If this was your fill water, what would you do?

[Bosch232]

OK, still a newbie here.
I've had the ag pool for half of last year - but this month will be my first attempt at BBB.

Taylor 2006 kit says the fill water out of the hose end is this:

pH... 7.0
TA... 310
CH... 30-40

So if I understand correctly, I need to lower the TA with muriatic acid, but bring the pH up by aerating. Yes?

[BigDave]

7.0 is about lowest you want pH. Aerate and keep an eye on pH, when it gets to 7.8, then push it back down near 7 and keep aerating. With a TA of 310, the pH should climb pretty quick. Don't worry about Calcium Hardness in your vinyl pool.

[BigDave]

I wasn't clear. When I wrote "... push it back down ...", I meant with Muriatic Acid. Be sure to read Using Muriatic Acid to Safely Lower Your Pool's pH (http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?13111-Using-Muriatic-Acid-to-Safely-Lower-Your-Pool-s-pH) first.

[Bosch232]

Thank you for the reply.

Do I want to be messing around with chlorine at all during this time, or does balancing come first?

[BigDave]

Absolutely!
Do you have a K-2006? If not, order one - you'll be -much- happier with it than without.
Maintain FC levels appropriate for your CYA level as per Ben's Best Guess Chart (http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/best-guess-swimming-pool-chlorine-chart.html). If you don't, you'll have to clean up a swamp. It's a good idea to read through The BBB Method of Swimming Pool Care (http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/the-BBB-method-of-swimming-pool-care.html) if you haven't yet.

[Bosch232]

Yes, I have the 2006 kit.
Thanks for the replies.

I don't want a swamp. :)

[BigDave]

me neither.:) . . . is that spelled right?

[Bosch232]

Well I filled the pool 5 days ago, and I've successfully gone from TA = 300+ to TA = 100 and pH of 7.4 as of tonight. It required gradually adding 3 1/2 gallons of muriatic acid and aerating 24-7 for 5 days straight. But I'm there.

Does TA change a whole lot week-to-week, or should it be pretty stable now?

[BigDave]

Congrats, sounds like your fill and startup went well.

TA shouldn't move a whole lot but what's "normal" will be uniquely "normal" for your pool. Keep an eye on TA and pH stability for a while to get a feel for what's normal for your pool. A TA about 80 may be ideal for bleach chlorinated pools but if pH stays stable, 100 should be just fine.

[Bosch232]

Here is graphical data of my weeks activity.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Bosch232/Pool_zps630a61c9.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Bosch232/media/Pool_zps630a61c9.jpg.html)

[BigDave]

Nice recordkeeping! What kind of chlorine are you adding? How did you add the CYA?

[Bosch232]

Chlorine and CYA are just HTH from Wal Mart. Granular versions of both.

I'm a bit uncertain about the CYA, because I added 2 lbs and the test still says ZERO.
So I'm not quite sure I've got that dialed in.

[Bosch232]

I didn't exactly answer your question.. I've added both to the skimmer, slowly pouring it in.

[BigDave]

CYA can take a long time to dissolve - don't bother testing for 4-5 days after adding granular CYA.

There are a couple types of powder chlorine - most likely Dichlor or Cal-hypo. Dichlor adds CYA, Cal-hypo doesn't. Either is OK right now as you need CYA but it's good to know what to expect. Which do you have?

[Bosch232]

Thanks for the heads-up about CYA - I would have probably added more too soon if you hadn't told me that. :)
I put in 47% cal-hypo. This: http://www.walmart.com/ip/HTH-Chlorinating-Granules/17043619

So far, the water is sparkling clear.
Thank you for your help in my start up.

It's only 45 deg here, what crap...


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Bosch232/IMG_7392_zps4edb361c.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Bosch232/media/IMG_7392_zps4edb361c.jpg.html)