New pool owner in need of help

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Chad_Gilmore

Chad_Gilmore

0
Nov 3, 2016
21
Allen, TX
Pool Size
15000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Hi everyone. We just moved into a house with a pool and I've been trying to learn everything I can but I just tested my water with my new tf100 kit and I'm shocked at what my readings are.

FC 55
PH 7.5
CC 0
CH 1000
TA 500
CYA 50ish

Should I turn off the pump to let my chlorine level fall and retest daily? I'm not sure where to begin. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also on a side note, I have what looks like a return port that doesn't have any pressure at all. I'm kind of thinking it might be for a vacuum but I have no idea how to make it work if it is because there is no nothing I can do to make it work. Any suggestions?
View attachment 55464
View attachment 55465
 
Do you have any muriatic acid on hand?

Make sure there are no pucks in the chlorinator asap. Empty that baby out! You don't want your FC any higher.

Turning off the pump will not reduce FC.

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Also: Test your fill water for pH, TA, and CH and let us know those results.
 
Did you check to make sure the chlorinator is totally empty?

For now you could add some MA to lower your pH to 7.2 using this to calculate quantity: Pool School - PoolMath

Do let us know your results of your fill water test, the water you used to fill and top off the pool. Your TA and CH are high and recommendations might vary depending on those numbers.
 
I emptied the chlorinator this morning. Using the pool math I lowered the ph, but it lowered it to 6.8. I tested my fill water and the TA is reading 150 and the CH is reading 150 as well.
 
I'll retest in the morning. It was one of the first times I used the kit but I checked my readings twice so I feel somewhat confident but I'll recheck everything again and see what I come up with.
 
HI Chad! SO glad to see another FL person! I have been to Deland a few times and loved it!

Lets do a little bit of house keeping please.....add your test kit to signature so everyone can see it at a glance. Is your pool vinyl or plaster? Add that info to your siggy as well.

How long have you been in the house? ANY idea how your FC got that high?

How does your water and side/bottom of the pool look? Take a picture looking down at your steps.

Keep the pump running to keep the water mixed up. Turn your return (eyeball where the water comes back into the pool from the filter) up so it rolls your water to get your PH up to 7.2.

Please tell me you added a 0 onto the TA results :shock: by mistake. That would take a LOT of drops to get those results.

When we hear back from you on this we can move forward with getting your pool balanced! It is going to look great when we get done with it!

Kim:kim:
 

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Kim,

Hi. We love Deland too. We have been in our house for about 6 months. I have been going to the pool store to have my water tested and they always said everything was fine so when I got my TF100 kit and tested for myself I was shocked. The reason the FC is so high is because I always went by the pool store recommendation to have 2-3 pucks in my chlorinator and to shock the pool every couple of weeks. I have some large spots of discoloration and a couple of spots that look like rust on the bottom of the pool. Ill post pictures. I adjusted the pump to run non stop and the eyeball to help aerate the surface of the water. My readings from this mornings test are better

FC-53
CC-0
PH-6.9
CH-650
TA-40 (I did add the extra 0) OOPS!!!!
CYA-60

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pool1.JPG
pool2.JPG

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Its difficult to see some of the discoloring but the rust spots are almost centered in image 2
 
Chad I have a link for you to look over. PLEASE feel free to ask any questions you have and tell us what you think after you read and look at your pool after reading this link:

Pool School - Metals in the Water and Metal Stains

Thank you for doing your housekeeping. Well done.

What kind of brush are you using on your pool? Are the stains getting any better with what you have been doing?

Kim:kim:
 
I was actually reading that this morning. My guess is that it is iron causing the stains but I don't have any vitamin C to test it. Should I worry about fixing that first or getting my levels adjusted first?
 
I would get the PH level fixed BUT with your FC so high you are really only guessing on the PH. I would NOT go higher than 7.2 on your PH as it tends do test high with high FC.

Let you FC come down as it is too high (as you know from all of your reading). If you want to push it down you can read this thread for ideas.

Best way to reduce chlorine level

The HP you can buy at the Dollar Store-----you know the stuff in the brown bottle! You do not have to but it will allow us to work on the staining faster. It is up to you!

Kim:kim:
 
Nope as the high FC is messing up the PH test. It does not affect the PH, just the test.

We do NOT want your PH to get any lower. That is why you have turned your return eyeballs up so they roll the water. That is a cheap, easy way to push PH up and not mess with any other levels.

We will get you all straightened out soon. Keep asking questions as that is a VERY good question.

Kim:kim:
 
Should I be worried about how high my CH levels are? Everything I have read to fix it says I need to replace quite a bit of the water in the pool. Is that the case or will that go down as the FC level drops?

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I haven't had any luck brushing the stains in the pool. The brush I have is a very basic one that came with the house
 
Kim: what do you think of a LITTLE washing soda, (maybe 10ppm TA raise), as we know the TA is 40 and not 400? Since pH does read high at high FC, raising the pH a tad with the washing soda may help. Chad's pH could be well under 6.8. Just a thought.

Again, my apologies, Chad. I feel so bad about the MA recommendation. I was just so panicked with the TA value that I made a bad suggestion without thinking it through.
 

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