New owner - first water test

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Burke_B

Burke_B

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2022
83
San Antonio, TX
Pool Size
13700
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Hello all,

As stated in my intro, I am a new pool owner and I just completed my first water test so am looking for any comments/suggestions before I proceed as indicated in the "pool math" app (thanks for providing that resource by the way).

Assuming I did everything correctly, here is what I got:
FC: 4.6
PH: 7.4
TA: 120
CH: 420 (may be higher as I wasn't sure how blue I should be looking for)
CYA: 30 (may be lower as I filled the small tube and could still see the black dot at the bottom through the cloudy water)

According to pool math, I need to:
1) Add 30oz of Borax to raise PH a bit
2) Reduce my TA by reducing PH with acid then aerate to increase it again
3) Increase CYA by adding 28oz of dry stabilizer

I am a little confused by the pool math instruction to raise my PH and also lower it. Did I possibly get some questionable test results? Any thoughts/suggestions in general before I proceed?

Thanks for your help!

Burke
 
Welcome to TFP!!!

Any pH that starts with 7 is just fine. "Ideal" range is nothing that you "HAVE" to have. The TA ideal is also that. (read more below).

Your pH and TA are fine. Let the pH rise (it will naturally over time), when you get to 7.8 or 8, add Muratic Acid to bring it back down to 7.6 or so. Your TA will come down naturally as you add acid. It is not bad. How are you chlorinating?

Some people, particularly with SWCG have rapid pH rise at higher TA levels. If you find you need to add acid often, then you might need to use acid to lower pH and TA at the same time. Aerating raises pH without raising TA. The cycle you are talking about is when you want to more rapidly lower TA. I wouldn't recommend it in your situation. It will come down when you add acid after the natural pH rise that occurs.

Yes, add the Stabilizer, then chlorinate daily back to 6 or 7 daily and you will avoid algae. See: FC/CYA Levels
 
welcome to tfp
always best to ask questions at the start
i dont use the new app, but the old app had targets you could set
ph 7.4 is fine and with a high ta it will raise on its own
i would add enough stabilizer for a 20ppm increase
then retest in a few days as stabilizer takes a while to show on the test
increase your fc to allow for the new cya level
 
Great job doing your own testing!
The Recommended Levels are Ranges. Poolmath simply picks the mid point as a 'suggested' target. So as PoolStored said, if your results are in Range, no need to make immediate changes.
 
PoolStored said:
How are you chlorinating?
Click to expand...

Thanks all for the welcome and the quick responses!

I am currently chlorinating with chlorine tabs via the Clearwater inline chlorinator (I know the TFP way is to use liquid chlorine but....read on). We have been in the house less than a week. In the midst of unboxing and other responsibilities, I hadn't paid much attention to learning how to maintain a pool. After two days in the house, I noticed some small algae spots and sediment on the horizontal surfaces. Brushing created a cloud so I was afraid that I needed to do something quickly to prevent things from getting out of control. I did a quick test with some test strips that the previous owners left me as the bottles in the k-2006 that they also left were all a few years old. Per the test strip, the FC was pretty low. I quickly learned that the test strips are not recommended but that was my solution for the immediate fix - with a new test kit on the way and it being Easter Sunday, I didn't have a lot of options. Previous owners also left a small quantity of tabs in the garage so I quickly read up on how to add them to the in line chlorinator (added early Sunday morning). That seems to have brought the FC back up to an acceptable level and the water has cleared up a good bit. Just trying to figure out what else I need to do/buy when I make a supply run. They also left me some liquid conditioner, muriatic acid and a few other partial bottles of stuff that I think is not recommended here.

Note: Edit to correct reference to ph rather than FC...sorry about that.
 
Last edited:
tabs are acidic which will drive your ph lower
but at this stage you need cya and fc
so an experienced user could make this work
if it were me i would stop using the tabs
give the liquid conditioner a very good shake and see if it mixes well
if it does you can use it to raise your stabilizer level
 
If you are using Tabs, you might just continue to use the tabs until your CYA gets up to 40-50, then convert to liquid.

For every 1ppm of FC a tab adds, it adds .6 CYA. If you need 2-4ppm FC per day, that will add 1.2-2.4ppm CYA. In a week or two, you will have plenty of CYA. I wouldn't add the stabilizer. Just use your tabs, keep your FC above 6 by adjusting your chlorinator. When you get your test kit, let's go from there. If you can't get the FC up, go get some liquid chlorine or bleach. Use Pool Math to help you with additional FC dosage.

On the liquid conditioner, that is CYA. If you add it, you will want to add the whole bottle at once. This will be a big increase and is not necessary (will add 26 to your pool). Would be better to get your test kit first. For now, you might buy 4lbs of stabilizer, in the short term, you won't need it as the tabs will help. Having it on hand is good, because you might lose 5-10 CYA per month. The only other "stuff" you will likely need is liquid Chlorine or Bleach. If you decide to buy bleach make sure it is JUST bleach. No softener, no fragrance, no "blue," no splashless. Get 4-5 gallons for now and store in cool dry place.

Let us know when you get your test kit!
 
PoolStored said:
If you are using Tabs, you might just continue to use the tabs until your CYA gets up to 40-50, then convert to liquid.

For every 1ppm of FC a tab adds, it adds .6 CYA. If you need 2-4ppm FC per day, that will add 1.2-2.4ppm CYA. In a week or two, you will have plenty of CYA. I wouldn't add the stabilizer. Just use your tabs, keep your FC above 6 by adjusting your chlorinator. When you get your test kit, let's go from there. If you can't get the FC up, go get some liquid chlorine or bleach. Use Pool Math to help you with additional FC dosage.

On the liquid conditioner, that is CYA. If you add it, you will want to add the whole bottle at once. This will be a big increase and is not necessary. For now, you might buy 4lbs of stabilizer, in the short term, you won't need it as the tabs will help. Having it on hand is good, because you might lose 5-10 CYA per month. The only other "stuff" you will likely need is liquid Chlorine or Bleach. If you decide to buy bleach make sure it is JUST bleach. No softener, no fragrance, no "blue," no splashless. Get 4-5 gallons for now and store in cool dry place.

Let us know when you get your test kit!
Click to expand...
Thanks again!

Sorry....I confused the discussion. The test kit arrived yesterday. The above results in my original post is what I got using the new K-2006. The low FC that I noted in post #5 was from the test strips I used on Saturday evening/Sunday.
 
@aussieta and my advice are not in conflict, just two different ways to approach the situation.

Either, add the Liquid Stabilizer (will add 26 to your CYA), getting you to 60 [shake and use the entire bottle, put in skimmer, rinse and add until everything is out of the bottle], remove the tabs and discontinue tab usage, and convert NOW to liquid chlorine/bleach, and follow FC/CYA Levels.

Or

Use the tabs until you get to about 50 CYA, then convert to liquid chlorine/bleach. All the while, make sure the rate on your chlorinator keeps your FC up to FC/CYA Levels levels for 50 CYA (High end of target, not minimums), TEST DAILY. If the chlorinator can't keep up daily, you will need to supplement with LC/Bleach. Pool math will help.

Glad you are here!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: aussieta
Burke_B said:
Assuming I did everything correctly, here is what I got:
FC: 4.6
CH: 420 (may be higher as I wasn't sure how blue I should be looking for)
Click to expand...
Hey @Burke_B,

I'm just passin' through, but it appears as though you're using 25mL samples for these two tests. No issues with that, but you can use 10mL samples to conserve reagents. Using the smaller sample size will still provide the level of accuracy needed to keep your water TFPerfect while keeping your wallet a bit heavier. Your K2006 instruction card should show options for the smaller sample size.

Best wishes!
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
MITBeta said:
Please also perform an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. Make sure to remove the tabs when you do.
Click to expand...
Was planning to do the OCLT tonight but we have a 30% chance of rain in the forecast so I assume I should wait until there is no rain in the forecast?

I still have some small pieces of the last tab or two in the Chlorinator from my initial fill on Easter Sunday. If there is still some left in there when I do the OCLT, do I need to actually remove the residual pieces or can I just turn the dial to "0" and proceed?

I have been testing daily with my Taylor test kit just to get familiar with the readings and logging my results. Here are my results from today:

FC: 4.0
PH 7.2 (I have been purposely keeping it low in anticipation of SLAMing)
TA: 75
CH: 525
CYA: 40
CSI: -.3
Temp: 74

Thanks all!
 
As long as you're not expecting to get so much rain that you get runoff into the pool, it shouldn't make a difference to ONCL.

I would remove the tabs. I don't know enough about how the chlorinator works.

You should also bring your FC up to target using liquid chlorine.
 
I performed the OCLT last night and had practically no loss in FC. After reading more on here, I think it likely that the clouds I could see after brushing the horizontal surfaces very well could have been pollen that had settled.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply