New to the TFP Philosophy - First Test Results - Suggestions?

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voltrons_head

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Aug 2, 2015
25
Philadelphia, PA
Hey Guys,
Rcent convert to the TFP philosophy here and just finished my first complete test. Pool water is clear and chlorine is good but a few things seem off. Any suggestions to resolve these issues would be appreciated.

30k gal salt pool w/ aquaBRIGHT finish

FC - 8.0
CC - 0.0
PH - 7.7
TA - 150
CH - 750
CYA - 60
Salt - 3800
 
Nothing really bad there. I'm a little surprised your CH is that high. I don't recall people on this forum from Philly reporting hard water, just make sure not to add any ingredients with Calcium in it from now on and you should be fine.

I bet you see pH creeping up over time with a TA of 150. I recommend looking at Pool School 'how to lower TA' to help with that.

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Currently it looks like your CSI is about 0.46. But if you use the 'how to lower TA' guide and get TA down to 70ish and pH down to 7.3ish you're CSI will be good at about -0.3 which will help prevent calcium build up on your SWG cell.
 
Thanks for the reply.

The CH is what worried me. The pool school solution was to replace 50% of the pool water. (yikes) So I was hoping there was an alternate way.

Early in the season I fixed an Algae issue with a bunch of cal-hypo. Perhaps that's what drove me up so high. If it will gradually lower over time then I'm fine to leave it.

Otherwise I'll address the TA issue and leave the rest alone until necessary.
 
Yes, the Cal-Hypo is definitely what drove CH up. Liquid chlorine is always the best, especially for battling algae.

We have numerous members out in Vegas and Arizona that maintain even higher CH levels. And I would expect that yours will lower over time. The key to maintain CSI, which as I mentioned can be done by lowering TA and pH. If you do as previously suggested and get CSI down to -0.3, you'll be good.

You should test your tap water for pH, TA, and CH to better understand what will happen over time with water replacement.
 
My calcium levels are nearly as high as yours. Draining is not an easy solution for me. I was beginning to get a scaling at the waterline. As Demegrad mentioned, CSI is key to mitigating the effects of high CH. I have kept CSI in the -0.3 to -0.4 range. My waterline scaling has reduced significantly over the period of several weeks. Play with your CSI numbers in Pool Math. You will probably see that lowering your TA and keeping your pH on the lower end of the scale will get you in the negative CSI range.

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Read up on lowering TA through aeration here: Pool School - Lower Total Alkalinity
 
Using only your swg, the process would be very slow. I was running my spa for a couple hours a day, and allowing it to spill over into the pool. I also ran my waterfall. It took me several weeks to get from over 100 to below 80. I have borates in my pool, so that slowed the process down a bit.

Monitor your pH closely. When it reaches 7.6 to 7.8, knock it down to 7.2.
 
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