Pool testing

[wprileyjr3]

Newbie pool owner. We bought a new house last August with a 22,000 gallon inground vinyl liner pool. When we moved in the previous owner had left the pump off so of course green pool. Being newbies we had a pool store clean it up and had water tested by them. This year opened it myself still had pool store test water. It is clear and blue but after reading here about pool store testing I just got my TF100 kit. My wife took a sample a few days ago to pool store (she didn’t get print out)but told her to add 10 lbs calcium increaser and 10 lbs alkalinity increaser. I didn’t add anything waiting for my kit. Got it today and tested water. I got the following
FC 4.5
CC 0.5
TA 150
CH 325
CYA 60
So I can tell I don’t need calcium increaser or alkalinity.
My Chlorine seems high I guess I need to stop chlorine tabs for a little bit they are dichlor tabs. Is my CH an issue or is it ok also is my TA ok or do I need to reduce it.

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! Your CH is fine, you don't list a value for pH so I don't know if the TA is ok or not. If you do not have a saltwater chlorine generator then your CYA is too high. If you look at the [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA] chart, you will see that actually your chlorine is a little low for your CYA level. The dichlor tabs you are using are adding CYA to the pool. For every tab you use you are adding 1.4 ppm of CYA. Use either liquid chlorine from the pool store or plain, unscented, bleach without fabric protectors. It will not add CYA to the pool. The only practical way to lower CYA levels is to partially drain the pool and replace with fresh water. You can manage a pool with 60 ppm of CYA, but if the level goes much higher it will become more difficult to keep chlorine in the correct ratio.

Any dichlor/trichlor product will add CYA. Any calcium hypochlorite product will add calcium to the pool. The upper limit for calcium is 400, so you don't want to add more to what you already have.

Read throughABCs of Pool Water Chemistry for more information.

 

[wprileyjr3]

Thanks for the information. I forgot to list the ph. It is 7.5.

 

[zea3]

Your TA should be fine then. You only need to adjust TA in order to stabilize wide swings in pH levels that occur over a short period of time.