New Pool Owner with a Few Questions

[jww9618]

We bought a house last week with a pool and I finally was able to test the water with my TF-100. The pool is crystal clear but it does have a few things I'm worried about. Hopefully you all will be able to help me out.

FC 1
CC .5
TA 80
CH 780
PH 7.5
CYA 50

Living in Texas and the pool getting full sun throughout the day I think the CYA is ok?

The CH is the thing that has me worried. I've done reading in Pool School about high CH and the general thought is to not worry too much about it. Thoughts? There is also some white, salt like, buildup on the stone wall going from the pool to the raised spa. Is this just Calcium buildup? Anything to remove it?

There are also some greenish/brown spots on the stairs and I'm not sure what it is? Hard scrubbing with a pumice stone seemed to remove the spots. Is this the best way to remove? There was also some green stuff on a small step by the spa where the sweeper can't get to. I scrubbed it with the pumice stone too and it came off really easy and created a big green cloud.

I can get some pictures tonight when I get home from work if that will help.

I added 121 oz of 8.25% bleach last night to raise my FC to 7. Not sure what it's at now. I'm going to SLAM this weekend and see if it passes the OCLT.

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

That CYA should be fine. And the high-ish CH is not an uncommon problem in TX and AZ. You will just want to keep a close eye on the pH to help avoid calcium scaling.

You can test the stains using a trichlor puck for a few minutes, if it goes away, then the stain is organic and elevated FC should remove it.

Good on you for raising the FC and I think going through the SLAM process is a good idea to ensure you are starting with a pristine pool.

 

[jww9618]

Should I try and keep the pH around 7.5 like it is now or higher or lower?

 

[jblizzle]

Have you read Pool School and understand the chemistry?

This is a little advanced ... basically learn to use poolcalulator.com and then you want to keep the calcite saturation index (CSI) neutral. Using what you provided (and making assumptions on salt and temperature), ideally you could keep the pH closer to 7.2 and don't let it get above 7.8.

 

[woodyp]

My CYa is 50 and I still lose right at 4ppm daily as an example. Full sun.

 

[jww9618]

I have read pool school and have a decent grasp on everything. So as long as my CSI stays between -.6 and .6 I'm ok? It's .43 now.

I'll try the trichlor puck tonight and see if that removes the spots.

 

[jblizzle]

The closer you stay to 0 or slightly negative, the less likely for scaling ... but you "should" be fine where you are at.

 

[jww9618]

FC went from 16 last night to 3.5 this morning. I raised FC to 20 to start SLAMing. It's strange because the water is crystal clear.

 

[Smykowski]

Brush brush brush. Also, look for anywhere algae might hide.