If anyone is still awake need some help fast if possible.
- Thread starter Stargate_to_earth
- Start date
Couldn't stand it, went out and put other half of the cya in the sock and massaged it till it was dissolved. Can I test for cya tomorrow morning or should I wait?
Now the next big question... The puck dispenser that is inline after the filter has a drain plug... It was leaking a little so I started to try to tighten it a little... The end came off in my hand (sheared off leaving threads in the hole) problem is the screw/plug was hollow leading to a leak. I took a twig and jammed it in the hole and it seems to have stopped the leak for now (wood expands when wet) question is, is the dispenser worth keeping or should I remove it and hard pipe that section as well? Could I just use the blue plumbers glue and just glue it shut? Main problem is the ball valve just before the return doesn't really hold water...
hahaha
yeah man, I would test it, then if its low, wait and test it tomorrow evening. It doesn't take long in my pool for CYA to show up on my tests. I guess others have had different experiences.
yeah man, I would test it, then if its low, wait and test it tomorrow evening. It doesn't take long in my pool for CYA to show up on my tests. I guess others have had different experiences.
Indeed! (Teal’c reference). You can go ahead and test tomorrow, but test again the next day as well. I found that my CYA did creep up a bit the second day... maybe just hadn’t fully mixed in that first day.
Let us know how it went!
Just saw your other question. I’d go ahead and hard plumb it. One less thing to worry about leaking!
Let us know how it went!
Just saw your other question. I’d go ahead and hard plumb it. One less thing to worry about leaking!
Yeah, I tested my CYA so often when I first got going last year that I ended up ordering that large bottle of reagent. I test CYA all the time here.
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You two are cracking me up. I have NO idea what you are talking about. I watched Stargate the MOVIE.. IN THE THEATER! yeah, i am that old!
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You just jumped the shark on me. I have no idea what you are talking about and you do not want my advice regarding plumbing. At all. Ever.
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You two are cracking me up. I have NO idea what you are talking about. I watched Stargate the MOVIE.. IN THE THEATER! yeah, i am that old!
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You just jumped the shark on me. I have no idea what you are talking about and you do not want my advice regarding plumbing. At all. Ever.
howdy!
I have no problem with you adding a puck if you like. But, as you saw from PoolMath it is not going to do much for you. One concern no one else mentioned would be if you have the CYA in a sock in the skimmer and the Trichlor in the skimmer, you are effectively mixing those 2 chemicals ... which often is a bad idea. Maybe not for those 2, but certainly dichlor and trichlor.
The chlorinator is up to you. Will you even want to use it while on vacation? Or to bump up the CYA in the future? If it is as simple as getting a new drain plug, might be worth keeping it. If it is more damaged than that, I would cut it out.
I have no problem with you adding a puck if you like. But, as you saw from PoolMath it is not going to do much for you. One concern no one else mentioned would be if you have the CYA in a sock in the skimmer and the Trichlor in the skimmer, you are effectively mixing those 2 chemicals ... which often is a bad idea. Maybe not for those 2, but certainly dichlor and trichlor.
The chlorinator is up to you. Will you even want to use it while on vacation? Or to bump up the CYA in the future? If it is as simple as getting a new drain plug, might be worth keeping it. If it is more damaged than that, I would cut it out.
I think the chlorinator is good to leave in the system. If you happen to go away from the house for a couple of days, throw some pucks in the chlorinator and it will hold you over until you get back. Also another reason to leave some room for CYA additions later. Just make sure there is no mineral pack in it if it is that type.
FC >5 ppm
pH 6.8?
Hardness 50 ppm
TA 40 ppm
CYA 50 ppm (incredibly difficult to read may be between 45-55)
pH 6.8?
Hardness 50 ppm
TA 40 ppm
CYA 50 ppm (incredibly difficult to read may be between 45-55)
Good morning!
Ok so on the CYA test... we score/read them in the round 10 increments that the scale has.. so I would use 50 based on your interpretation and that CYA test does become easier and as you test, you will see how your chlorine holds up as to which you should use. Make sense? If you think it's between 45-55 and your FC holds like glue, then you may decide to round up and use 50cya as your guide if it falls fairly quickly then assume 40cya. You will get a feel for that, after all you are an engineer and you aren't placing a man on the moon, that would be crazy. lol
and your pH, i personally would make a small adjustment and bump that, targeting a .2 increase with the intention of getting to 7.2. You would use borax for that.
your pool is clear right? not a swamp? you said you wanted to go swimming, so I am assuming you are clean and clear.
Ok so on the CYA test... we score/read them in the round 10 increments that the scale has.. so I would use 50 based on your interpretation and that CYA test does become easier and as you test, you will see how your chlorine holds up as to which you should use. Make sense? If you think it's between 45-55 and your FC holds like glue, then you may decide to round up and use 50cya as your guide if it falls fairly quickly then assume 40cya. You will get a feel for that, after all you are an engineer and you aren't placing a man on the moon, that would be crazy. lol
and your pH, i personally would make a small adjustment and bump that, targeting a .2 increase with the intention of getting to 7.2. You would use borax for that.
your pool is clear right? not a swamp? you said you wanted to go swimming, so I am assuming you are clean and clear.
Tonight when you run your tests, run all of them including the CC test and post the results here. That CC is the tell tale to the impact of organics, you want that < .5 on your test. It will vary some from time to time, but you don't want 1, you would want to SLAM to kill whatever is going on. Make sense? Again, you will get a feel for it.
It's funny, as you start testing, you do start to understand why a certain test may have come back a certain way and know IF you need to address it or not. Could be you tested too soon for something or you may decide to wait another day to test it to see if you are right.
Back with running to the pool store, #1, you didn't go every day or every other day most likely to have your water tested, so by the time something was out of order + assuming they caught it + assuming they gave you good advice to adjust it, it was probably really out of order, #2 because you are testing onsite you are going to catch things much faster which will result in smaller adjustments and avoid getting anything overblown. So waiting a day to "confirm" is not equal to waiting a week until you plan to hit the store again.
All these little nuances is what really extrapolated the power of TFP in my personal experiences.
It's funny, as you start testing, you do start to understand why a certain test may have come back a certain way and know IF you need to address it or not. Could be you tested too soon for something or you may decide to wait another day to test it to see if you are right.
Back with running to the pool store, #1, you didn't go every day or every other day most likely to have your water tested, so by the time something was out of order + assuming they caught it + assuming they gave you good advice to adjust it, it was probably really out of order, #2 because you are testing onsite you are going to catch things much faster which will result in smaller adjustments and avoid getting anything overblown. So waiting a day to "confirm" is not equal to waiting a week until you plan to hit the store again.
All these little nuances is what really extrapolated the power of TFP in my personal experiences.
only way I have to test CC is via test strip.
I have an oho and a dpd test kit and strips red bottle from Leslie's
I have an oho and a dpd test kit and strips red bottle from Leslie's
It's time to get a TF-100 from TFTestkits.net (best value for your money), or a Taylor K-2006C (make sure it's a C model so you have enough reagents to last a season).
Test strips are notoriously inaccurate and our methods rely in your having accurate numbers to work off of. Ranges of values on test strips (even if the strips were accurate in their readings - which they're not) do not allow you to keep your pool at the correct chemical levels.
Test strips are notoriously inaccurate and our methods rely in your having accurate numbers to work off of. Ranges of values on test strips (even if the strips were accurate in their readings - which they're not) do not allow you to keep your pool at the correct chemical levels.
Got it on the test kit, how do you add the borax for the pH increase, PoolMath tells me that I need to add two lb
In the recommended pool chemicals article in pool school it describes how to add each chemical.
Borax... you can dilute it in a bucket. And I would use 1lb at at time and test in between after 1-2hours. I prefer to wait longer than many between my tests. I am a nerd that way.
Bookmark this https://www.troublefreepool.com/content/139-recommended-pool-chemicals
Bookmark this https://www.troublefreepool.com/content/139-recommended-pool-chemicals
BattleOfYakima
TFP Guide
Friendly reminder that your solid chlorine pucks/sticks/powder are acidic and lower PH. When you use they, typically you should plan for a drop in PH, according to what PoolMath predicts, but always remember that is just a best guess, not a guarantee.
Since you're using the test strips for TA - we don't really know what it is. It is possible that it really is 40, or lower, or higher! If PH continues repeatedly falls below 7.2 after adjusting it back up, increase TA by 10-20.
You can also aerate to increase PH slowly (pointing the return set upwards so it creates bubbles on the water surface). If you plan to regularly use pucks/powder, perhaps you should just leave it pointed up always unless you start to see signs of insufficient circulation anywhere below the water line.
Do you have any questions about the TF-100 (value winner with easier refills) or K2006C (can totally do the job too)? Do you understand why we so confidently endorse them?
Since you're using the test strips for TA - we don't really know what it is. It is possible that it really is 40, or lower, or higher! If PH continues repeatedly falls below 7.2 after adjusting it back up, increase TA by 10-20.
You can also aerate to increase PH slowly (pointing the return set upwards so it creates bubbles on the water surface). If you plan to regularly use pucks/powder, perhaps you should just leave it pointed up always unless you start to see signs of insufficient circulation anywhere below the water line.
Do you have any questions about the TF-100 (value winner with easier refills) or K2006C (can totally do the job too)? Do you understand why we so confidently endorse them?
Yes, I was just being cheap, I intend to buy it, the last total alkalinity was done using a 6-way kit from Walmart