We are at 23 FC trying to get to 0 for an AA treatment.
At any other time, I'm WITH ya.
Salt level 3600 last week and 4000 today! Causes?
- Thread starter william13
- Start date
At any other time, I'm WITH ya.
Yes I can wait a week or two. So I should wait for FC to drop to 10 or below (currently high at 23, then when below test the pH again and decide how much if any acid. Do I have that right? And then keep on measuring FC until 0.
I appreciate all the advice and I also read
FAS-DPD Chlorine Test.
Which as you all said: Its a common issue
FAS-DPD Chlorine Test.
Which as you all said: Its a common issue
You got it. All of it.
To recap
1) wait for FC to fall below 10
2) check ph and dose if necessary
3) wait for FC to hit 0
4) adjust PH to 7.2 if necessary.
5) AA away.
To recap
1) wait for FC to fall below 10
2) check ph and dose if necessary
3) wait for FC to hit 0
4) adjust PH to 7.2 if necessary.
5) AA away.
Do you know about the TFP wiki ? It's most of the way down any forum page in the quck navigation section. Most topics are covered there. It's great for deep diving the topics relevant to you but also great when an errant though hits and you wonder about something.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 16,027
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
@william13
What is your cya level ?
As you approach minimum for your cya you need to add polyquat 60 to avoid getting algae when your fc is low as instructed in the AA article.
Depending upon your cya your current fc may be very high or not so much. It is safe for equipment, surfaces & people for fc to be anywhere between min & slam level for your cya.
The lower your cya level the faster the fc will naturally fall
See—> FC/CYA Levels
Your signature also says your pool is 20-30k gal. You need to get that dialed in so your additions are correct in as it’s quite a difference between the two. This will also help you to dial in your swcg run time/%
We can help you calculate your volume if needed.
What is your cya level ?
As you approach minimum for your cya you need to add polyquat 60 to avoid getting algae when your fc is low as instructed in the AA article.
Depending upon your cya your current fc may be very high or not so much. It is safe for equipment, surfaces & people for fc to be anywhere between min & slam level for your cya.
The lower your cya level the faster the fc will naturally fall
See—> FC/CYA Levels
Your signature also says your pool is 20-30k gal. You need to get that dialed in so your additions are correct in as it’s quite a difference between the two. This will also help you to dial in your swcg run time/%
We can help you calculate your volume if needed.
I just did the CYA test 7.5 ml pool water plus 7.5 ml of r-0013 then mix and poor into other tube looking for dot to dissapear. I could still see vaguely the dot at the top of this tube ie looks like cya less than 20. Is this a possible reading?
Yes. Under 30 is sketchy to read. It could be 5 or 25. Being low it will help the FC drop faster.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 16,027
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
You’ll wanna address that low cya when you get your aa treatment all done & the initial rebalancing completed.
With a swcg - especially an undersized one in sunny florida you’ll eventually want a cya of 70 or maybe even a scootch higher unless you have an auto cover.
When its time- Its a creep up on your target kinda thing. Add 1/2 of what poolmath says you need via the sock method then wait 24 hours, retest, & add more if needed.
About the AA treatment…
do you know what caused you to have metals in your water?
With a swcg - especially an undersized one in sunny florida you’ll eventually want a cya of 70 or maybe even a scootch higher unless you have an auto cover.
When its time- Its a creep up on your target kinda thing. Add 1/2 of what poolmath says you need via the sock method then wait 24 hours, retest, & add more if needed.
About the AA treatment…
do you know what caused you to have metals in your water?
Thank you! Not sure what caused metals but pretty sure its iron. Maybe iron in fertilizer?!
- Jun 1, 2018
- 16,027
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Fertilizer is one possibility.
Are you on a well or have you noticed staining in the plumbing fixtures of your home?
Any rusting pool equipment (ladders, light fixtures, etc)?
The best way to prevent future staining is to identify & eliminate the source and replace the iron laden water with fresh after doing the aa treatment.
If it is your source water (something you cannot eliminate) then you will need to use sequestrants on a maintenance basis afterwards.
Iron Fill Water Filter - Further Reading
www.google.com
Sequestrant - Further Reading
www.google.com
I do not have any rusting equiptment or fixtures that I see. The spa is free from rust unlike the rest of the pool so I do not think its in the water source. We have city water. I do not know its iron content however.Fertilizer is one possibility.
Are you on a well or have you noticed staining in the plumbing fixtures of your home?
Any rusting pool equipment (ladders, light fixtures, etc)?
The best way to prevent future staining is to identify & eliminate the source and replace the iron laden water with fresh after doing the aa treatment.
If it is your source water (something you cannot eliminate) then you will need to use sequestrants on a maintenance basis afterwards.
Iron Fill Water Filter - Further Reading
Sequestrant - Further Reading
I am kind of amazed how off my chemisty is:
Very high chlorine even though SWG is 25% 12 hours day
Very little CYA
Very high pH
Only the TA seems ok.
Over last few months I have been preparing to take things in my own hands and especially now that I see these crazy numbers. Cleaning the pool is difficult for me so I have been using a pool service. This is a very naive question that I am sure I know the answer to but here it goes " My pool company should have addressed these issues right? Or are some people find with pH 8.2 chlorine 23 less than 20 cya? Did this water composition contribute to the staining?
Very high chlorine even though SWG is 25% 12 hours day
Very little CYA
Very high pH
Only the TA seems ok.
Over last few months I have been preparing to take things in my own hands and especially now that I see these crazy numbers. Cleaning the pool is difficult for me so I have been using a pool service. This is a very naive question that I am sure I know the answer to but here it goes " My pool company should have addressed these issues right? Or are some people find with pH 8.2 chlorine 23 less than 20 cya? Did this water composition contribute to the staining?
- Jun 1, 2018
- 16,027
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
High ph can bring some stains about if there’s metals in the water so they both should be addressed.
Routinely High ph can also lead to scaling of your surfaces & swcg.
Perhaps the pool service was adding chlorine? Either liquid or cal hypo?
You didn’t list your ch results but high ch with otherwise lowish fill water ch might be an indicator of this behavior.
Those run times/% settings on your swcg could produce anywhere from 0.7 - 1.1 ppm in your pool each day depending upon your actual volume.
In the winter with cold water & low uv your consumption can easily be less than 1 ppm so this would cause fc to climb some over time as well depending upon how long it’s been producing like this.
To answer your question about the pool service- its not their pool so… no, they probably aren’t that concerned. They likely just called it good if its clean & clear. Poured a little acid in occasionally and didn’t check afterwards.
Most services also stick to the weekly “shock” regiment whether you need it or not.
Don’t worry though - they’ll happily charge you for some “scale remover” (which doesn’t do what it sounds like it does)
& cleaning your swcg cell later! Lol
But seriously,
You’re here now & we got U!
We’ll help you sort it all out
I see you have your poolmath linked but there are no logs.
Putting them in poolmath allows us to see them all in one place instead of having to go back through the thread & find each result you posted. Alternatively posting all your most recent results at once is recommended
Like this
Fc
Cc
Ph
Ta
Ch
Cya
Salt
Temp
Routinely High ph can also lead to scaling of your surfaces & swcg.
Perhaps the pool service was adding chlorine? Either liquid or cal hypo?
You didn’t list your ch results but high ch with otherwise lowish fill water ch might be an indicator of this behavior.
Those run times/% settings on your swcg could produce anywhere from 0.7 - 1.1 ppm in your pool each day depending upon your actual volume.
In the winter with cold water & low uv your consumption can easily be less than 1 ppm so this would cause fc to climb some over time as well depending upon how long it’s been producing like this.
To answer your question about the pool service- its not their pool so… no, they probably aren’t that concerned. They likely just called it good if its clean & clear. Poured a little acid in occasionally and didn’t check afterwards.
Most services also stick to the weekly “shock” regiment whether you need it or not.
Don’t worry though - they’ll happily charge you for some “scale remover” (which doesn’t do what it sounds like it does)
& cleaning your swcg cell later! Lol
But seriously,
You’re here now & we got U!
We’ll help you sort it all out
I see you have your poolmath linked but there are no logs.
Putting them in poolmath allows us to see them all in one place instead of having to go back through the thread & find each result you posted. Alternatively posting all your most recent results at once is recommended
Like this
Fc
Cc
Ph
Ta
Ch
Cya
Salt
Temp
- May 27, 2021
- 1,322
- Pool Size
- 17000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Poor water chemistry can definitely contribute to corrosion of heaters and other equipment creating or exacerbating metal content in the water. I couldn’t tell from other posts but do you have a heater? Your vit c test in the other thread seems to confirm iron, but you can’t identify the source. You‘ll need to fully identify the source or you’re potentially going to end up in the same position again.
Should the pool service have addressed you water issues…yes. Do they always? It’s an obvious no. Techs run many stops a day…if your water looks clear and they’re behind on time you’re likely to get the bare minimum as they run at Daytona 500 pit stop speed from stop to stop and want to make up time. It’s not right, but it’s a sad reality. To many accounts don’t want to pay a premium for premium service which takes more time - so too often every service suffers because the business model has to shift to high volume to keep revenues up.
Should the pool service have addressed you water issues…yes. Do they always? It’s an obvious no. Techs run many stops a day…if your water looks clear and they’re behind on time you’re likely to get the bare minimum as they run at Daytona 500 pit stop speed from stop to stop and want to make up time. It’s not right, but it’s a sad reality. To many accounts don’t want to pay a premium for premium service which takes more time - so too often every service suffers because the business model has to shift to high volume to keep revenues up.
As much as I trash the pool services, I place a good amount of blame on the customers always looking for a cheaper service. There will forever be a new company just trying to gain customers that undercuts everyone else and needs to run wild like you said. Then the established ones need to follow suit.
I will start using pool math. Thank you for reminding me!High ph can bring some stains about if there’s metals in the water so they both should be addressed.
Routinely High ph can also lead to scaling of your surfaces & swcg.
Perhaps the pool service was adding chlorine? Either liquid or cal hypo?
You didn’t list your ch results but high ch with otherwise lowish fill water ch might be an indicator of this behavior.
Those run times/% settings on your swcg could produce anywhere from 0.7 - 1.1 ppm in your pool each day depending upon your actual volume.
In the winter with cold water & low uv your consumption can easily be less than 1 ppm so this would cause fc to climb some over time as well depending upon how long it’s been producing like this.
To answer your question about the pool service- its not their pool so… no, they probably aren’t that concerned. They likely just called it good if its clean & clear. Poured a little acid in occasionally and didn’t check afterwards.
Most services also stick to the weekly “shock” regiment whether you need it or not.
Don’t worry though - they’ll happily charge you for some “scale remover” (which doesn’t do what it sounds like it does)
& cleaning your swcg cell later! Lol
But seriously,
You’re here now & we got U!
We’ll help you sort it all out
I see you have your poolmath linked but there are no logs.
Putting them in poolmath allows us to see them all in one place instead of having to go back through the thread & find each result you posted. Alternatively posting all your most recent results at once is recommended
Like this
Fc
Cc
Ph
Ta
Ch
Cya
Salt
Temp
- Jun 1, 2018
- 16,027
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Its very similar to the pool store situation.
Even if everything is perfectly done (testing/chems/parameters) the end result is mediocre at best on a once a week basis as most people prescribe to who use these services.
Can you go a week between & be ok? Sure, sometimes it’s fine but alot can happen in a week so this model is not advisable on an ongoing basis. When things go bad its alot harder to get things back on track so an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure here. I would personally rather spend a few minutes a few times a week than spend every weekend cleaning up last weeks mess.
Sometimes a pool service needs to be told what to do or have your expectations. What is your desired scope of work for the pool service? Just to clean the pool and check the baskets? Do a full chemical test? Provide and dump chemicals?
IMO - a vast majority of pool service companies just use strips to check chemical levels. So they look at being "in range" vs actual readings. Those that provide pucks - just replace pucks consumed. Remember - pool services may do 10-20 pools a day so they are looking to do the minimum amount of work at each site. I have talked to my neighbor's (a busy family of 6) pool service many times and the pool tech is always pushing to do it quickly and when there are a lot of leaves or debris, he is frustrated that it is taking more time for that specific pool on that day.
It is the pool owner that must establish the scope and if not done then search for a new pool service.
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