New Pool - How am I doing?

[Mango Daddy]

Hello all! My husband and I bought a house with a pool / spa a few weeks ago and I've been loving the process of slowly getting to know how everything works. The pool is ~1 year old, and we're currently using the same pool company as the prior owner, so fortunately we're able to get the hang of things while everything is for the most part in full working order. My goal is to learn enough to drop the pool company and maintain everything on my own.

So far, I ordered a TF-100 test kit + the K-1766 salt water test. After swimming in the pool for ~3 weeks... I ran the first test and was shocked to find the FC level at 27.5. No wonder the water made everyone itchy. Makes me wonder whether our service tech was even checking the chemicals? I turned off the SWG, took the floating chlorine dispenser out of the pool and over a ~24 hour period incrementally added a total of 2.5lb of sodium sulfate from the pool store. As of this morning, here's our new test results:

FC: 4.0
CC: 0
pH: 7.5
TA: 70
CYA: 45
CH: 200
Salt: 3400

The water feels so so so much better. I turned the SWG back on to 40% output and I'm going to check the levels regularly over the next few days to hone in on the right long-term output % to keep a stable level. Next steps: I've ordered CYA and calcium chloride to get our CYA up to 70 and CH to 450. Does this all sound good so far? Anything else I should consider?

Also, a few newbie questions:

-with the test kit, does it matter whether you hold the bottle at a 45 degree angle or vertical?
-what is backwashing and how often do I need to backwash? (next steps in my learning process)
-how often should I consider cleaning the filters? (next steps in my learning process)

Thanks all!! Glad to be part of the TFP community, TFP has been a huge help so far, but I still have a ton to learn!

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! Nice to see you are taking control of the pool. To your notes and questions:
- Your sig shows inground. I'm guessing plaster?
- If your local water is hard, I would only increase the CH to about 300 - 350, but if it's soft 450 is fine. Easier to add than remove.
- Keep the reagent bottles vertical when dispensing
- You have a cartridge filter, so backwashing wont apply (sand or DE)
- Clean your cartridge whenever the filter pressure (psi gauge) increases by about 25%. That's a good rule of thumb. Use a good pressure nozzle to rinse them off.

Hope that helps.

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Mango Daddy]

Welcome to TFP! Nice to see you are taking control of the pool. To your notes and questions:
- Your sig shows inground. I'm guessing plaster?
- If your local water is hard, I would only increase the CH to about 300 - 350, but if it's soft 450 is fine. Easier to add than remove.
- Keep the reagent bottles vertical when dispensing
- You have a cartridge filter, so backwashing wont apply (sand or DE)
- Clean your cartridge whenever the filter pressure (psi gauge) increases by about 25%. That's a good rule of thumb. Use a good pressure nozzle to rinse them off.

Hope that helps.

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

The pool is PebbleTec, is that closest to plaster?

Our water is soft. Is 450 still too high? Maybe target 350 or 400 instead?

All other answers sounds great, thank you so much.

 

[proavia]

Test your tap water for CH and TA. Post results here.

 

[Texas Splash]

Pebble/plaster all in the same grouping. Sounds good. I would personally get the CH to about 350 and just keep an eye on it. Especially with a salt cell, you don't need any added reasons for calcium scale. But you can easily manager your water's CH between 300 - 500, so don't overthink it too much. Remember, you can always add more later if needed.

 

[Mango Daddy]

Test your tap water for CH and TA. Post results here.

CH = 25
TA = 30

 

[Mango Daddy]

Pebble/plaster all in the same grouping. Sounds good. I would personally get the CH to about 350 and just keep an eye on it. Especially with a salt cell, you don't need any added reasons for calcium scale. But you can easily manager your water's CH between 300 - 500, so don't overthink it too much. Remember, you can always add more later if needed.

Sounds like a plan, thank you!

 

[Texas Splash]

CH = 25
TA = 30

You have quite low numbers for local water. So you may one of those rare owners who have to slightly increase some levels periodically whereas most of us are struggling due to high CH or TA. Lucky you!