Get your pH down into the mid 7's first. add about 5 oz of muriatic acid and then test again. It should come right down for you.
Then add enough FC to get to about 4-5 ppm (use clorox) and enough CYA to get to about 60 ppm.
I assume your pool water is clear.
Thanks, Dave.
Pool has always been clear.
Here’s what happened:
TUESDAY
I added the MA, pH went to 7.3
I added 21 oz of bleach.
Did not have CYA
Very late & too tired to re-test.
WEDNESDAY
(TA 50)
pH 8.1
I added 5.5 oz MA
Cl .5
I added bleach
No CYA yet.
No retesting.
THURSDAY
(TA 50)
pH 7.9
I added 3.5 oz MA
Retest, pH 6.9
Our SWG was leaking at the outbound connection, so the pool level had gone down, so I simply added water to the pool, which brought the new
pH to 7.5
Cl was 0
I added 26oz bleach
(I added salt to 3000 ppm)
Put the recommended amount of CYA in a sock. No way to hang in right in front of the intake, but as close as I could, and I squeezed it a bit.
No te-testing
FRIDAY
(TA 50)
pH 7.8
I added 2.1 oz MA
New pH 7.3
Cl 1.0
I added 23 oz bleach
new Cl 11, but it probably hasn’t had time to distribute evenly.
CYA 0ish
Checked the sock, thinking I would spend a good bit of time squeezing it. It has 2 nickel sized holes in it and the powder has formed into a hard brink.
Husband investigated SWG connection leak: it was missing the gasket, which he found.
To my surprise, pool temp is 73. My daughter wanted the pool up for her birthday party next weekend, but it seemed unlikely it would be warm enough, so I bought a solar cover. We plan to put it on tonight. That would help keep leaves out.
I wonder:
1. Why does the pH go up every night? Leaves (not many) in the pool?
2. Why do I have to keep adding bleach? Because CYA level is almost nil? Because the SWG was not very effective due to the leak?
3. What happened to the CYA and sock. I assume I just start over with a new CYA sock...?
4. Is the SWG ever going to do its job?
Last summer my husband put the pool up, added salt, and turned on the SWG while I was out of town. By the time I started managing the chemistry, nearly 2 weeks had passed. The water was clear but the pool walls were slick. I did the “weekly tests” every night, added bleach every night, ended up having to shock, never got the chemistry under control. Plus it took more time than I had.
This year I started testing the day after the pool was filled and posted the following day (is that too late?). I didn’t realize the pH would be so high. Maybe it’s having nil CYA that is the problem?
Please talk me down, because I am wondering whether I will ever have a TFP, i.e., be able to do the “weekly testing” just once a week and just do the K-1000 test daily, and have the SWG do the chlorination, with minor adjustments. I don’t want to have to add MA or bleach on a regular basis.
Do I have to give up on the SWG idea? I had read that not only is salt water a nicer experience to swim in, it has lower maintenance.
Thanks for any advice.
Nina
