Here's my #'s, couple questions about what to add.

[odonekanobe]

First of all, thank you for this site! I now feel like I (almost) have an understanding of how to keep my pool clear.

Test as of 30 minutes ago.

FC-1
CC-0
TC-1
pH-7.6
TA-80
CH-250
CYA-20
Temp-78*

Pool calculator says to add 75oz bleach, 3.8oz muriatic acid, 85oz baking soda, and 32oz stabilizer. Now if I add the baking soda, that will also raise my pH. So will I need to add more than the 3.8 oz muriatic acid, or do I add one first and then test and correct the other? If so, in what order do I fix the levels? Now I also see that adding stabilizer will lower the pH, if I am adding CYA do I need to even add muriatic acid?

I see that it can take a week to raise CYA, can we be swimming while we are doing it? Is there a benefit to using liquid stabilizer vs granules or vice versa?

Finally (I think), the pool calculator is showing my CSI to be -0.02. It says less than -0.06 is a problem for plaster pools so I should be ok at my level?

Thank you everyone! I feel like I am finally getting very close to where I should be.

 

[JasonLion]

Your PH and TA are both fine, leave them alone for now.

Start raising CYA at least a little right away, aim for 30 to 40.

Adding some chlorine is a great idea.

And you can completely ignore CSI.

 

[duraleigh]

x2 what Jason said.

I see that it can take a week to raise CYA, can we be swimming while we are doing it? Is there a benefit to using liquid stabilizer vs granules or vice versa?

You can certainly swim while waiting on the CYA to register. The advantage in liquid CYA is that it shows up on the test very quickly instead of several days....the disadvantage is that it is more than double the cost. Generally, we don't suggest it.

 

[odonekanobe]

Thank you! Picked up some stabilizer and it is in a sock in the skimmer. Also added some chlorine. Appreciate the help!

 

[BoDarville]

Finally (I think), the pool calculator is showing my CSI to be -0.02. It says less than -0.06 is a problem for plaster pools so I should be ok at my level?

Your current CSI at -0.02 is great. A CSI below -0.6 (not -0.06) is suggestive of problems for plaster, tile, stone, and pebble pools.

 

[odonekanobe]

Looks like the majority of the cya was dissolved overnight. Is that normal? I was expecting it to take longer.

 

[BoDarville]

Yes it's possible, especially if you had the pump running the entire time since you added the CYA. I have noticed that my most recent CYA additions have dissolved faster with the increase in water temperature compared to earlier in the season since, in my case, that's the only variable that has changed. Although I'm currently running my pump about 5.5 hours/day on average, I run it constantly whenever I add CYA until it has dissolved. My most recent addition dissolved in less than a full day. I also give the sock a squeeze periodically to speed things up a bit and to determine whether all of the CYA has dissolved.

I would still wait a few days before testing the CYA, though.

 

[supertune]

CYA in my sock dissolved hanging over the return in one afternoon. :-D
With the water temps in the 88-90* degree range, showed up in the test about 36 hrs later.

Chuck

 

[techguy]

I added 1.75 pounds to my pool this season and it dissolved overnight with my high flow. I used a bra bag sitting on the left side of my wide mouth skimmers inlet horn. I didn't want to add it to my basket to prevent the suction line from sucking it (and the basket) down into the body of the skimmer.

earlier this year, I had the skimmer basket get sucked and "wedged" into the body of the skimmer when it filled with the blooms from a crepe myrtle.