The end of last October I relieved my pool service of their duties. Immediately I picked up a TF-100 and started testing. From the start I knew I was in the common predicament of having to drain and refill... but couldn't until I had a drain issue corrected (where the pool drain plumbing air gaps to the city side didn't line up). So fast forward to this Spring and I fixed the plumbing myself. Next was a few rounds of small drains and refills... now I'm in pretty good shape. I may do one more next Spring. At any rate, since my last drain I've been getting really familiar with my pool's personality, all the while continuing to do a lot of reading here. There were a few posts with points worded in such ways that they stood out to me and got me curious to explore different levels versus simply trying to keep each piece in the middle of it's suggested "ideal" range. Well, it may be a little premature to comment but I think I just had my aha moment. With a TA of 60-70 and pH of 7.5 they each seem to be kept in check better than at other levels.
I had been dosing acid and baking soda simultaneously thus my TA was a moving target. So I stopped - thinking I'll work on one piece at a time - and got pH in order and let it ride for a few days. I found my TA had settled down. You can see in my 30-day CSI chart when the big shift occurred, on 8/1. That was the last time I added acid or baking soda. Prior to that I had been trying to maintain TA 80 (and pH 7.5).
To you experienced folks this post will, of course, make sense. To newcomers, hopefully it will help. Experiment. The goals and ranges in Poolmath are *suggestions*. Pools are alive. Work with them to find their happy place because that's where it will be easiest to take care of. Not all pools will be happy in the middle of the suggested ranges. Some need to be a little off and that's ok.
I had been dosing acid and baking soda simultaneously thus my TA was a moving target. So I stopped - thinking I'll work on one piece at a time - and got pH in order and let it ride for a few days. I found my TA had settled down. You can see in my 30-day CSI chart when the big shift occurred, on 8/1. That was the last time I added acid or baking soda. Prior to that I had been trying to maintain TA 80 (and pH 7.5).
To you experienced folks this post will, of course, make sense. To newcomers, hopefully it will help. Experiment. The goals and ranges in Poolmath are *suggestions*. Pools are alive. Work with them to find their happy place because that's where it will be easiest to take care of. Not all pools will be happy in the middle of the suggested ranges. Some need to be a little off and that's ok.
