New Pool Owner water tested the first time

[djust]

Hello
New pool owner, just set it up 2 weeks ago, ran it a week and a half on the filter setup that came with it but now have an Intex 3000 gph sand filter setup and an over the top Intex skimmer that is in the mail at the moment.
Went to Lowes and bought a box of shock, pool tablets for the floaty that I read is frowned upon here so that was probably a mistake and I also bought something to raise ph because at first
using the strips that came with the pool it showed the ph to be low, now I am not to sure that was true. Used enough shock the first few days to make the test strips happy and the water is very clear so far.
After spending a few hours on here I ordered and received a TFT-100 test kit and tested the water and here are the results from the first time using the kit last night.
FC--3.5
CC--.5
CH--450
TA--320
CYA--50

Didn't record the PH for some reason but I think it is high around 7.8 or 7.9

Not sure how long to run the pump everyday since it will filter all the water in the pool in about 2 hours.

Where do I go from here ?

Thanks
Donnie

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello Donnie and welcome to TFP! Good to have the TF-100! For your numbers, I'd do the following:
- Increase FC right away to about 7-8. Never let it drop below 4 with your CYA to prevent algae.
- After the bleach has mixed for a few minutes, lower the pH to the mid 7s with muriatic acid. Let that mix about 20-30 minutes before retesting is needed.
- Your TA is quite high, so you might look at the TFP Pool School - Lower Total Alkalinity page on how to lower the TA. While there is no one specific TA number best for every pool, a high TA can allow pH to rise faster. Lowering the TA seems to help keep the pH a little more stable.
- CH should be N/A for your pool - a low CH anyways. If it gets too high, it can cause scale, so let us know if it gets too high. That's another reason to not let the pH go over 7.8 because pH has the biggest influence on scale (with a high CH).

Hope that helps.

 

[Rollercoastr]

Here's an article about pump time: Pool School - Determine Pump Run Time

I approached it slightly differently. I estimated on the high side of what I thought it needed and adjusted it to run less/slower until I noticed that it wasn't skimming the way I wanted it to. Then I bumped it back up. I have varied it depending on my schedule (so I can test and adjust chems during periods of strong circulation) and upon season/usage.

 

[djust]

Thanks
I am going to stop by lowes on the way home from work and pick up muratic acid and stabilizer if they have it and get the FC raised and TA and PH lower.
I guess I need to give this case of shock I bought to my neighbor that relies on Leslies to check his water for him every couple weeks or when his pool starts turning green.
I knew there had to be a better way than the way he does it.
I figure I need to do away with the chlorine pucks and the floater to ?

 

[Texas Splash]

You can keep the shock and tabs for now. Store them in a dry place and they should last for some time. If you leave on vacation or need to increase CYA later, they may come-in handy. For now though, just regular bleach.

 

[Rollercoastr]

Yeah, the case of shock doesn't make a great gift, but there aren't many other options. (and he'll think it IS great, so there's that) You might want to steer the neighbor away from this site so he doesn't think you're trying to sabotage him.

The pucks can come in handy if you keep your CYA on the lower end of the range and want to use them during vacations etc.

Don't forget you need liquid chlorine now. Plain ol' bleach. No splashless, scented or outdoor stuff.

- - - Updated - - -

and I see Pat is back to typing fast again. (or I'm back to being slow... m-o-r-e l-i-k-e-l-y )

 

[mknauss]

Thanks
I am going to stop by lowes on the way home from work and pick up muratic acid and stabilizer if they have it and get the FC raised and TA and PH lower.
I guess I need to give this case of shock I bought to my neighbor that relies on Leslies to check his water for him every couple weeks or when his pool starts turning green.
I knew there had to be a better way than the way he does it.
I figure I need to do away with the chlorine pucks and the floater to ?

You do not need any more stabilizer (CYA). Just bleach and muriatic acid.
Home Depot or Lowes should have full strength acid (31.45%). Be careful because they also have half strength for the same price in places.

Bleach is normally better purchased at grocery stores/walmart. Or Liquid Chloriine (same as bleach just stronger) you can get at pool stores or agricultural type places.

Take care.

 

[Rollercoastr]

Has anyone mentioned that you want to keep muriatic acid and bleach away from each other? The MA that I get at Home Depot has a seal under the cap, but otherwise the bottles can vent and that's a bad thing when it's near bleach. I found a clear plastic storage tote with a fitted lid that's the perfect size for gallon jugs. I keep meaning to post the model number, but Lowe's probably has something that fits the bill.

 

[djust]

Put in the recommended bleach and acid last night from the pool math and retested with the daily kit about an hour and half later and Clorine was at 5 and PH dropped to 7.8 so, so far things are going as expected, might need a little more acid.
Will keep testing, wife and neighbor both thought I was crazy for pouring liquid bleach straight into the pool, but I told them I got this with my new my friends on the troublefreepool forum. lol

Got lucky at Lowes because they were sold out of all the bleach except the plain stuff, picked up two gallons but they didn't have any muratic acid so I had to stop by leslies for that.

 

[Mr Bruce]

It's good to get in the habit of using the powder test every time to check chlorine levels. The yellow drop test is really only good to test if there is chlorine in the pool (yes/no). I really only use mine at the end of winter to make sure chlorine = some until I am ready to take the winter cover off. A 10 ml pool sample with the powder test is best, that gives you a FC that is within 0.5, much better accuracy than color matching.

I also like to steer away from Big Box bleach. Much better to get Wal-Mart or fresh from Costco, etc. If you are really lucky, you might have a place that refills jugs or a cleaning supplies place that will sell 5 gallons at a time. But just about everybody can get to a Wal-Mart, and their bleach gets enough turnover to be fresh, usually.

Pool looks great, welcome!

 

[Rollercoastr]

wife and neighbor both thought I was crazy for pouring liquid bleach straight into the pool..

The "b word" - it's a killer!

Ok Dave (forum founder), I have another marketing idea: I'll make us rich yet. Velcro bottle labels for bleach. It could have a big colorful TFP logo next to a catchy potion-worthy name the pool $tores would envy:

Super-Ultra So-Hy Shock Formula #7
or
Sodi-Hypo Majic-Pour
or
Professional Strength Liquid-Clear Plus
or
Never-Bleech Sparkle-Shock Premium

We'll cut a little window out of the label so we can see the strength on the bottle itself... For $9.95 +tax and shipping TFP'ers never again have to explain that their pool won't make children go blind or bathing suits disintegrate.



Oh, the label can be $9.95, but to really "sell" the idea to judgmental neighbors, we should build-in a price sticker that says $49.99.

 

[djust]

Good to know Bruce, will retest clorine tonight to get a more accurate reading I noticed it said the daily test was basically for just telling if there was chlorine in the water.

 

[bordelond]

Super-Ultra So-Hy Shock Formula #7
or
Sodi-Hypo Majic-Pour
or
Professional Strength Liquid-Clear Plus
or
Never-Bleech Sparkle-Shock Premium