Thank you for viewing my post. I will try to give you a brief summary so that you understand where I am in my pool journey.
Purchased house that had a pool already installed. House was built in 2016, I don't know for sure but I believe the pool was installed within a year or two of the house being built. So the pool is less than 5 years old. It is a pebble tech (i believe that's what it's called) it is gunite and has specks in the plaster of the pool that is multi-colored. We have a Jandry in-floor pool cleaning system and clean & clear filter system with a pentair varible pump, and I believe is roughly 14,000 galloons (that's what the plans that were left here state). House has a separate above ground spa that I believe is around 600 galloons in size (Atera is the maker). I purchased the home in January of 2020.
This is my first pool so I didn't want to mess anything up. I hired a pool service company to handle both. In March we dumped the spa and the pool water. The pool company also cleaned the filters as I wanted to get everything going correctly. I was only planning on keeping the service for 6 months until I got the hang of what they were doing and to get me over the summer months. The pool company stated that the filters had to be changed twice a year or every 5-6 months regardless and they handled all the chemicals. They also stated that spa should be dumped 3-4 times a year if you can. They also stated they would be using Bromine in the spa, and chlorine in the pool and that it wasn't a problem if that was done even if bathers jumped from pool to spa and vice versa. Fast forward to October 15, I knew I was going to cancel the service at the end of October so I went to Leslie's and took a sample from my pool to be tested. I was quite shocked that it came back at like 50% (they stated it had high phosphates ~1500ppm, high CYA like 140, and high FC). Thinking they were just trying to sell me something I left and didn't really think anything about it. My pool water has been sparkling all year, no cloudiness/haziness, we had one period in the middle of our Phoenix summer when there was what I thought a very light algae film on the walls on one section of my pool, after the next service (2 days later) it was gone never to reappear. That's why I easily dismissed the report. My last pool service by the company was on 10/30.
11/02 - I'm now managing the pool I go and get the water tested again. Pool is @ 40% with these numbers:
FC = 18 is what they wrote, but said the machine maxes out at 15
TC = 15
ph = 6.9
TA = *.*
CH = 331
CYA = 168
Iron = 0.1
Copper = 0.4
Phos = 1421
TDS = 1400
Obviously I freak out after I go back home and research CYA and FC levels. I'm mad, and think that this report can't be correct. So now I go and start order supplies including a Taylor K-2006 and doing more research. I didn't keep the spa results as I knew I was going to dump the spa water anyway since I hadn't since March. I took all the chlorine tabs and the floater out of the pool, so there are currently no chemicals in the pool at all except for what is dispersed in the water already. I dumped the spa, and refilled with water. I let the spa run without adding any chemicals for about a week and a half as we weren't going to have anyone in the spa for a few weeks. On 11/13 I added bromine tablets to the floater, and then hit the spa with non-chlorine shock (I did not add bromide) that I got from another pool store near me. I then went to get the pool and spa water tested and here are the results (pool first, then spa in the below):
FC = 15, 1.99
TC = 15, 3.66
pH = 7.1, 8.5
TA = 30, 110
CH = 388, 156
CYA = 122, 5
Iron = 0.1, 0.1
C = 0.2, 0
Phos = 1387, 296
TDS = 1500, 600
These numbers look bad to me and based on what I'm reading I either need to try a CYA reducer or dump AT LEAST half the pool. Seem crazy after only having been filled for 8-9 months. So next I finally received my test kit and I'm and amateur so here is what I got today 11/21, again having not added anything to the pool since taking out all chemicals on 11/2.
FC = 32 drops in 10ml test = 16ppm
Combined Chlorine = was barely pink but added 1 drop= 0.5ppm
pH = maybe i'm colorblind but looked way light added 4-5 drops of R-0006 before it looked to be in 7.2-7.4 range
TA = 8 drops before it turned clear 9 before it turned red = 90
CH = Couldn't get this to work, started over with 10ml test added 40 drops = 1000?
CYA = solution got to 1.8 line on little tube and couldn't see the black dot = OFF THE SCALE
Please HELP, what do I need to do, what do I need to do first?
I did not test the spa with this kit yet the pool is most important to me. I will test the spa sometime this weekend.
Thank you for reading my monologue.
Purchased house that had a pool already installed. House was built in 2016, I don't know for sure but I believe the pool was installed within a year or two of the house being built. So the pool is less than 5 years old. It is a pebble tech (i believe that's what it's called) it is gunite and has specks in the plaster of the pool that is multi-colored. We have a Jandry in-floor pool cleaning system and clean & clear filter system with a pentair varible pump, and I believe is roughly 14,000 galloons (that's what the plans that were left here state). House has a separate above ground spa that I believe is around 600 galloons in size (Atera is the maker). I purchased the home in January of 2020.
This is my first pool so I didn't want to mess anything up. I hired a pool service company to handle both. In March we dumped the spa and the pool water. The pool company also cleaned the filters as I wanted to get everything going correctly. I was only planning on keeping the service for 6 months until I got the hang of what they were doing and to get me over the summer months. The pool company stated that the filters had to be changed twice a year or every 5-6 months regardless and they handled all the chemicals. They also stated that spa should be dumped 3-4 times a year if you can. They also stated they would be using Bromine in the spa, and chlorine in the pool and that it wasn't a problem if that was done even if bathers jumped from pool to spa and vice versa. Fast forward to October 15, I knew I was going to cancel the service at the end of October so I went to Leslie's and took a sample from my pool to be tested. I was quite shocked that it came back at like 50% (they stated it had high phosphates ~1500ppm, high CYA like 140, and high FC). Thinking they were just trying to sell me something I left and didn't really think anything about it. My pool water has been sparkling all year, no cloudiness/haziness, we had one period in the middle of our Phoenix summer when there was what I thought a very light algae film on the walls on one section of my pool, after the next service (2 days later) it was gone never to reappear. That's why I easily dismissed the report. My last pool service by the company was on 10/30.
11/02 - I'm now managing the pool I go and get the water tested again. Pool is @ 40% with these numbers:
FC = 18 is what they wrote, but said the machine maxes out at 15
TC = 15
ph = 6.9
TA = *.*
CH = 331
CYA = 168
Iron = 0.1
Copper = 0.4
Phos = 1421
TDS = 1400
Obviously I freak out after I go back home and research CYA and FC levels. I'm mad, and think that this report can't be correct. So now I go and start order supplies including a Taylor K-2006 and doing more research. I didn't keep the spa results as I knew I was going to dump the spa water anyway since I hadn't since March. I took all the chlorine tabs and the floater out of the pool, so there are currently no chemicals in the pool at all except for what is dispersed in the water already. I dumped the spa, and refilled with water. I let the spa run without adding any chemicals for about a week and a half as we weren't going to have anyone in the spa for a few weeks. On 11/13 I added bromine tablets to the floater, and then hit the spa with non-chlorine shock (I did not add bromide) that I got from another pool store near me. I then went to get the pool and spa water tested and here are the results (pool first, then spa in the below):
FC = 15, 1.99
TC = 15, 3.66
pH = 7.1, 8.5
TA = 30, 110
CH = 388, 156
CYA = 122, 5
Iron = 0.1, 0.1
C = 0.2, 0
Phos = 1387, 296
TDS = 1500, 600
These numbers look bad to me and based on what I'm reading I either need to try a CYA reducer or dump AT LEAST half the pool. Seem crazy after only having been filled for 8-9 months. So next I finally received my test kit and I'm and amateur so here is what I got today 11/21, again having not added anything to the pool since taking out all chemicals on 11/2.
FC = 32 drops in 10ml test = 16ppm
Combined Chlorine = was barely pink but added 1 drop= 0.5ppm
pH = maybe i'm colorblind but looked way light added 4-5 drops of R-0006 before it looked to be in 7.2-7.4 range
TA = 8 drops before it turned clear 9 before it turned red = 90
CH = Couldn't get this to work, started over with 10ml test added 40 drops = 1000?
CYA = solution got to 1.8 line on little tube and couldn't see the black dot = OFF THE SCALE
Please HELP, what do I need to do, what do I need to do first?
I did not test the spa with this kit yet the pool is most important to me. I will test the spa sometime this weekend.
Thank you for reading my monologue.
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