New Pool Chemistry

[hudsondds]

My pool was finished about a month ago and just wanted to touch base here to make sure nothing out of the ordinary is going on. This is just my second week doing all the tests... my CSI has gotten pretty high and total alkalinity has increased. All I've added is 4lbs dry stabilizer (a week ago) bleach and acid.
Should I be concerned about CSI or TA? Pool math logs in sig, thanks.
FC - 1.5
CC - 0
pH - 8
CH - 425
TA - 90
CYA - 40
temp - 92
CSI - 0.55

 

[HermanTX]

I see you dumped a lot of LC in the pool so that is good to get FC up.
I noticed you put temperature at 92 deg but your log showed something lower. This should be temperature of water - not outside air temperature. Temperature does affect the CSI calculation.
Have you played with the variables within the CIS calculation? On the Overview Screen, you can touch CSI box and then change the variables to see what affects the CSI calculation. This provides your some insight as to what is reasonable given your current test readings.

 

[hudsondds]

Yea, had to add a lot of bleach bc CYA was 0 last time.
Temp was 82, not 92 (typo). I have not played around with the calculator yet. I know if I drop my pH it will go down.... just checked pH again after adding 5 cups of acid, it is now 7.5 (CSI went all the way down to .06 so I guess it was just bc the pH had risen so much).
My TA is getting a little high, pool math suggests lowering pH to 7.2 and aerate back up. Should I add more acid and drop pH to ~7.2, or do you not want that low of a pH with relatively new plaster?

 

[HermanTX]

With new plaster you will need to continue to add acid because of the plaster dust. Just keep brushing and checking your filter pressure. You indicate it is a month since fresh water added so hopefully things start to settle down. Suggest you test often and adjust in stages as you do not want to drop pH too quickly or you will be in a yo-yo game.
Do you have a waterfall or a spillover from your spa that is aerating your water? If you are running these aeration systems continuously then you will need to monitor the rise in pH and try to stabilize it.

 

[hudsondds]

I've been testing and adding acid/bleach everyday as needed. Only been dropping pH down to ~7.5 (ideal range in pool math) and every night when I check its back up around 8 - I think I should probably lower it some more.
I have a bubbler (but I keep it off) and a spill over that is on whenever the pumps are on (just turn it off at night).

 

[ajw22]

Your spillover running whenever the pump is running causes aeration which causes pH to rise. With new plaster and always running spillover you will be constantly needing to lower your pH with acid.

Do you have an autofill?

Running your spillover once or twice a day for 15 minutes will reduce your pH rise.

You should be able to set your PL system to turn the spillover on and off.

 

[hudsondds]

I do have an auto fill. I’ll talk to PB and see if there is a way to turn off spillover w/ pumps on.
@Newdude You didn’t hear? Flossing is a myth.

 

[ajw22]

What is the pH of your fill water?

 

[hudsondds]

@ajw22 pH of fill water 7.2
CH of fill water is 400...need softener?

 

[ajw22]

At least your autofill is not contributing to raising your pH.

I would not worry about your TA. You will regularly add acid and be lowering TA as you lower pH.

Eventually your CH will get high, 800+, and you will need to drain to lower it. It will take a while. If your autofill was on softened water it would delay the need for a big drain. On the other hand if you are in the path of a few big storms every year that dilute your pool it can lower your CH naturally. You have an overflow drain?

 

[hudsondds]

Yep, autofill and overflow. I'm in Louisiana right outside of New Orleans, we get plenty of rain. I'll just lower the water level before some storms once it gets a little higher.
Thanks!