Surprisingly Low Calcium and TA at the End of the Winter Season

[mmcwhorter]

As a curiosity, I decided to test my water 3-4 weeks before pulling the cover and was very surprised to see the CH at 75 and the TA at 30. Yes, there has been a good amount of rain and drain this winter, on the order of 12-15 inches. But the CH in particular seems oddly too low considering the CH was 350 when I closed. Should I be in any way concerned about my marcite finish with the CH so low?

Do these numbers go "out of whack" when the pump is not running? Or is the goofy reading related to the colder than normal water?

I have 10 pounds of CH increaser and 9 pounds of baking soda on hand. If I mix it into 5 5-gallon bucket with water and stir well...and add in the deep end, I assume it will eventually dissolve into all of the water, well distributed. By the way, the pH was around 7.2 to 7.3. FC and CC were of course 0. I did not measure the CYA as I need to re-order the reagent.

Thanks.

 

[ajw22]

Goofy reading is due to the water having stratified in the pool.

You cannot get valid readings until you run the pump and mix the water for a while.

Do not make any chemical adjustments until your pump is running.

 

[mmcwhorter]

copy that and thanks. I'll sit tight, one less thing to do today And to be more clear, the water sample was taken from the temporary pump that sits in a Love Seat carved out at the deep end....maybe 12 inches below the surface. I just plugged the pump into the AC socket and took the sample from the end of the drain hose.

 

[Newdude]

Last year I took a couple samples and it was zeros at the top, increasing to exactly how I left it at the bottom. I mix for a full day with my pool pump before I trust the CYA, Salt or CH. The others only need a few minutes with good circulation.