Our New Pool Build and The FUN (i.e. Stress) that Goes Along with it!

[MeowMeow724]

Thank you!
I did add 4 lbs of the liquid CYA stuff on Halloween and it seemed to do much of nothing. We did get a lot of rain, so it's possible that just washed it away. We also had to drain about 3-4 inches from the pool because we had gotten so much rain, which I am pretty sure was after I added the liquid CYA, unfortunately. I kept waiting because I know it can take some time to get through the system, but since Halloween-- it should be in the water if it was going to be. It likely was a perfect storm with the rain, it made the addition useless.

 

[MeowMeow724]

Today's 1st FC= 6.5

 

[ajw22]

Today's 1st FC= 6.5

Great. Up your SWG to 20%.

Do a pH and TA test.

 

[MeowMeow724]

Finally went to use the brush vacuum and the head doesn't fit on the hose ?‍
Went to the pool store to see what I could find, and they suggested using a hose clamp.
I could turn the head around and put the swivel on the skimvac adapter and the non-swivel hose end on the vac head.
Not sure why it doesn't fit. It's supposedly compatible with the hose size, but falls off.
I wonder if I can find some kind of ring to fit over the part of the vac head that attaches to the hose so I can still use the swivel. Not having the swivel seems like it would make things very difficult.

 

[MeowMeow724]

Ok..... So, pH test, not sure if I should call that 8.2 or 7.8. Is 7.8 an orangy color, or pinkish?
It doesn't see QUITE as bright as it has been, but still up there.

TA test- which is the red we're looking for?
Lighter one is 8 drops, the brighter one is 9 drops of R-0009.

I'll do a second FC test later.
I turned the chlorinator up to 20%.
I am about to do the CYA.

Major lazy day because I am not feeling well. I wish I did the CYA much earlier.

 

[wireform]

Ok..... So, pH test, not sure if I should call that 8.2 or 7.8. Is 7.8 an orangy color, or pinkish?
It doesn't see QUITE as bright as it has been, but still up there.

TA test- which is the red we're looking for?
Lighter one is 8 drops, the brighter one is 9 drops of R-0009.

I'll do a second FC test later.
I turned the chlorinator up to 20%.
I am about to do the CYA.

Major lazy day because I am not feeling well. I wish I did the CYA much earlier.

When checking the PH have a white back round but the white back round should be well lit meaning no shadows and the testing kit held away from it so light can still get around it. Will be easier to compare the color scale.

 

[ajw22]

You adding the 5 lbs of stabilizer? Don’t waste your CYA reagent. Give it 48 hours to dissolve.

TA of 90 is fine.

Best to view the pH comparator in daylight.

I would add 8 to 11 oz of 31% MA which should lower your pH by about .4 and see how the color changes.

 

[MeowMeow724]

You adding the 5 lbs of stabilizer? Don’t waste your CYA reagent. Give it 48 hours to dissolve.

TA of 90 is fine.

Best to view the pH comparator in daylight.

I would add 8 to 11 oz of 31% MA which should lower your pH by about .4 and see how the color changes.

I'm doing 2 lbs right now. It filled the sock up pretty well. After dinner I'll get a second one going, maybe in the skimmer? I've seen that technique on many videos.. is that safe to do?
Many of my return Jets are sputtering right now. So annoying. I don't know why it's doing that, and now it's even doing it on the higher speed. Haven't heard from warranty yet. Pressure on gauge looks ok. Runs at about 4-5 at the medium speed which is "normal running speed".

Thanks for the tips on the tests. It's pitch black outside now, so I'll have to redo them tomorrow.
I have the speedstir with light, but for whatever reason when using that for the TA test it was never turning red. So I opt.to hand swirl that one.

 

[ajw22]

Are you wiping the tip between drops and holding the bottle vertical and letting the drop form and fall off?

Total Alkalinity

A drop-based test used to measure the alkalinity in water. Alkalinity helps serve as a … Read more…

www.troublefreepool.com

Notes

• Sometimes a static electric charge can build up on the R-0009 dropper bottle tip, causing the drops to be smaller than usual and making the test read higher than actual. You can prevent this by wipping the tip of the dropper bottle with a damp cloth or tissue before you start and after each drop.
• Hold the dropper bottles vertically and squeeze gently, so that drops come out slowly and seem to hang on the tip of the dropper bottle for a moment before falling.

 

[MeowMeow724]

Are you wiping the tip between drops and holding the bottle vertical and letting the drop form and fall off?

Total Alkalinity

A drop-based test used to measure the alkalinity in water. Alkalinity helps serve as a … Read more…

www.troublefreepool.com

Notes

• Sometimes a static electric charge can build up on the R-0009 dropper bottle tip, causing the drops to be smaller than usual and making the test read higher than actual. You can prevent this by wipping the tip of the dropper bottle with a damp cloth or tissue before you start and after each drop.
• Hold the dropper bottles vertically and squeeze gently, so that drops come out slowly and seem to hang on the tip of the dropper bottle for a moment before falling.

I do wipe between each drop.
I drop full vertical, swirl, wipe. Repeat.

 

[ajw22]

I do wipe between each drop.
I drop full vertical, swirl, wipe. Repeat. ☺

 

[MeowMeow724]

I'm having trouble with this CSI thing. I've never heard of that before.
If mine is saying .29 or .21 (positive) is that bad?

 

[ajw22]

I'm having trouble with this CSI thing. I've never heard of that before.
If mine is saying .29 or .21 (positive) is that bad?

CSI between 0.3 and -0.3 is fine. For new plaster positive CSI is good for the first month or so. Eventually we want to get the CSI down to a bit negative.

Read Calcium Saturation Index (CSI) - Trouble Free Pool

 

[MeowMeow724]

If this is true... It says the dry stabilizer will lower my pH by .7 (give or take since it's already out of range) which is quite significant.
Maybe I should wait on the Muriatic Acid until I retest after the CYA processes?

 

[ajw22]

If this is true... It says the dry stabilizer will lower my pH by .7 (give or take since it's already out of range) which is quite significant.
Maybe I should wait on the Muriatic Acid until I retest after the CYA processes?

Good catch. Wait on the MA with you add into the stabilizer.

 

[MeowMeow724]

Newest results.....
And one stabilizer sock is hanging on to a little more stabilizer. It sure takes a while for it to mix in.

It's hard for me to get a pic with a white background and take the pic at the same time. But when I put white behind and look, to me, it looks 7.8 pH.

pH 7.8
FC 7.5

 

[ajw22]

Squeeze the sock and wiggle it around in the water to help it dissolve.

 

[MeowMeow724]

Squeeze the sock and wiggle it around in the water to help it dissolve.

Yeah... I was doing that at 10pm last night on the first one and should have been in bed. It still took foreverrrrrr .
I'll do that in a bit. Still under the weather and it's freezing outside! Thanks ?

 

[MeowMeow724]

This morning's readings:
pH 8.0 (it wasn't quite matching 7.8, but also not quite 8.2)
FC 8.0

Since chlorine isn't coming down, should I turn my SWG back down to say 10% or maybe 15%?
It's on 20% now. Since I bumped it back up from 10% it went from dipping from 9ppm to 6.5 ppm 2 days ago, to 7.5 ppm yesterday, and now 8 ppm this morning.

 

[ajw22]

You added CYA so that changed your FC consumption.

Reduce it to 10% now and see what your FC does. This is where you need to do small tweaks to dial in the SWG so the FC stays around 5-6.