Hello! I'm new to the group, so please correct & guide me if I forget to include any pertinent details. Here goes:
We have an IG plaster pool, approximately 14K gallons - it came with the house, so there has been a lot of trial & error on our part to figure out the ins & outs of caring for it properly. For example, we had been using trichlor pucks for years before learning about CYA *facepalm*. Another example is that my husband was under the impression that all we needed to do to maintain the water was to add chlorine & shock it every week *facepalm #2*. Long story short, less busy me has taken over the pool care from the very busy him.
Which brings us to my current issue at hand (and longest backstory ever)...
We've got stains, some old, some new, did the Vitamin C test, which worked in certain areas, so proceeded with an ascorbic acid treatment on 7/10. Let me preface this info with some numbers - I tested myself on 7/7 & had Leslie's test to verify my results as well as to check for metals.
Mine (did each test twice, except FC & CC)
FC - .2
CC - .2
pH - 7.8; 8.0
TA - 150; 140 (adjusted to 120 with CYAf of .35)
CYA - 60; 57 (this was 300+ last summer!)
CH - 420; 475
Leslie's
FC - .21
CC - .21
pH - 8.3
TA - 107 (adjusted for CYA)
CYA - 68
CH - 389
Iron - .1
Copper - .1
Phosphates - 534
TDS - 750
So, the pH & CH were in major disagreement, & TA only slightly. Chalked it up to pool store discrepancy, but very relieved to see the decrease in my CYA (don't have to drain the pool now, yay!) then proceeded to lower my pH to 7.2 over the course of the next couple of days using muriatic acid.
7/9 - New cartridge filters arrive in the mail. Internal debate to wait til this is all done to swap them out ensued. Decided to change them now because current filters are in pretty bad shape & not the right size! (Hubby took old one in to the store last year to ask for something to match, not realizing previous owners had the 880's instead of the correct 1380's *facepalm #3*.)
7/10 - Added 24oz Polyquat 60; later added 2lbs ascorbic acid; later added 2qts HTH Metal & Stain Defense.
Filter has been running for a couple of days, noticeable improvement in many of the stains, but not fully cleared, brushing everyday, waterfall runs for about eight hours a day.
7/13 - Water is looking a little cloudy, so I test & take a sample to Leslie's for comparison.
Mine
FC - .2 (had to add nine or ten additional dippers of R-0870 for sample to turn pink)
CC - .2
pH - 7.5
TA - 80
CYA - <30
CH - 500; 475 (tested 2x)
Leslie's
FC - .36
CC - .36
pH - 7.7
TA - 79
CYA - 24
CH - 357
Iron - .2
Copper - 0
Phosphates - 1411
TDS - 800
Also, water temp is 83, and we've gotten about 1.5" of rain in the last week (7/6-7/12). My questions are:
1. My CYA levels have decreased dramatically. What could have caused this? It can't possibly be just from the rain.
2. Going from my numbers rather than the pool store, is my high CH cause for concern? We do have calcium scale from the previous manner of care, which will be my next project, but there was a substantial increase over the six day span of time, from around 420 to around 500, how did this happen?
3. How should I proceed to re-balance the water? Should I bump up the TA & CYA a bit before beginning to the process of adding liquid chlorine?
4. The dramatic increase in phosphates - is this due to the sequestrant? I do have slight algal growth at this point, but nothing more significant than six days ago.
5. Cloudy water - likely caused by the ascorbic acid (did this on 7/10 & cloudiness began to creep in 7/12), or the high CH?
It's a lot of information to process, I know. Please let me know your thoughts & how best to proceed from here. Thank you!
We have an IG plaster pool, approximately 14K gallons - it came with the house, so there has been a lot of trial & error on our part to figure out the ins & outs of caring for it properly. For example, we had been using trichlor pucks for years before learning about CYA *facepalm*. Another example is that my husband was under the impression that all we needed to do to maintain the water was to add chlorine & shock it every week *facepalm #2*. Long story short, less busy me has taken over the pool care from the very busy him.
Which brings us to my current issue at hand (and longest backstory ever)...
We've got stains, some old, some new, did the Vitamin C test, which worked in certain areas, so proceeded with an ascorbic acid treatment on 7/10. Let me preface this info with some numbers - I tested myself on 7/7 & had Leslie's test to verify my results as well as to check for metals.
Mine (did each test twice, except FC & CC)
FC - .2
CC - .2
pH - 7.8; 8.0
TA - 150; 140 (adjusted to 120 with CYAf of .35)
CYA - 60; 57 (this was 300+ last summer!)
CH - 420; 475
Leslie's
FC - .21
CC - .21
pH - 8.3
TA - 107 (adjusted for CYA)
CYA - 68
CH - 389
Iron - .1
Copper - .1
Phosphates - 534
TDS - 750
So, the pH & CH were in major disagreement, & TA only slightly. Chalked it up to pool store discrepancy, but very relieved to see the decrease in my CYA (don't have to drain the pool now, yay!) then proceeded to lower my pH to 7.2 over the course of the next couple of days using muriatic acid.
7/9 - New cartridge filters arrive in the mail. Internal debate to wait til this is all done to swap them out ensued. Decided to change them now because current filters are in pretty bad shape & not the right size! (Hubby took old one in to the store last year to ask for something to match, not realizing previous owners had the 880's instead of the correct 1380's *facepalm #3*.)
7/10 - Added 24oz Polyquat 60; later added 2lbs ascorbic acid; later added 2qts HTH Metal & Stain Defense.
Filter has been running for a couple of days, noticeable improvement in many of the stains, but not fully cleared, brushing everyday, waterfall runs for about eight hours a day.
7/13 - Water is looking a little cloudy, so I test & take a sample to Leslie's for comparison.
Mine
FC - .2 (had to add nine or ten additional dippers of R-0870 for sample to turn pink)
CC - .2
pH - 7.5
TA - 80
CYA - <30
CH - 500; 475 (tested 2x)
Leslie's
FC - .36
CC - .36
pH - 7.7
TA - 79
CYA - 24
CH - 357
Iron - .2
Copper - 0
Phosphates - 1411
TDS - 800
Also, water temp is 83, and we've gotten about 1.5" of rain in the last week (7/6-7/12). My questions are:
1. My CYA levels have decreased dramatically. What could have caused this? It can't possibly be just from the rain.
2. Going from my numbers rather than the pool store, is my high CH cause for concern? We do have calcium scale from the previous manner of care, which will be my next project, but there was a substantial increase over the six day span of time, from around 420 to around 500, how did this happen?
3. How should I proceed to re-balance the water? Should I bump up the TA & CYA a bit before beginning to the process of adding liquid chlorine?
4. The dramatic increase in phosphates - is this due to the sequestrant? I do have slight algal growth at this point, but nothing more significant than six days ago.
5. Cloudy water - likely caused by the ascorbic acid (did this on 7/10 & cloudiness began to creep in 7/12), or the high CH?
It's a lot of information to process, I know. Please let me know your thoughts & how best to proceed from here. Thank you!