Latest Results with TF-100 Test Kit - Am I on track?

[peteandvanessa]

I'm about to take over the care of my Pool chemicals from the Pool Builder.

Pool, is Gunite, and about 20200 Gallons, finished and first filled in Mid January 2018.

It isn't a Salt Water Pool

To be honest the Pool Builder has been great, but the weekly Pool Guy has been pretty useless at balancing the chemicals.
For the most part, he came in once a week and threw in a few chlorinating a Tablets, or more recently (in the last three weeks) he would put in a 1/2 or full gallon of Liquid Chlorine.
which has made the FC levels between 10ppm and 15ppm

As expected, the PH Drifted up over the last 6 weeks, which I adjusted (with the pool builders permission) with Acid.
The other thing that was off, was the CH reading, which was 75ppm, which I've been slowly increasing the CH by adding Calcium Chloride in batches (again with permission from the pool builder).

Here's my targets, versus the current readings taken yesterday with the TF-100 Test kit:

Targets:
FC 6
PH 7.5
TA 80ppm
CH 300ppm
CYA 40ppm

Latest Test Results:
FC 6
PH 7.5
TA 70ppm
CH 250ppm
CYA 50ppm
CSI -0.52 to -0.38
Temp 55 F

The only thing that looks a little off is the CH, which (from Pool Math), I plan to add 150 oz (or 9.3 Pounds) or Calcium Chloride in granular form (I plan on mixing the Calcium Chloride in a 5 gallon bucket with pool water until it's dissolved in two to three batches).
The TA is also a little Low, should I add 150 oz of baking soda, or leave that alone right now?

I know the CYA has drifted up over the last four weeks (because of the Chlorinating Tablets the pool guy has been using), but I plan to just leave it over the next few weeks to see if it starts to drift down.

Am I on track with this plan, or is there anything else I need to take care of?

 

[Texas Splash]

You've actually got a pretty good handle on things, and it's good to hear you are understanding the results of chemicals and using your TF-100. Your latest test results are quite close actually, and now it's just a matter of getting that CSI perhaps slightly closer to neutral (zero). So here are a couple thoughts for you to consider:
- Definitely pull the chlorine tabs as a CYA of 50 is just about as high as you want right now. You can save them and use them later if needed. Once pulled, your pH may try to climb quicker as the one good thing about the tabs is they are acidic and tend to help keep the pH down slightly. So just keep an eye on the pH.
- For the CH, you seem to have two options:
a. Increase CH now with Calcium Chloride to your recommended minimum and press-on with balancing to your target values. ..... or ......
b. If your local water is hard, your CH will increase steadily over the season which is common for many areas in CA. CH is a real struggle for many, and once it's in - it's in. Since you're so close to your CH minimum already, you could just let the pH creep-up to the upper 7s and see if that satisfies your CSI concerns. A pH of 7.8 brings your CSI closer to about 0.17. Also note that your cooler water temp really makes the CSI look much lower that it normally would be. Once your water temp goes up, so will the CSI. Play with that on the calculator and you'll see what I mean.

PH has such a quick and overwhelming impact on CSI it's easy to do that while your local refill water slowly increases CH and the water temps increase. Once you hit your minimum CH level, then bring the pH down to where you want it in the mid-7 or so. Just a thought. Certainly your call. The TA is probably fine where it is, but if it does creep-up, that, along with the pH and water temp, they can help to compensate for the slightly lower CH until you reach 300.

Either way, you seem to be doing very well. Hope that helps.

 

[peteandvanessa]

Thanks Texas Splash.

I'll let the PH creep up a little and see how that affects the CSI to get it close to zero, and it's warming up soon anyway.

I played with Pool math and at my current levels at 55F, CSI is at about -0.52 to -0.38
As the pool temp increases to say 65F, that will change the CSI to about -0.45 to -0.28, so I see how that works now.

I specifically told the pool service Guy to STOP using Pucks and go 100% Liquid Chlorine to stop the CYA from climbing further.

For the CH, I'm going to leave it where it is for now, since the fill water is hard water anyway, so over time it sounds like it will drift up anyway as evaporated water is replaced by hard water.
I'll keep a close eye on the PH and pull it down to around the Mid 7.0's as required.

BTW the pool water is crystal clear, zero cloudiness at all.

Here's my main drains at 8 1/2 foot depth, so no issues there:

 

[Texas Splash]

Here's my main drains at 8 1/2 foot depth, so no issues there:

Ahhh ummmmmm, I'm sorry. I'm afraid there is no water in that pool.

OUTSTANDING!