving in the skimmer basket. I am still having a very difficult time getting my numbers up and my csi is really low (-.47 according to Pool Math App) as well. I have a test kit and have been testing on my own, but today I took to a pool store for a second opinion. Below are the unexpected (disappointingly so ) results.

FC = .25
pH =7.9 (I know this a little high, but I over treated with muratic acid a week or so ago so I have been letting this rise naturally.)
TA = 48 (last time I tested less than a week ago it was 60.)
Calcium Hardness = 154 (last time I tested it a week ago was 180)
cya = 5 (it was 5 before i ever added cya dissolving through a sock in the skimmer.)

Not sure if I am just not adding enough of each chemical to get to the numbers I am trying to achieve. I dont want to over shoot any of the chemicals especially cya. I have added 8lbs of calcium chloride and before the end of the weekend, I will have finished a 7lb bag of cya.

Any insight, advice and or moral support would be greatly appreciated

Thank you all in advance.

 

[Sunnydaze]

Which test kit do you have?

 

[Cane4705]

I have a Taylor test kit and have added an 8lbs bog of calcium and about 5lbs of cya

 

[Sunnydaze]

I have a Taylor test kit and have added an 8lbs bog of calcium and about 5lbs of cya

Can you post your results? Use your kit and don't trust pool store testing. 8lbs of calcium chloride would have increased your calcium by only 30ppm. 5lb of cya added 20ppm. The full 7 lbs you mentioned will be just shy of 30ppm. Wait a day or 2 after it's all dissolved before testing it again. Just please, don't add anything based on those pool store results.

 

[wireform]

You don't say where you get the FC from. Your signature is empty ,we'll need it to help you out better at some point.

 

[Cane4705]

I just tested my CH and was 190-200 per my test

 

[Cane4705]

Sorry wireform and everyone else. I use bleach/liquid chlorine, although I do have a few tabs in a floater to hopefully help increase cya a little

 

[Cane4705]

Can you post your results? Use your kit and don't trust pool store testing. 8lbs of calcium chloride would have increased your calcium by only 30ppm. 5lb of cya added 20ppm. The full 7 lbs you mentioned will be just shy of 30ppm. Wait a day or 2 after it's all dissolved before testing it again. Just please, don't add anything based on those pool store results.

 

[Bperry]

As said above, post results from your own test kit. The numbers you posted don’t look bad except for the FC. But don’t trust the pool store numbers.

 

[Cane4705]

Just did cya test and couldn’t even get a reading. The small tube overflowed before the dot in the bottom ever came close to disappearing.

 

[Cane4705]

Okay just tested ph and TA myself. ph looks more like 7.7 and TA between 50 and 60 by my test

 

[Cane4705]

Worried my low CH and too low csi is damaging new plaster. Also concerned fc is being depleted because cya too low

 

[wireform]

Your Ch is somewhat low but short term won't damage. For now get the CYA to a minimum of 30 and the FC in target as per the CYA ratio chart. If you keep losing more then the expected FC I'd recommend you do a OCLT to verify there isn't algae brewing.

 

[Bperry]

Worried my low CH and too low csi is damaging new plaster. Also concerned fc is being depleted because cya too low

If you CH is 200ppm then you need to add about 50lbs to get it to 400ppm. Make real sure you tested right and check if your fill water is already high in CH so you don’t overshoot it.

 

[mknauss]

What is your fill water CH? Be careful adding much more calcium if the fill water CH is at 100 or higher.

 

[Cane4705]

Thank you all for your responses. I really appreciate all your input and support. My chemistry is not there yet, but the numbers do seem to be trending in the right direction, I think.

I just tested again this morning and my test results are below.
FC - 1 (added 1 gallon bleach last night so FC has gone up. Will add another gallon this evening and test FC tomorrow morning early)
pH - 7.5
TA - 60 (seems to be pretty steady)
CH - 190
CYA - looks to be about 20 (can’t tell for sure but definitely going up and close to 30. still dissolving the last of my cya so will test again in a couple of days.

Any input on next steps? My csi is still really low after latest test (-.68). The one number that seems to make the biggest change to csi in the pool Math calc is the pH. According to the pool math calc. If I bumped up pH To 7.8 and CH to 250 that would put my csi at .27.

Thoughts?

 

[Cane4705]

What is your fill water CH? Be careful adding much more calcium if the fill water CH is at 100 or higher.

Just tested full water CH -120

 

[mknauss]

I would be careful adding too much calcium. If you wish to get your present CH to 250 ppm, that is OK. But when you add fill water due to evaporation, your CH will rise. I know you get rain and that should help. But just monitor.