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

[MeowMeow724]

Lets sit back just a bit to be on the safe side. It will be a slight pain but can you please do your pH and and write down what you do step by step including what regents you are using. It almost looks like your pH has not moved at all.

I'm taking a sample of water into my tester, adjusting it to be at the line, and then drop 5 drops of Taylor R-0014 from the tf-100 test kit. Then I shake a little to mix.

pH probably wouldn't really move if I was just aerating?
It has gotten a little more yellow-orange since my first test after they acid washed the walls.

Given that my 3 pH tests today and the pool store test (which I really doubt was 7.2) are all low, I truly think I need to add some pH up ASAP...

 

[YippeeSkippy]

You have the pump running too though right?? To mix in that pH Up you bought?

 

[MeowMeow724]

You have the pump running too though right?? To mix in that pH Up you bought?

Yes I always run the pump if I add chemicals.

I haven't added anything yet, though. I just got home with the pH up a little bit ago.

 

[kimkats]

Mine goes up over night when I just turn my return up so it rolls the water good.

It looks like you are doing it right. Man how far did they tank your pH? Lets get it up to at least in the bottom 7s and go from there.

 

[MeowMeow724]

Mine goes up over night when I just turn my return up so it rolls the water good.

It looks like you are doing it right. Man how far did they tank your pH? Lets get it up to at least in the bottom 7s and go from there.

I don't actually think I can adjust my returns up without unscrewing them?
Thy don't have any pivot points.

How much did they tank it? Apparently a TON.
But what I'm confused about is why my TA and seemingly, pH decrease yesterday?
TA was 70, but it dropped to 50 (my test) and 40 (pool store test).

Just added 25 oz pH Up over the course of a couple of hours. I mixed into a gallon of so of water, poured VERY slow over a return and brushed around the area after each cup. Very methodical and overkill, probably ?

According to PoolMath that will increase .3 on pH. Probably not enough but I don't want to do top much at one time, either.

However the first little bit *might* have filtered out because I forgot hubby started to drain a little due to rain we had increasing the waterline a little high. Oops!!!!
Will retest in a while.

10pm update: Retested... A little more orange but not enough progress. Of course it's not daylight and indoor lighting stinks, but it's what I have right now, and oh my it/was insanely low. Added more. Will retest soon.

 

[kimkats]

I do some a slight change in the color so you are on the right track.

My return has a eyeball in it that I can move to point just about any direction once I loosen the ring around it. I also have an above ground pool so it may have different returns fittings than I do.

Kim

 

[carnivalday]

The color does look like you're on the right track. Ive never seen a test so yellow (not that Ive seen a lot of tests, because I havent). Once you add more of what you're adding, I bet the next test will look even better.

 

[MeowMeow724]

This morning...
Not 7.2, but not really 6.8 either. Harder to tell in pics... one makes it look like it matches 6.8 but in person it doesn't. I may call it 7.0.. MAYBE.
Need to get more pH Up at lunch and put some in.
It's raining again today so that will either help, or hurt.

Also a little frustrated that I see lines going down walls, onto floor which are likely from the acid they used to wash the walls after it was filled back up. I'll try and get pics.
At this point.... "Whatever". I need to force myself to not care about markings anymore. ?

 

[kimkats]

Never have I been so glad as to see ORANGE instead of yellow! You are heading in the right direction!

Just turn your pump on high and throw lots of cute floats in the pool when anyone comes over! They will never even notice!

 

[MeowMeow724]

HAPPY DANCE FOR ORANGE!!

I'll notice... That's the problem. LOL ?

New tests are up.
PH in the pic, looks like it's 7.2 but it is actually slightly more orange than the comparison color.

Chlorine read REALLY high.
According to the pool store test i had 1 ppm of chlorine yesterday.. which I thought seemed awfully weird since my SWG was running at 100% for a few days... My test today had 11.5 ppm. There's no way my SWG produced that much chlorine overnight. ?
I had a pool store test run because of all my pH tests being so low, I wanted a backup.
I truly don't understand how the pool store got pH and chlorine so wrong!?

I'm adding a little washing soda that I just picked up now.

 

[MeowMeow724]

And now we have pink!

I'm thinking *maybe* 7.4 or 7.5. I feel like it's slightly lighter than 7.5 but I'm not in daylight.

 

[kimkats]

FINALLY!!!!

On how the pool store gets the test so wrong...........they don't rinse their tubes between tests? They don't calibrate their machine? They don't take their time? They want to see you stuff so they do ??something?? to push the results one way or another??

On a whim I took my pool water to the three main pool stores in town. 2 had the same name but were on different sides of town. All three where name brand stores. All three tested water from the same sample. I just took a large container of water and let them have what then needed from my container. All three stores had widely different results ranging from $75 to $150 worth of stuff to "fix" my water even after I told them it was clear as could be.

Kim

 

[carnivalday]

Yay! You did it! I knew you had it in you to get this done. Congrats!

 

[MeowMeow724]

Thank you all so much!!
Now we will just have to see if I fight the constant increase of pH and have to add acid every day or two again

 

[kimkats]

Moving forward now! Lets see how it goes!

 

[MeowMeow724]

Welp ... High pH 2 days later.
Par for the course! ?‍

 

[YippeeSkippy]

yup...new plaster! Remind me- are you running any fountains, or other water features?? Or is this just the curing plaster?

Maddie

 

[ajw22]

I tried to tell you on Saturday to relax and let your pH rise naturally.

You cannot control water chemistry as tightly as you want to. pH anywhere witha 7 on it is fine. If pH is low leave it alone. If left alone pH of water will always rise in time.

 

[kimkats]

Good job getting the pH up into the 7s. Now you get to treat is like a "normal" new plaster pool with the normal rise in pH as the plaster cures. You got this!

Kim

 

[MeowMeow724]

YipeeSkippy, I am not running any fountains or water features.

ajw22, yes you did tell me that and definitely respect and appreciate your opinions and suggestions. With that said, pH was not rising at all after a week or more and actually went DOWN somehow. Ph was in the 5s or 6s and not rising. The PB completely tanked it using gallons and gallons (and probably more gallons) of Muriatic acid to wash stains off the walls that appeared from the coping after they had already acid washed. I wasn't comfortable with it sitting that low, for that long, and who knows how much longer and took advice from here to raise pH.

Kimkats, thank you!