Newbie help, - First TF100 Test - CYA, alkalinity, PH very high

[johne417]

I just had my pool opened for the first time, from a house purchased late last year. Pool specs in sig. The previous owners had used hockey pucks for primary chlorination mechanism, for many years. Upon advice of this board I bought a TF-100 test kit. My initial readings today, after the opener had poured in a bunch of chemicals and left and I waited a couple hours with pump running, were as follows:

FC: 23.5
CC: 0
PH: >8.2 (it was brighter pink than the highest 8.2 reading)
TA: 510? Yeah, it took 51 drops to change color, and then it went to yellow not red
CH: 200
CYA: >100 (dot disappeared before the first reading of 100, very cloudy)
Pool temp: 48 degrees

So...Looking for newbie advice. My understanding from this site leads me to believe I should probably:
- Throw away my chlorine hockey pucks
- Start buying liquid chlorine, and lots of it, considering my CYA level.
- Speaking of CYA level, I have a month (at least) till swim season, how much work do we think spring rains and natural turnover will accomplish, or should I start manual water turnover?
- I have some "ph Down" dry acid from previous homeowner. Should I work on the PH now, or wait till the pool warms up?
- What about that alkalinity?
- Any other advice/thoughts? I attached PH and CYA test pics, if it helps.

Really appreciate any help!

 

[SwimAustin]

- Throw away my chlorine hockey pucks

Don't toss them. Eventually, you'll be able to use them again when you go on vacation. You can mix your pool water 50-50 with tap water and test that for CYA. Double your reading. It will be less accurate, but give you an idea how much CYA you really have. I did a mostly natural turnover and it took a really long time, but my water is pricey. It was hard to fight algae at high CYA levels. Now that I'm down, it is so easy and I use tablets when I'm gone for more than a few days in the summer. That keeps up what I lose backwashing, etc.

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! Yes, use the diluted test method for your CYA as seen here: Pool School - CYA. Start at step 8. Then do a water exchange first before wasting any chemicals you might simply drain when lowering your CYA. Once you have the CYA where you need it, maybe around 40-60 or so for summer sun, then you can adjust all the other chemicals. Focus on lowering the pH (mid 7s) and adjusting the FC as noted on the Chlorine/CYA Chart (link below). Once the pH and FC/CYA are controlled, then you can fine-tune the CH and TA. Hope that helps.

 

[johne417]

Second day TF-100 readings, this time using Speedstir, after cycling a couple inches of water and adding some ph Down.

FC: 24 (don't know how this could have gone up, didn't add any, obviously still getting the hang of the tests)
CC: 0
PH: 8.2
TA: 310
CH: 175
CYA: 100. First reading was almost like pic above, >100, looked 110ish. Did the diluted test and came back 45x2=90. Guess I'll call it 100. I'm still trying to get the hang of this test, it seems fairly subjective. Stare for a couple secs and the black dot always appears.
Pool temp: 50 degrees

Thanks for the input Texas Splash, I'll take your advice and just work on getting CYA down over the next several days. Water's cheap in my area, so I'll probably just run waste while hose is adding simultaneously for time savings, doing the few inches at a time thing, and see how it goes. I'll stop testing the other stuff for a few days, just FC/CYC.

 

[Flying Tivo]

Dont test for PH if your FC level is above 10ppm, its just not accurate. Keep doing the exchange like your are doing.

Felipe

 

[Oly]

A few things to consider:

Bring your pool test water up to room temperature before running a diluted CYA test as very cold water will affect the results and yes the CYA is a unique test so practice and round results up. Get a large bottle of CYA reagent as this goes fast. Knowing your CYA ppm will give you an idea of how much water needs to be exchanged and will point you in the best method to do this.

Second thing is the pH test is affected by high FC (>10) so do not expect good test results yet.

Get a handle on your CYA first by replacing water.

Test your fill water for pH, CH and TA. This will give you an idea of what you are dealing with and where you are going.

See if you can find out what in fact they dumped into your water at the opening.