Good morning. My wife and I picked up a 12x22 6,000gal above ground pool from Costco a couple years back and have loved having it. We have three boys and it’s a daily activity for our family during the summer here in the PNW.
We’ve struggled toward the end of summer each year with algae blooms and cloudiness, wholly due to a lack of scientific approach to pool chemistry on our part.
In preparation for this year we tried to do our due diligence and research better care techniques and that’s how we stumbled across TFP. First off, this site’s reputation for kind members is rightfully earned. The amount and quality of assistance I saw people offer to other member is wonderful. So thank you for creating that environment here.
After reading through a lot of threads on this site we decided to make a change and ordered a SWG and the TF-100 Salt test kit with magnetic stirrer. Huge praise here to the quality of the rest kit and the clear instructions. It’s a nice complete product and we’re pleased with that.
I read through the Pool Chemistry pages here, downloaded the pool math app, and then set up our pool a week ago. We started with manually chlorinating with bleach, added baking soda, and 160lb of salt. We let that circulate and fully dissolve. We overshot the salt content - it measured at 3900 - so we drained down some water per the app, refilled, and retested. I’ve spent the last couple days logging tests and working to get us to a good baseline with all readings in spec but am struggling to get TA within range. Please see attached photo of last night’s values.
The relationship between TA and pH is present but I’m uncertain how to get these two to where they need to be. The recommended step for pH is to add 3.2oz of soda ash but the TA instructions are vague stating
To lower TA you reduce pH to 7.0-7.2 with acid and then aerate to increase pH.
Can any of you help point me in the right direction on these final startup values please? Thanks in advance for your help.
We’ve struggled toward the end of summer each year with algae blooms and cloudiness, wholly due to a lack of scientific approach to pool chemistry on our part.
In preparation for this year we tried to do our due diligence and research better care techniques and that’s how we stumbled across TFP. First off, this site’s reputation for kind members is rightfully earned. The amount and quality of assistance I saw people offer to other member is wonderful. So thank you for creating that environment here.
After reading through a lot of threads on this site we decided to make a change and ordered a SWG and the TF-100 Salt test kit with magnetic stirrer. Huge praise here to the quality of the rest kit and the clear instructions. It’s a nice complete product and we’re pleased with that.
I read through the Pool Chemistry pages here, downloaded the pool math app, and then set up our pool a week ago. We started with manually chlorinating with bleach, added baking soda, and 160lb of salt. We let that circulate and fully dissolve. We overshot the salt content - it measured at 3900 - so we drained down some water per the app, refilled, and retested. I’ve spent the last couple days logging tests and working to get us to a good baseline with all readings in spec but am struggling to get TA within range. Please see attached photo of last night’s values.
The relationship between TA and pH is present but I’m uncertain how to get these two to where they need to be. The recommended step for pH is to add 3.2oz of soda ash but the TA instructions are vague stating
To lower TA you reduce pH to 7.0-7.2 with acid and then aerate to increase pH.
Can any of you help point me in the right direction on these final startup values please? Thanks in advance for your help.
