Just tested my water for the first time...Now what?

[SnapB]

Hi,

I just tested my water and here are my numbers...

FC-.5
TA-90
CYA-40
PH-7.2
CH-300

I know I need to add chlorine but not I am not sure if I need to add something else and in what order to do it. Any advice would be helpful!

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! What typ of pool do you have? Can you update your signature please? See mine as an example. No doubt you need chlorine/regular bleach (same thing) right away, but what does your water look like? Is it cloudy at all? Any green anywhere when you brush? Let us know and we'll go from there. For now, definitely increase the FC to about 6 ppm and report back.

If you are on a well, please put that in your signature too.

 

[SnapB]

The pool looks good and it is clear water. I have a 7500gal IG vinyl pool that sees a lot of sun. I vacuumed it yesterday and there was some sand and a small amount of yellow algae but nothing that alarmed me.

I added 8oz of 73% shock yesterday because it is what I have on hand. I was surprised that my FC level was still so low today. Should I add another 8oz of shock?

 

[SnapB]

I will try and figure out how to update my signature. I am having trouble. We do not have well water.

 

[pinguy]

The pool looks good and it is clear water. I have a 7500gal IG vinyl pool that sees a lot of sun. I vacuumed it yesterday and there was some sand and a small amount of yellow algae but nothing that alarmed me.

I added 8oz of 73% shock yesterday because it is what I have on hand. I was surprised that my FC level was still so low today. Should I add another 8oz of shock?

Don't add any more shock powder.

They either add CYA or Calcium to your pool, and you don't want either of those to get much higher. Only use liquid bleach/chlorine. See recommended chemicals.

Use pool math to calculate how much liquid chlorine you need to get to around 5-7 ppm (chlorine/CYA chart). Retest each day adjust as necessary.

 

[SnapB]

Ok just went and got some 10% liquid bleach and will add that to the pool. The pool calculator says that my PH and TA are “outside the ideal range”. Do I need to work on those too?

 

[pinguy]

Ok just went and got some 10% liquid bleach and will add that to the pool. The pool calculator says that my PH and TA are “outside the ideal range”. Do I need to work on those too?

Your pH is on the lower side of the recommended range, so you can add the amount of baking soda that pool math says for a target pH of 7.6.

 

[IceShadow]

Your pH is on the lower side of the recommended range, so you can add the amount of baking soda that pool math says for a target pH of 7.6.

There’s no real need to do this. pH in the 7’s is fine. It will naturally drift up as you use liquid chlorine because liquid chlorine is pH neutral and you will offgas CO2. So you will end up having to add acid anyway.