Help with numbers

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FLRob2954

Member
Aug 9, 2021
18
Clearwater Florida
Pool Size
10000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Hello. New pool owner. 1.5 months. I had some algae and i brought chlorine levels up (liquid), and brushed/vaccumed/cleaned filter several times a day....seems to have gone (but im not 100%). I got my tf 100 test kit today, and i just did my first testing. I think i am out of whack on some things but need help with next steps. 10,000 chlorine pool. Any help is appreciated

ph - 8
fc - 3.5
cc -1
ta - 120
cya - 30
 
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Decent shape looks like to me. FC a bit low, should maintain between 4-6 for cya of 30.

Could add muriatic acid to lower PH to 7.2 or so, which would also lower your TA a bit.

Cc of 1 is something to watch, but not unusual to see blips up occasionally. I would stay on high side of FC and check again this evening or tomorrow.
Experts probably chime in soon. Good luck! 😀
 
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FLRob2954 said:
Hello. New pool owner. 1.5 months. I had some algae and i brought chlorine levels up (liquid), and brushed/vaccumed/cleaned filter several times a day....seems to have gone (but im not 100%). I got my tf 100 test kit today, and i just did my first testing. I think i am out of whack on some things but need help with next steps. 10,000 chlorine pool. Any help is appreciated

ph - 8
fc - 3.5
cc -1
ta - 120
cya - 30
Click to expand...

Sorry, new here so grain of salt -- but wondering what your phosphates are as well (food for algae growth). That chlorine is still attaching to something. Then again, if your FC is proper, it shouldn't matter anyway. Another poster pointed the CYA chart out to me -- if you're at 30, your FC should be higher than where you are now.

As Msch99 pointed out, TA is too high, and PH is high. Use the calculators to determine how much acid to use to bring TA to the midway point of 80-120 first, which should also put your PH closer to 7.2. Your PH will likely stay unstable and remain high if you continue @ 120 TA.
 
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Just manage your pH and your TA will fall in line to what it should be to keep your pool in shape.

The fact that your CC is more than 0.5 indicates that you’ve got something brewing in your water. What does your water look like? Is it CRYSTAL clear, as in you’d be able to see the date on a dime on the bottom of you’re pool?

You likely need to SLAM, bring the chlorine up to 12 and keep it there with testing and chlorine additions multiple times a day until you pass the Over Night Chlorine Loss test. All of this is explained further in pool school.

once your done with the SLAM, keep your FC at least above 4, more like 6 would be better. In your climate, you might want your CYA higher, in which case you’d need your FC higher. I can’t recommend a CYA level for FL as I know nothing about CYA levels in your climate. I’m in NH and am closing my pool next week.
 
Deb04 said:
Just manage your pH and your TA will fall in line to what it should be to keep your pool in shape.

The fact that your CC is more than 0.5 indicates that you’ve got something brewing in your water. What does your water look like? Is it CRYSTAL clear, as in you’d be able to see the date on a dime on the bottom of you’re pool?

You likely need to SLAM, bring the chlorine up to 12 and keep it there with testing and chlorine additions multiple times a day until you pass the Over Night Chlorine Loss test. All of this is explained further in pool school.

once your done with the SLAM, keep your FC at least above 4, more like 6 would be better. In your climate, you might want your CYA higher, in which case you’d need your FC higher. I can’t recommend a CYA level for FL as I know nothing about CYA levels in your climate. I’m in NH and am closing my pool next week.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Water is crystal Clear. Yesterday evening i added 6 ounces of PH down. Which brought me down to 7.8 and then i added another 6 ounces. Tested PH this morning and i believe it was 7.6 (i'm still trying to get the hang of these test results.). Also tested chlorine again at 10pm last night after i added LC....it was 5 FC .5 CC. Tested again this morning and it was 4.5 FC and .5 CC. I tried an improvised SLAM over the prior 7 days before i got my test kit, to get rid of the slight algae that was accumulating on my walls. Seems to have worked based on above tests ? It is warm here, but my pool doesn't get much sun. 2-3 hours a day. So i have no idea where CYA should be either.

Sorry you have to close your pool !
 
Welcome to the forums and great job getting a real kit and accurate numbers. We generally prefer muriatic acid over dry acid because of the sulfates building up over time can cause issues. I don't see calcium numbers on your test, which is good to know eventually, especially if you have a plaster pool. You might consider updating your profile with the details of your pool, above vs in ground, vinyl / fiberglass / plaster, plus knowing all your pool equipment at a glance can help us to make correct suggestions to help.

Keep testing and you'll have it under control in no time flat!
 
azpoolgu said:
but wondering what your phosphates are as well (food for algae growth).
Click to expand...

Good thought, but we generally ignore phosphates here. Algae will grow in pretty much any pool regardless of phosphate level, and the reason pool stores check for it is so they can sell you expensive chemicals that are labor intensive to administer.

Here we just use liquid chlorine. It kills the algae and keeps it from coming back, regardless of phosphate level... Kind of a "one-and-done" approach.

Further reading on phosphates:

Phosphate Removers - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
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TexEdmond said:
Welcome to the forums and great job getting a real kit and accurate numbers. We generally prefer muriatic acid over dry acid because of the sulfates building up over time can cause issues. I don't see calcium numbers on your test, which is good to know eventually, especially if you have a plaster pool. You might consider updating your profile with the details of your pool, above vs in ground, vinyl / fiberglass / plaster, plus knowing all your pool equipment at a glance can help us to make correct suggestions to help.

Keep testing and you'll have it under control in no time flat!
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'll look into getting some muriatic acid. I bought the PH down before I found this site. Pool is 10k in ground plaster...added to my profile. Ill test calcium tonight.
 
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