Weighing Chemicals

[nymickey]

FC - 2 ppm
TAC - 2
pH - 7.6
TA - 60
CH - 200
CYA - 40
Phos - 300 ppb
Salt - 2100

The above numbers were given to me today from Leslie's. According to them I need to:

Add three 40 lb. bags of salt
Add one gallon of Instant Pool Water Conditioner
Add eleven pounds of Alkalinity Up
Add 20 fl oz of PHOSFree

These recommendations seem in line with what the PoolCalculator came up with.

Two things, if I may:

The prices of their products is astronomical ! Can anyone please recommend different brands of chemicals or substitutes like baking soda or something?

Secondly, if I buy a 35lb. drum of Alkalinity Up, how do you weigh it out so that I put in 11 pounds? a scale ?

 

[JohnT]

Alkalinity Up is baking soda. But you probably don't need any.

Liquid Stabilizer is unnecessarily expensive. Use the granules.

You don't need the PhosFree

If you listen to Leslie's, you are guaranteed to have problems and spend a lot of money while causing them. They are worse than clueless.

 

[JasonLion]

The only time you would want to raise the TA that much is if you are using trichlor tablets as your primary source of chlorine. They are very acidic, and the high TA helps keep the PH from getting out of control too quickly. With any other primary source of chlorine you want the TA around where it is now.

Also, on the salt, I'm not sure I would trust a pool store salt measurement. Raising salt is fairly easy, but lowering it if you go too high is difficult. Assuming you are raising salt because you have a salt water chlorine generator (SWG), does the SWG tell you that the salt needs to be raised? If not, don't raise it.

 

[pwrstrk]

I see you started a thread back in 2013 about the the best test kit out there http://www.troublefreepool.com/showthread.php?t=58065.
Did you not get one ? The test results from Leslie's can be very subjective. The CYA test is usually one the pool store mess's up bad. If you haven't gotten one of the recommended test gets I highly suggest you do if you want to keep your water chemistry in order and not depend on what the pool store suggests. They have a habit of taking your money and giving bad advice.

 

[Jabooh1]

Technically the advice above has already saved you almost the price of the TF-100 I believe.

I have one after reading just a few posts on here. The test kit and the advice has saved me probably $100 over the last couple months.

 

[chiefwej]

nymickey,

You will need to decide if you want to join the thousands of pool owners who use the tools and methods recommended here, and learn how to manage your own pool. That means accurate testing with a good test kit, learning that you only add what the pool needs, and rejecting any advice from pool stores. It starts with ordering a good test kit (the TF-100 is highly recommended), and reading the info contained in "Pool School". That's the button on the upper right of this page.

 

[Richard320]

Your TA is fine according to the recommendations in http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/138-water-balance-for-swg-saltwater-chlorine-generator. No Alkalinity Increaser (Baking Soda at 5X cost but in a nicer package) needed.

I wouldn't trust the CYA reading at all - it's the hardest to do and pool stores are notoriously bad about getting it wrong. And if you overdo it, the only way to remove it is by water replacement. What does your test kit say?

The phosphates don't matter.

And if your SWG is happy with the salt level, you should be, too.