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Re: North Texas in ground pool I'm inaccurately estimating at 10-12k gallons.
I've learned a few pool facts over the past week or so after moving into my house w/pool ( 20 year old pool ). Prior to this, I've had zero pool experience. The previous owner left me with a couple bags of shock from a local pool store and absolutely nothing more other than telling me to clean out the skim and pump baskets. I found a small bottle of test strips that measure only 4 things: FAC, Ph, Alk and CYA which read near 0, 7.4, 80 and 30-50 respectively. I went to the pool store to get their free analysis of my water and they came up with...
FC=0.15
Total Chlorine= 0.15
ph=8.2
Alk=80
Calcium Hardness=441
CYA=36
Phosphates=3832 !!!
TDS=1000
...which mostly jives with my readings.
They advised me to drain my pool down 1/3 and refill then come back for another test. After the 1/3 drain/refill process I have now just finished incorporating 1lb of the shock ( Cal-Hypo methinks ) into the pool in an attempt to bring up the chlorine. I expect to wait about 24 hours and then test again, but not with the pool store and perhaps not with the simple strip test kit I have on hand.
Do I need to worry about phosphates or is this just something the pool store wants to use to sell me a bunch of unnecessary chemical? This pool gets a lot of exposure to trees ( leaves and such ) and quite a lot of sunlight throughout the mid day ( 10-3pm ).
Are these test strips accurate enough for DIY pool care or should I invest in something more elaborate?
How much trouble am I getting myself into here?
Thank You,
-weq
Re: North Texas in ground pool I'm inaccurately estimating at 10-12k gallons.
I've learned a few pool facts over the past week or so after moving into my house w/pool ( 20 year old pool ). Prior to this, I've had zero pool experience. The previous owner left me with a couple bags of shock from a local pool store and absolutely nothing more other than telling me to clean out the skim and pump baskets. I found a small bottle of test strips that measure only 4 things: FAC, Ph, Alk and CYA which read near 0, 7.4, 80 and 30-50 respectively. I went to the pool store to get their free analysis of my water and they came up with...
FC=0.15
Total Chlorine= 0.15
ph=8.2
Alk=80
Calcium Hardness=441
CYA=36
Phosphates=3832 !!!
TDS=1000
...which mostly jives with my readings.
They advised me to drain my pool down 1/3 and refill then come back for another test. After the 1/3 drain/refill process I have now just finished incorporating 1lb of the shock ( Cal-Hypo methinks ) into the pool in an attempt to bring up the chlorine. I expect to wait about 24 hours and then test again, but not with the pool store and perhaps not with the simple strip test kit I have on hand.
Do I need to worry about phosphates or is this just something the pool store wants to use to sell me a bunch of unnecessary chemical? This pool gets a lot of exposure to trees ( leaves and such ) and quite a lot of sunlight throughout the mid day ( 10-3pm ).
Are these test strips accurate enough for DIY pool care or should I invest in something more elaborate?
How much trouble am I getting myself into here?
Thank You,
-weq
4 hours after adding ~90oz of 10% bleach ( PoolMath ), I see FC in the 2-4ppm range. Checked it again this morning and see similar results. Gotta get the test kit though for more accuracy.
& hang it in front of a return (tie it to a pool pole or something so it doesn’t touch the pool wall) Go squeeze the sock occasionally as it dissolves. A couple pounds usually only takes me a few hours if i give it some attention. You can split the amount between 2 socks if u have a return for each - it may help it dissolve faster. The sock method puts the cya directly in the pool water whereas adding it to the skimmer (not advised) can just leave some undissolved on top of your filter media.