I've had the pool for a year, and things have mostly run well without much real thought or attention paid to chemistry.
Water is a bit hazy, and my wife took it to the local pool store to get tested.
Our test strips say CYA and pH are just a tad low. Chlorine is indicated as low on the strips, but in the OK range.
Last week I tweaked the AutoPilot percentage down, and adjusted it's temperature compensation down (it was showing 8 degrees hotter than actual), and I probably backed it down too far.
Here's the pool store stats from today:
FC 3.3
TC 3.3
CC 0.0
Alkalinity 99
pH 7.2
Calcium hardness 210
CYA 24
Copper 0
Iron 0
Total desolved solids 0
Saturation Index -0.36
Their advice was to buy 5 gallons of chlorine and shock the pool. My wife called me before buying anything, and I told her we'd just bump the SWG up, although I really wanted time to see and run the numbers myself. Last week they had us dump in 5lb of calcium, at which point the pool started to cloud a bit. I don't know if that is related, or a coincidence.
What I think I know about pool chemistry, is that with CC of zero, although I should up the FC level, shock (and 5 gallons of chlorine) is not needed. Water is slightly cloudy, but I can still see bottom 8' down no problem.
Here's what I did a few minutes ago.
1. Bumped up SWG percentage
2. Set SWG to boost for 24 hours
3. Added 2lb stabilizer from Wal-Mart, at half the pool store price.
4. Added 30oz by weight of washing soda. (Much cheaper than pH Plus)
Added stabilizer and washing soda per the pool math calculator here.
So, I am here to learn. Other than not getting a TF100 test kit yet, what'd I do right or wrong? Is there other action I should take now to uncloud the water.
Thanks.
Water is a bit hazy, and my wife took it to the local pool store to get tested.
Our test strips say CYA and pH are just a tad low. Chlorine is indicated as low on the strips, but in the OK range.
Last week I tweaked the AutoPilot percentage down, and adjusted it's temperature compensation down (it was showing 8 degrees hotter than actual), and I probably backed it down too far.
Here's the pool store stats from today:
FC 3.3
TC 3.3
CC 0.0
Alkalinity 99
pH 7.2
Calcium hardness 210
CYA 24
Copper 0
Iron 0
Total desolved solids 0
Saturation Index -0.36
Their advice was to buy 5 gallons of chlorine and shock the pool. My wife called me before buying anything, and I told her we'd just bump the SWG up, although I really wanted time to see and run the numbers myself. Last week they had us dump in 5lb of calcium, at which point the pool started to cloud a bit. I don't know if that is related, or a coincidence.
What I think I know about pool chemistry, is that with CC of zero, although I should up the FC level, shock (and 5 gallons of chlorine) is not needed. Water is slightly cloudy, but I can still see bottom 8' down no problem.
Here's what I did a few minutes ago.
1. Bumped up SWG percentage
2. Set SWG to boost for 24 hours
3. Added 2lb stabilizer from Wal-Mart, at half the pool store price.
4. Added 30oz by weight of washing soda. (Much cheaper than pH Plus)
Added stabilizer and washing soda per the pool math calculator here.
So, I am here to learn. Other than not getting a TF100 test kit yet, what'd I do right or wrong? Is there other action I should take now to uncloud the water.
Thanks.