Are These Numbers Ok/Safe?

[tokmom]

I think our chlorine needs to come up a bit more... This is a brand new pool, never swam in as of yet.

I want to preface saying we had a horrible time getting the PH down. We finally went and bought some HTH ph Minus that took it from 8.4+ to 7.5 and holding. So much for all that expensive bioguard that didn't work so quickly. Our test kit is the one from Walmart. The Taylor 2006 was backordered and should arrive Tue. (yay!)

Numbers are:

Hardness 100 (we have a heat pump, is this number ok?)
TC: 1
FC: 1
PH 7.5
TA 150
CYA: 40

Is this water swimmable? Do we need to drop the TA? The water looks fairly clear and is a light blue. I would like to see a deep intense clear blue that I see in posters avatars.
We currently have Bioguard silk tabs floating and the pool is covered with a solar blanket.
It's been a week since we added chemicals, and according to the bioguard boxes, we are supposed to add some shock and optimizer tomorrow. The tabs are melting, but not completely gone. They say to add weekly. Do you just toss what is left? I assumed the entire tab melted.

Thanks for any help.

P.S, after all this bioguard is gone, I'm going to the BBB method. :)

[aylad]

Hi, and welcome!!

Your numbers look okay for now, but you need to get that chlorine up or you'll have algae soon. With a CYA of 40, you never want your chlorine to be under 3 ppm. Otherwise, I'd swim in it ! :)

Your alk is fine, and the trichlor tabs will eventually melt away, which is really the safest and most responsible way to dispose of them.

[tokmom]

How do we keep it on the higher side? Other than the tri chlor tabs floating around and shocking weekly with burn out 35, how do you keep those numbers steady?
We have a huge box of Optimizer plus which supposed to help with algea formation. However, it also raises the PH and then we are supposed to throw in Lo n Slo. Can you say $$$? Seems rather silly to be chasing the tail like this. On the other hand we have this box of stuff we should be using for algea growth.

Ideas and thoughts?

[PoolDoc]

+ Burn Out 35 is lithium hypochlorite -- an overpriced and under-performing alternative to bleach. Use bleach.

+ Optimizer is just borax. It's a form of borax that is slightly higher in borates than 20 Mule Team borax, from Walmart, but it's MUCH more expensive. If you add enough borax to read a 50+ ppm level of borates, it does inhibit algae somewhat, and it does tend to improve the water's visual quality. Optimizer Plus is an even more expensive version, that mixes borax with boric acid, so it doesn't raise pH much.

+ However, by FAR the cheapest way to gain a 50+ ppm borate level is with 20 Mule Team borax plus muriatic acid from Lowes, Ace or Home Depot. And, once the borate ions in the water, they won't tell your friends and neighbors that they came out of a paper box from Walmart, instead of an expensive plastic container, with nice graphics, from BioGuard. So, if you want the fancy label, keep the Optimizer. If you just want the borates and the effects they have . . . visit Walmart.

+ In order to escape the pool store marketing machine, you have to learn to test your OWN water. Their entire testing was developed, and is designed to coerce you into buying more chemicals, most of which you don't even need. (Added calcium much? You never NEED to add it to a vinyl pool!) Read the test kit info page linked in my signature.

[tokmom]

+ Burn Out 35 is lithium hypochlorite -- an overpriced and under-performing alternative to bleach. Use bleach.

+ Optimizer is just borax. It's a form of borax that is slightly higher in borates than 20 Mule Team borax, from Walmart, but it's MUCH more expensive. If you add enough borax to read a 50+ ppm level of borates, it does inhibit algae somewhat, and it does tend to improve the water's visual quality. Optimizer Plus is an even more expensive version, that mixes borax with boric acid, so it doesn't raise pH much.

+ However, by FAR the cheapest way to gain a 50+ ppm borate level is with 20 Mule Team borax plus muriatic acid from Lowes, Ace or Home Depot. And, once the borate ions in the water, they won't tell your friends and neighbors that they came out of a paper box from Walmart, instead of an expensive plastic container, with nice graphics, from BioGuard. So, if you want the fancy label, keep the Optimizer. If you just want the borates and the effects they have . . . visit Walmart.

+ In order to escape the pool store marketing machine, you have to learn to test your OWN water. Their entire testing was developed, and is designed to coerce you into buying more chemicals, most of which you don't even need. (Added calcium much? You never NEED to add it to a vinyl pool!) Read the test kit info page linked in my signature.

Yes, we have been learning to test our own water. Our Taylor k2006 test kit should be here on Tue. We have been using the Walmart one for now until the other arrives.
I have no problem using plain old chemicals and am not out to impressive neighbors with fancy labels. That was never my intention. I'm not a fancy person. Tally in the fact we really have no neighbors to impress anyway...

What I meant was we paid money for these chemicals and I hate to just throw them in the garbage. I want to use them up (probably one months worth max) and go to plain old grocery store chemicals.
Nope, never added calcium and I read a few weeks ago (here of course!) that vinyl doesn't need calcium.

I'm all for saving money and having a safe and clean pool.

[Watermom]

I'm all for saving money and having a safe and clean pool.
Then, you have come to the right place because --- in a nutshell, that is what we are all about!

[tokmom]

Thanks Watermom. I have learned a lot over the last few weeks from reading the forum.
I have looked at all the links in the siggies, but again am still confused on the amounts of chemicals to add. I think that is my biggest problem.
I read about bleach literally bleaching the liner if too much is added. The best guess chlorine chart is helpful, but still a tad confusing. I know what I need to do but not sure how to get there!

Borax confuses me. What is it's intention. Does anything natural help with algea?

Thanks for all the help you guys give to us newbies. I'm sure it get's tiresome being asked the same old thing.

[Watermom]

Borax is used to raise pH.

What is the volume of your pool?

[tokmom]

Oops, I need to add that to my siggy. Sorry. It's roughly 16,100 gal

[Watermom]

I cannot help you with doses of the Bioguard products because I don't use them. My pool only gets fed with bleach, baking soda, borax and occasionally CYA. (Don't be afraid to use bleach. It is 6% sodium hypochlorite, pool store chlorine is the same thing but only a higher % at 12.5% (usually).

For reference, in your pool, each quart of 6% bleach will add approximately 1ppm of chlorine. Use that to help you figure out needed doses.

When your kit arrives, run a full set of numbers and post them.

[tokmom]

Thanks, yes..my confusing comes from the BBB method. The bioguard pretty much spells it out, but the gallon of bleach doesn't, lol. That is my worry, dumping too much bleach in at once because I don't know how to do the math, so to speak on volume. Your formula helps, thanks. :)

I'm dying for the mail lady to bring our test kit, how sad it that? lol. I saw her driving down our dirt road today and got excited. Sadly she turned to go down another driveway.

I will post our numbers as soon as possible.

BTW, we opened up our pool officially today. Everyone jumped in! How fun to swim in your own yard! We are fairly secluded (each house over an acre away) so the privacy was awesome! Pools rock!

[Watermom]

I got in my pool today, too! You are right, pools do rock! I love mine!