Getting started on maintenance - first tests

[Greenhound386]

Super quick background: I purchased a home ~ 3 years ago and inherited a pool with it. I maintained the existing pool service provider, and due to multiple issues, I’ve let them go and have assumed pool maintenance on my own moving forward.

• Pool is plaster and around 16.5k gallons. Add another few hundred extra gallons for the attached spa.
• It does have a salt cell on it, but I’m told that the cell is effectively not doing anything. No salt has been added to the pool since I moved in, and the existing service provider has been treating it as a non-saltwater pool.
• I am using the TF-PRO test kit.

This past weekend, I took a sample to Leslie’s Pool Supply in order to get a baseline, and I also ran my own tests using the TF-PRO kit. I’ll put Leslie’s figures first, and then my figures in parentheses.

• Free Chlorine: 0.15 (less than 0.5)
• Combined Chlorine: 0 (0)
• Total Chlorine: 0.15 (less than 0.5)
• pH: 8.4 (8.2)
• Total Akalinity: 70 (80)
• Calcium Hardness: 380 (600; big delta here…?)
• Cyanuric Acid: 5 (less than 30; I can easily see the black dot with a full tube)
• Iron: 0.1 (didn’t measure)
• Copper: 0.3 (didn’t measure)
• Phosphates: 1064 (didn’t measure)
• Total Dissolved Solids: 2500 (didn’t measure)

Here were the key points from my discussion with the Leslie’s employee and what I did:

• Chlorine and CYA were both low. I put in a 1lb bag of their Chlor Brite product to bring both up.
• Alkalinity was slightly low. I added 2.5lbs of their Alkaline Up product.
• I was told to let things stabilize for a day before addressing the slightly high pH. I have purchased muriatic acid, but have not added that in, yet.
• Phosphates are high, but I just replaced my filters, and the Leslie’s representative mentioned that a phosphate remover would require a filter cleaning afterwards. They said I could ignore the phosphate levels for now if the pool is looking OK (looks great right now).
• They also noted that the Total Dissolved Solids are very high. Said this indicated the water is pretty old, and I will want to consider draining and refilling at some point if I start having issues that can’t be addressed through the usual maintenance.

Fast forward 2 days, and here are the readings that I got using my TF-PRO test kit. I’ll provide my reading, and then the difference in parentheses.

• Free Chlorine: 1.5 (went up by at least 1ppm)
• Combined Chlorine: 0 (no change)
• Total Chlorine: 1.5 (went up by at least 1ppm)
• pH: 8.2 (solution looks darker and may be greater than 8.2)
• Total Akalinity: 100 (went up by 20ppm)
• Cyanuric Acid: Less than 30 (I can still easily see the black dot with a full tube)

So, that’s where I am at right now.

Questions

• Anything remarkable or any red flags about the information above?
• Should I use some tabs to start bumping the chlorine and CYA simultaneously, or given the very low CYA, am I better off using a separate conditioner and sticking with the liquid chlorine?
• Alkalinity is right in the middle of the range that Leslie’s recommended, but I’m seeing other posts on here where folks will run it lower. Should I keep it at 100 and now address the pH by adding some muriatic acid?
• Any thoughts on the phosphates and total dissolved solids? I’m kind of ignoring both of those things for now until I get my other readings in check, and even then, I’m not sure if I’ll formally address until I start to see some problems.
• The only test that didn’t align with the results from Leslie’s was the Calcium Hardness. I’m going to circle back with another test from them and will do my own again, but let me know if a large delta might be common for some reason.

 

[ajw22]

You need to decide if you want to follow TFP Methods or Leslie advice. They are not the same.

I suggest you read...

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

What Are My Ideal Pool Levels?

Use our tool to find ideal chemical levels for any swimming pool. Check TFP recommended levels on pH, free chlorine, cyanuric acid, and more.

www.troublefreepool.com

Don't talk to us about Leslie test results. Just give us your TFT Pro results. Trust your testing.

Your FC was low, your pH was high, your TA was just fine at 70-80, CH is high but manageable, CYA is low, phosphates don't matter - ignore them and Leslie, your copper of 0.3 is concerning and you may have copper staining, TDS is irrelevant and should be ignored.

Now what to do...

• Get your CYA up to 30-40 using dry stabilizer with the sock method of adding it.
• Raise and maintain your FC to at least 6ppm using liquid chlorine
• Lower your pH to around 7.6
• Don't touch your TA. TA down to 50 is ok.
• Your CH is fine right now. Just continue testing it monthly.
• Stay out of Lesile
• Do it all now

 

[Bperry]

Super quick background: I purchased a home ~ 3 years ago and inherited a pool with it. I maintained the existing pool service provider, and due to multiple issues, I’ve let them go and have assumed pool maintenance on my own moving forward.

• Pool is plaster and around 16.5k gallons. Add another few hundred extra gallons for the attached spa.
• It does have a salt cell on it, but I’m told that the cell is effectively not doing anything. No salt has been added to the pool since I moved in, and the existing service provider has been treating it as a non-saltwater pool.
• I am using the TF-PRO test kit.

This past weekend, I took a sample to Leslie’s Pool Supply in order to get a baseline, and I also ran my own tests using the TF-PRO kit. I’ll put Leslie’s figures first, and then my figures in parentheses.

• Free Chlorine: 0.15 (less than 0.5)
• Combined Chlorine: 0 (0)
• Total Chlorine: 0.15 (less than 0.5)
• pH: 8.4 (8.2)
• Total Akalinity: 70 (80)
• Calcium Hardness: 380 (600; big delta here…?)
• Cyanuric Acid: 5 (less than 30; I can easily see the black dot with a full tube)
• Iron: 0.1 (didn’t measure)
• Copper: 0.3 (didn’t measure)
• Phosphates: 1064 (didn’t measure)
• Total Dissolved Solids: 2500 (didn’t measure)

Here were the key points from my discussion with the Leslie’s employee and what I did:

• Chlorine and CYA were both low. I put in a 1lb bag of their Chlor Brite product to bring both up.
• Alkalinity was slightly low. I added 2.5lbs of their Alkaline Up product.
• I was told to let things stabilize for a day before addressing the slightly high pH. I have purchased muriatic acid, but have not added that in, yet.
• Phosphates are high, but I just replaced my filters, and the Leslie’s representative mentioned that a phosphate remover would require a filter cleaning afterwards. They said I could ignore the phosphate levels for now if the pool is looking OK (looks great right now).
• They also noted that the Total Dissolved Solids are very high. Said this indicated the water is pretty old, and I will want to consider draining and refilling at some point if I start having issues that can’t be addressed through the usual maintenance.

Fast forward 2 days, and here are the readings that I got using my TF-PRO test kit. I’ll provide my reading, and then the difference in parentheses.

• Free Chlorine: 1.5 (went up by at least 1ppm)
• Combined Chlorine: 0 (no change)
• Total Chlorine: 1.5 (went up by at least 1ppm)
• pH: 8.2 (solution looks darker and may be greater than 8.2)
• Total Akalinity: 100 (went up by 20ppm)
• Cyanuric Acid: Less than 30 (I can still easily see the black dot with a full tube)

So, that’s where I am at right now.

Questions

• Anything remarkable or any red flags about the information above?
• Should I use some tabs to start bumping the chlorine and CYA simultaneously, or given the very low CYA, am I better off using a separate conditioner and sticking with the liquid chlorine?
• Alkalinity is right in the middle of the range that Leslie’s recommended, but I’m seeing other posts on here where folks will run it lower. Should I keep it at 100 and now address the pH by adding some muriatic acid?
• Any thoughts on the phosphates and total dissolved solids? I’m kind of ignoring both of those things for now until I get my other readings in check, and even then, I’m not sure if I’ll formally address until I start to see some problems.
• The only test that didn’t align with the results from Leslie’s was the Calcium Hardness. I’m going to circle back with another test from them and will do my own again, but let me know if a large delta might be common for some reason.

Leslies metals testing has a tolerance of +\- 0.3ppm so ignore that. But don’t add any chlorine products with xtrablue, blu, blue, cause that’s a code name for copper and you don’t want copper in the water. Like said above, ignore anything leslies told you.

 

[Mdragger88]

Do as @ajw22 said & tell us more about your swcg.
How did your fc increase?

 

[Greenhound386]

Yes, I'm aware that Leslie's has some ulterior motives and may not give the best advice, and that's why I signed up here and bought the TF test kit. Comparing my values to Leslie's for my first time - and having those values correlate closely - was validation for me that I'm doing the tests correctly. I've watched all of the YouTube videos on here on how to do the tests, but I still wanted to do a sanity check for the first time to make sure I did it right.

The salt cell is hooked up, and water is flowing through it, but I've been told it effectively isn't doing anything to the water due to its age and the fact that salt hasn't been added to the system. This is what was communicated to me by the guy who was servicing my pool for all of these years. I called in someone local that's got a lot of credibility, and he came by and told me the exact same thing. He noted that it would be easy enough to go back to salt if I were to swap out the cell, or I can leave everything as-is and continue to operate it just using liquid chlorine.

Free Chlorine went up because I added the Chlor Brite. I used the Chlor Brite for the addition of the conditioner; I only have liquid chlorine at home.

I'll definitely get some dry stabilizer and in there within the next 2 days for the CYA, and the pH will be addressed as well.

Thanks for the comments regarding the CH, TDS, and phosphates!

 

[wireform]

Can't say it enough but Leslie's are worthless at best, will give you ill advice, for example you raised your alkalinity which was perfect the way it was, just goes to show they know nothing you can benefit from. Take our advice for free and run with it to the end. Comparing Leslie's to TFP is like comparing oranges to door locks. Trust only your own testing and you'll be advised accordingly.

 

[duraleigh]

Comparing my values to Leslie's for my first time

Sorry to glom on, but that's a big mistake. You can't compare your results to other results that are WRONG to begin with!

Stay OUT of the Pool Store. Learn to trust your own results.

 

[Bperry]

Yes, I'm aware that Leslie's has some ulterior motives and may not give the best advice,

I’m one of those that don’t think Leslie’s is purposefully doing anything bad, their testing is just not reliable for whatever reason that is. You can try taking the same sample to multiple stores and see what I mean.

 

[wireform]

You can try taking the same sample to multiple stores and see what I mean.

Or even get on the back of the line 3 times with the same water sample and get 3 different answers/advice and then you can choose which of the 3 you like the best.

 

[Mdragger88]

You should test the salinity of your water to see where you stand there.
Salt isn’t something that needs to be added all that often unless a lot of water has been exchanged.
All forms of manually added chlorine, calcium increaser, & acid all add salt as well. You may be surprised at the level you still have.
We don’t care if your water is “old” & neither should you
There are several reasons to exchange water in an outdoor residential pool but the water simply being old isn’t really one of them. If it were an indoor pool or a public pool that might be a different story.

Draining - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

for the swcg I was inquiring more about the make & model.
If you decide to replace the cell it is an opportunity to be sure you select one that is rated for at least 2x’s your pool’s volume - so a 40k gal rated or larger.
You may be able to have your cell tested locally to confirm/deny what the pool guy told you.
Having a swcg dose your pool for you is the easiest way to chlorinate & the least expensive in the long run with the way chlorine prices are now.

 

[Greenhound386]

Alright, here is where I am at.

Yesterday (1/9), I added 1 gallon of liquid chlorine, and 1/2 gallon of muriatic acid.

Today (1/10), I got the following readings with the TF-Pro kit.

• FC: 6 (up from 1.5 on 1/8)
• CC: 0 (same from 1/8)
• CYA: still effectively 0 (same from 1/8)
• pH: 7.8 (down from 8.2 on 1/8)
• TA: 70 (down from 100 on 1/8)

So, everything is looking good except for CYA. I just need to get to the store to get the dry stabilizer to bump that value up. The muriatic acid made the TA drop quite a bit, but I figure that's a good thing since I originally went the wrong direction on that.

The SWG cell is a Hayward Turbo Cell GLX-CELL-15-W. It is rated for up to 40k gallons. It was put into service around the end of 2015. I haven't been able to test for salt, yet, as I don't have the reagents to do that.

 

[Mdragger88]

Perfect
Use the sock method for adding the cya & you’ll be in business!


Yeah, That cell is likely depleted- when you’re ready we can help you determine that by the readings on the unit compared to your actual salinity or you can take it to a brick & mortar for a test.
That’s a good size cell for your pool - sometimes they skimp out so I had to ask

 

[Greenhound386]

Quick update. I got some dry stabilizer in the pool a few days ago. I ran the pump / filter for over 24 hours when I first put the stabilizer in.

FC: 7
CYA: 40
ph: 7.8
TA: 80

Looks like those values are all within the recommended ranges; I'm basically on 'maintenance' mode now and will monitor and add chemicals as needed.

There's a high probability that I buy a new SWG cell at some point soon, and I'll have to get up-to-speed on that. I'm going to stick with liquid chlorine in the short-term to at least continue to get a feel for the testing and how the pool will react and change over time.

 

[Newdude]

I'm going to stick with liquid chlorine in the short-term to at least continue to get a feel for the testing and how the pool will react and change over time.

It a skill that will come in handy. You'll have to step in plenty of times with LC when you miscalculated an adjustment, a party, the off season when it's too cold for the SWG to work, etc.

 

[Mdragger88]

You’re doing great
Basically the jest is that you dose to high target or a scootch above for your cya & be sure to replenish before fc falls to minimum.
You don’t wanna play kissy face with minimum
When ph rises to 8.0 use acid to go to mid 7’s.
As you do this, over time your ta will fall further mitigating your ph rise frequency.
Some pools hang out around the high 7’s for a while - don’t sweat it. Anywhere in the 7’s is ok