Hi Folks,
Well done on putting together great website and support for those who have worked out the evils of pool shops. Thank you from “Down Under”. I have a quick question but thought it would be impolite to jump right in without an intro and background, so this is my chance (and promise to be my only time) to waffle on a little.
Adhering to the rules of “Happy Wife, Happy Life”, I have recently installed a pool which finally today, I can take possession away from the concrete trades and landscapers who have left me a dusty crud filled pool, which to the best of my ability, I have managed to keep the water reasonably clean with test strips, DPD Tablets and some pool shop tests.
Having been a pool owner some 12 odd years ago, I had sworn off them for life!! Experience with water balance etc was a nightmare being guided by a wolf in lambs clothes, my local pool shop salesman.
But when the wife has had enough, the rule above applies. As it turns out, our summer has been one of the worst ever and probably the worst time to put in a pool (depending which way you look at it). As I sit here in 41c degrees with a low level of concern and stress from suffering through one of our worst droughts and monitoring our bush fire evacuation systems, preparing our bushfire plan as the region burns around, the fact is. (With slight guilt) I still need to turn my thoughts to pool managment, as this giant hole in my backyard is not going away anytime soon, unless of course the worst happens and fires make it to my town.
As I am now older and wiser than I once was, after the 3rd test at the pool shop, I thought “there must be an easier way”, so after consulting my best friend and Doctor (Google), I found you guys/gals and I must say I am impressed with the great spirit of this forum.
All I can say is thank goodness that I didn’t drain my water because my TDS was above recommended levels and that I didn’t ignore Calcium Hardness because it was deemed NOT necessary to test.
So for the last few weeks I have been lurking, reading and learning. The majority of questions that came up had already been answered and I now have a good understanding of what I need to do and where my levels need to be.
So what has come up, which I haven’t been able to find an answer to is the relationship of correct water balance vs the CSI.
So, these are the numbers I am looking to get my pool to from recommendations from you good folk:
FC: 4 - 5ppm
PH: 7.2
TA: 80
CYA: 70
SALT: 4000
CH: 220
When I add these into the CSI on pool math, I get (recall) somewhere around the -0.73 mark.
Should I be trying for good balance or CSI under -0.3??
Thank you in advance for your response and thank you for allowing me to waffle on for my 1st post. I’m probably more stressed than I realise due to our current fire preparedness, so apologies. It won’t happen again.
Hopefully my signature info works which has my pool details.
My first offical test today, numbers are currently:
FC: 3
CC: .5
PH: 7.8
TA: 125
CYA: 50
CH: 100
Salt : Not tested (pool shop 2 weeks ago 4540)
The only other point is our fill water comes from rain water in concrete tank, which is why, I presume, my TDS (from pool shop) is 7025.
Regards
Well done on putting together great website and support for those who have worked out the evils of pool shops. Thank you from “Down Under”. I have a quick question but thought it would be impolite to jump right in without an intro and background, so this is my chance (and promise to be my only time) to waffle on a little.
Adhering to the rules of “Happy Wife, Happy Life”, I have recently installed a pool which finally today, I can take possession away from the concrete trades and landscapers who have left me a dusty crud filled pool, which to the best of my ability, I have managed to keep the water reasonably clean with test strips, DPD Tablets and some pool shop tests.
Having been a pool owner some 12 odd years ago, I had sworn off them for life!! Experience with water balance etc was a nightmare being guided by a wolf in lambs clothes, my local pool shop salesman.
But when the wife has had enough, the rule above applies. As it turns out, our summer has been one of the worst ever and probably the worst time to put in a pool (depending which way you look at it). As I sit here in 41c degrees with a low level of concern and stress from suffering through one of our worst droughts and monitoring our bush fire evacuation systems, preparing our bushfire plan as the region burns around, the fact is. (With slight guilt) I still need to turn my thoughts to pool managment, as this giant hole in my backyard is not going away anytime soon, unless of course the worst happens and fires make it to my town.
As I am now older and wiser than I once was, after the 3rd test at the pool shop, I thought “there must be an easier way”, so after consulting my best friend and Doctor (Google), I found you guys/gals and I must say I am impressed with the great spirit of this forum.
All I can say is thank goodness that I didn’t drain my water because my TDS was above recommended levels and that I didn’t ignore Calcium Hardness because it was deemed NOT necessary to test.
So for the last few weeks I have been lurking, reading and learning. The majority of questions that came up had already been answered and I now have a good understanding of what I need to do and where my levels need to be.
So what has come up, which I haven’t been able to find an answer to is the relationship of correct water balance vs the CSI.
So, these are the numbers I am looking to get my pool to from recommendations from you good folk:
FC: 4 - 5ppm
PH: 7.2
TA: 80
CYA: 70
SALT: 4000
CH: 220
When I add these into the CSI on pool math, I get (recall) somewhere around the -0.73 mark.
Should I be trying for good balance or CSI under -0.3??
Thank you in advance for your response and thank you for allowing me to waffle on for my 1st post. I’m probably more stressed than I realise due to our current fire preparedness, so apologies. It won’t happen again.
Hopefully my signature info works which has my pool details.
My first offical test today, numbers are currently:
FC: 3
CC: .5
PH: 7.8
TA: 125
CYA: 50
CH: 100
Salt : Not tested (pool shop 2 weeks ago 4540)
The only other point is our fill water comes from rain water in concrete tank, which is why, I presume, my TDS (from pool shop) is 7025.
Regards
I would also recommend watching your FC level closely. As you probably know, your CYA is slightly low for a salt pool (I believe you plan to increase to 70), so the SWG may be working a bit harder at the moment to keep-up with the chlorine demand. And with all the debris in the air locally, it may be even more important to keep the FC a bit stronger as it battles organics settling-down onto your water. Other than that, nice post. Have a great weekend. Cheers! 
