New to pool care

[JenW]

Hi everyone,

We bought a house in November with a pool. We had a pool guy until January and we took over care then via the pool store. I have been lurking on the website and forum for about a year since we originally were going to build a pool at our old house. We received our test kit last week and are doing our second testing today. We are completely new to having a pool and a little overwhelmed. Our free chlorine and cya are really low. How do I raise our Fc and cya? We have chlorine we got at the pool store previously. Can I use that? I need to make a signature but it's about 10,000 Gallons, Swg, fiberglass. I don't know if I should post our numbers from last week, but today they are
Fc .2ppm
Cc .4ppm
Ph 7.8
Ta 60ppm
Ch 520ppm
Cya black dot never goes away
Salt 4000ppm


The Fc, cc, and Cya have all gone down since last week. I meant to post then, but got busy and wanted to retest before posting. Help!

Jeniece

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello Jeniece and welcome to TFP! Testing on your own is the only way to go. No worries, we'll help you get started. My recommendations are assuming your pool water is crystal clear and not the slightest hint of algae (cloudy or green). If it is, stop and let us know.

First is CYA. A SWG pool needs a CYA of at least 70, but we don't know if you have a little remaining. Use granular stabilizer (i.e. from Wal-Mart of big box stores) to increase CYA by "60 ppm". Use the "sock-soaking method" to soak and squeeze often. The Poolmath calculator will help with dosage amount (link below). Just add 60 ppm more.

Next is FC. For now, use regular bleach (or that liquid pool store chlorine) to increase FC to about 3 for today. Never let that FC drop below 3.

As your stabilizer dissolves, your water will have more sunscreen to protect the FC generated by your SWG. Begin to adjust percentage and/or run times to ensure you maintain an FC in the range of 4-6. Again, never let it drop below 3.

Water in your area is hard, hence the elevated CH. To compensate, always keep the pH below 7.8 to avoid scale. Your TA is fine right where it is. Ideal pH for you might be between 7.4-7.6.

That should get you started. Let us know if you have anymore questions. Great to have you with us.

PS ~ If the water is NOT perfectly clear (hazy, green etc), let us know so we can tailor some of those notes above.

 

[JenW]

Thank you! That's really helpful. Our water is really clear. We are heading to the store to the the stabilizer and bleach.

Jeniece

 

[JenW]

One more question, is it safe to swim at all while the stabilizer is in the skimmer?

Jeniece

 

[Texas Splash]

Yes it is. Just put it in a sock and let it start dissolving. Squeezing by hand often is fine. Keep away from eyes though, so don't rub your eyes right after squeezing.

 

[Dwiessner]

Hi all. Jenw's husband here. So I added a little chlorine, put about 3 pounds of cya in 2 big socks, and went out of town for a few days. Here are the numbers today:

Temp: 76
Fc: 0.8
Cc: 0.2
Ph: 7.6
Ta: 60
Cya: 50

The socks full of cya are still about a quarter full, so I left them in the basket. I added 32 Oz of 10% chlorine today. I noticed our salt cell was set to the lowest setting of 20%, so I bumped it to 40% .

It's there anything else I should do? Would it hurt to pour in a bottle or 2 of chlorine to try to boost the fc numbers up a little?

Thanks for all the help! I'm clueless on this stuff!

 

[Flying Tivo]

You are on your way. Up the SWG 70%. It's better to come down later since your FC is low!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Donldson]

I would add some chlorine to get you to the target right away. SWGs are great at maintaining FC but for quick bumps to FC it is best to help it out.

 

[Dwiessner]

Awesome. I threw another gallon of chlorine in, and bumped the swg to 80% (there isn't a 70% setting on mine) and will check cya and fc again tomorrow.

Thanks again!

 

[mjob1999]

Just curious as a new owner of a test kit.... How are you getting a FC reading of .7? I thought it would only measure in .5 increments.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Donldson]

Just curious as a new owner of a test kit.... How are you getting a FC reading of .7? I thought it would only measure in .5 increments.

Thanks,
Mike

I don't see a reading of 0.7 anywhere, and if you use a 25ml sample you get 0.2 ppm resolution. That is a good point for the OP though: you can save reagents by using a 10 ml sample and counting each drop as 0.5 ppm.

 

[Dwiessner]

Thanks for the advice. I plan to use the smaller size once my free chlorine is not so low.

 

[mjob1999]

I don't see a reading of 0.7 anywhere, and if you use a 25ml sample you get 0.2 ppm resolution. That is a good point for the OP though: you can save reagents by using a 10 ml sample and counting each drop as 0.5 ppm.

I must have seen something wrong there oops! Didn't know about the 25 ml sample. Good to know! Thanks!

-Mike

 

[Dwiessner]

So after adding a gallon and a quart of 10% chlorine yesterday, and bumping the swg to 80%, my fc is up to 10. Much better than the 0.8 yesterday. Unless someone says otherwise, I won't add anymore today.

Cya is 40ish. I squeezed the last out of my socks just now. How long should I wait after adding to retest? I want to get the cya up slowly so I don't overshoot. I'm aiming for 70/80 range I think.

Thanks!

 

[Dwiessner]

Hi all,

I cleaned the filters and pump basket last week. That may never had been done before. It was scary nasty. I found underwear in there! I also squeezed the last of my cya pit of my socks. That was last weekend, and i haven't done anything else this week except lowered my salt cell to 60% on Wed. Here are my numbers. Anything seem out of whack?

Fc - 3
Cc - 0
Ph - 7.3
Ta - 60
Ch - 520
Cya - 70
Sc - 3800
Temp - 77

I also used a speedstir this time, so my numbers may be a little more accurate.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Texas Splash]

Based on your CYA for a SWG pool, you would want to increase FC slight to about 5 - never lower than 3. Everything else looks fine, and keeping the pH and TA on the lower end of the spectrum like you are now helps to compensate for the elevating CH.

 

[Dwiessner]

Based on your CYA for a SWG pool, you would want to increase FC slight to about 5 - never lower than 3. Everything else looks fine, and keeping the pH and TA on the lower end of the spectrum like you are now helps to compensate for the elevating CH.

Those numbers were right before the pump turned on, so I assume that's the lowest it would read. Should I test again this afternoon after the cell has been generating all day? Is there a downside to running the swg at a higher level?

 

[Texas Splash]

Running the SWG more than required simply shortens its service life, and of course creates more FC than needed - most of which would probably just be wasted to the sun. So the better you can adjust SWG output (%) and pump run times to achieve optimal FC amounts the better. It's a balancing act of course, and during this time it's always better to be slightly higher than lower as you continue to get everything adjusted.