New pool and first summer season

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Pool is crystal clear and has always been. I monitor my chlorine closely and keep it about 5-6ppm and my repeat of CYA was about 65-70 yesterday when I tested it the second time. The CYA test I just have to decide when it is obscure. I am just going to concentrate on PH and testing it more than once a week. I am seeing that my old kit may have been inaccurate. First week using the tf kit and getting adjusted! It was cold since we had the pool finished so really easy to watch over but now summer is coming and just want to make sure I am on it.
 
OK. Good post and your plan to monitor pH is the next step.

Assuming you add acid once it reaches 8.0, only bring it down to about 7.5 and observe until your next test.

As you continue to add acid your TA will drift down also and you will move closer to a TA of around 70 or so and a pH around 7.5. That's about as good as it gets and you will STILL likely have to add acid occaisionally to keep your pH in the 7's.
 
I feel a little better now. That’s kind of how I have been doing it, test Ph weekly and and take from 7.8 down per pool math but last few tests showed TA being up and PH, which wasn’t normal. Hopefully changing to more often testing of that may help. Just strange it kind of took off
 
Ok I am still struggling here. I had all my PH set at 110 and 7.6 as of Saturday. Today I check the PH and I am already just about 8. I don’t understand why the sudden changing of the PH and TA in the last couple weeks when it has always been sitting around 7.8 and 120. Either my old kit was very wrong or something is out of whack for some reason. I don’t want to have to add acid to the pool every 2-3 days at a cup at a time vs adding about a cup and a half on every Saturday. I guess I need to try and push my TA way back and do the water features or something to bring Ph back. I have read the comments from the others on this thread but I just understand sudden changes in it all. Did not add acid tonight will test tomorrow and see what it goes up to and then maybe add acid. Or wait till Saturday and do a TA test and work that number down. While I am home bored. Is it bad to have to Ph rise to 8 and wait all week before lowering? Surely isn’t the cup of acid a week they told me.
 
I haven't been following your thread each day, but as Dave noted above, the TA will eventually begin to fall lower with repetitive use of acid. As the TA falls, your rate of pH increase should also slow down. Remember that new plaster work and aeration can cause pH to rise. Fresh water from the hose can influence TA/pH as well. I would think that once your TA gets down to about 70-80, your pH should stabilize much better.
 
Texas Splash said:
I haven't been following your thread each day, but as Dave noted above, the TA will eventually begin to fall lower with repetitive use of acid. As the TA falls, your rate of pH increase should also slow down. Remember that new plaster work and aeration can cause pH to rise. Fresh water from the hose can influence TA/pH as well. I would think that once your TA gets down to about 70-80, your pH should stabilize much better.
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That’s the tilting i can’t seem to keep the TA down either. I will get it to around 110 then the next week week I test TA and it’s already back up to 120/130. It’s like the pool wants to be 120. However the old
Kit was consistent showing 7.8 and the TA 120. New kit shows 8-8.2. Now regularly. It’s like the pool started to cure again. I used my old kit tonight and the new one that came with Tf100, the tf100 was 8-8.2 my old kit spot on match at 7.8. I don’t want to chase this all season. Water perfect no complaints from kids about burning or anything chlorine jumped some with the couple cooler days and a day of clods and rain so from 5.5 to 7.5. Was holding well at 5.5-6. Either I am as bad at testing as the store or my wife is messing with me and adding baking soda after I add acid, lol. I am stumped and either over worrying about it or need to fight it till I win
 
Cmelser said:
Either I am as bad at testing as the store or my wife is messing with me and adding baking soda after I add acid, lol.
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I blame things on the wife all the time when she's not looking. Its okay. Our little TFP secret. :mrgreen: As for the testing, any of it, if you have questions, just let us know. We'll coach you through any of them if they seem odd or inconsistent. Anything you do at home is still better than going to the store. Have a good evening.
 
Texas Splash said:
I blame things on the wife all the time when she's not looking. Its okay. Our little TFP secret. :mrgreen: As for the testing, any of it, if you have questions, just let us know. We'll coach you through any of them if they seem odd or inconsistent. Anything you do at home is still better than going to the store. Have a good evening.
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Good to know I am not the only one! I am going to test PH again tomorrow and see where it jumps. Then will check TA on Saturday when I usually do the pool cleaning and chem checks. I am just confused on if I should be testing PH every few days and lowering or once a week and if I need to push the TA down. I have a friend with a similar pool and he only checks his PH weekly and he is usually in the same range as me and has to add roughly the same amount. I don’t want to over think it but I also don’t want to let it get out of control. I really appreciate all the help, the new kit is a little more tricky but I am seeing that it may be more reliable then my old. Following the TA directions is pretty important with the new one and my old was pretty straight forward. Learning curve.
 
I am just confused on if I should be testing PH every few days and lowering or once a week and if I need to push the TA down.
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Simply keep your pH in the 7's range. Bring it down to around 7.4 or so when it reaches into the 8's.

Leave your TA alone for now......it's really that simple
 

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duraleigh said:
Simply keep your pH in the 7's range. Bring it down to around 7.4 or so when it reaches into the 8's.

Leave your TA alone for now......it's really that simple
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It’s usually in the 8s about 2 days after bringing it down so it looks like I will be adding a few times a week to keep it at bay. That works I felt it was simple until it started jumping up but weather changes making things move so just have to change up my tactics
 
Good afternoon, slow rookie back again.
Ran a complete set of tests and took my time.

FC-7
CC-0
PH-8.2~Can’t tell if it’s pink or over 8
TA-110
CH-475
CYA-60 or 50. This one still gets me. Is it supposed to be totally gone or still slightly visible?

looks like the TA is holding a little better I am probably getting better at the test. I am guessing PH is probably up quicker due to running 10 hours on the pump and SWG is running more due to the need for more chlorine since the weather is changing. Today I only shot for a PH I think 7.6 so pool math said to add 14 ounces. I need to adjust my targets maybe so it goes for 7.4 but feeling a little less worried about the rise. I guess my issue is that I don’t want to start the scaling process so I am worried if I should add more acid during the week or stick to whatever dose on Saturday mornings when I clean and test. Pool is still beautifully clear and feels fine. So I guess I am doing ok
 
Is it possible you could test your FC and pH during the week? I suspect if you could add MA twice per week, your TA will come down some. That is the number you want to get to 80 ppm or less to keep your SWCG from creating scale.
My suggestion on the CYA (use your 60 reading for now):
When you do the CYA test, try this next time.

Once you have your solution ready, back to the sun, etc. Fill the vial to a line, say 80, lower the vial to your waist level and glance for the dot, you see it, add solution to the 70 line, glance, see it, repeat until you no longer see it with a glance. Then use the CYA value one step above the line you read. So if you stopped at 50, use 60 ppm CYA.

The vial is in logarithmic scale. So it is not viable to interpolate between the lines. Just use the whole numbers, such as 50, 40, 30, ....
 
mknauss said:
Is it possible you could test your FC and pH during the week? I suspect if you could add MA twice per week, your TA will come down some. That is the number you want to get to 80 ppm or less to keep your SWCG from creating scale.
My suggestion on the CYA (use your 60 reading for now):
When you do the CYA test, try this next time.

Once you have your solution ready, back to the sun, etc. Fill the vial to a line, say 80, lower the vial to your waist level and glance for the dot, you see it, add solution to the 70 line, glance, see it, repeat until you no longer see it with a glance. Then use the CYA value one step above the line you read. So if you stopped at 50, use 60 ppm CYA.

The vial is in logarithmic scale. So it is not viable to interpolate between the lines. Just use the whole numbers, such as 50, 40, 30, ....
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I can add maybe twice a week. Probably equal out to about same amount a week or maybe less. That make sense on the CYA test. Around 70 at a glance it is hard to see unless I look hard for it so originally I called it 70 but could see the outline as I studied it. So I added a little more got to middle of 60-70 and knew not to call 65 so figured 60. Then retested and got closer to 50. So glancing I would call it probably 70 when it is pretty much gone. This will help for sure.
 
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Lowered pool PH to around 7.4 or 7.6 Saturday am. Tested this afternoon it was ~8. I am thinking this thing is just starting to cure again after the cold or it just really likes 7.8~8. Guess I just need to grab a couple more bottles of acid and ride it out. Going to let it sit until Wednesday and retest and add whatever pool math says then see what Saturday shows. It’s still new and about 4 months in so maybe a little bit of warm weather fired it up. Just accept I have a acid hungry pool, better than adding chlorine every other day.
 
Many pools like the pH staying around 7.8. Don‘t fight it. 7.8 is just fine.
 
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Yea after reading here and watching my results and changes the last few weeks, I have determined that the sweet spot for this pool for now seems to be a little on the higher side. I am hoping the TA works it’s way down and maybe helps lessen things. Just crazy that it drops as expected with pool math and a couple days later she’s right back up. I just need to keep the acid in stock and keep on it. Just redoing all the stories of scale and equipment failure I don’t want to be the guy to take out a pool year one!
 
Pools have three sweet spots they like and usually plaster pools are in the higher side. You can break down your weekly needed acid into 3 parts and just toss in a shot every other day or so while pump is running. Small doses like that don't really need to be tested. I test like twice a month I just know my pool by eyeballing it and weather
 

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