Do I have to lower my TA?

[poolgal13]

New pool owner, vinyl, approximately 27,000 gallons. The "rep" from my pool installation company came out to give me pool school. I had my Taylor test kit (which impressed him) and he commented that my TA was lower than he likes or something, and so he put in some "TA up". He also had me turn up the automatic chlorinator with trichlor pucks because my FC was low. Two days later, I check, and now I have

TA-150
PH-7.4
FC-4.2
CC-.2
CH-170
(forgot to test CYA but it was fine two days ago)

I'm so mad at him because I knew TA was the hardest thing to drop if it gets high!!

Could it drop on its own gradually, as we use the pool? Right now it's opened but the water is cold (58 degrees) and we are covering it with a solar cover hoping for warm weather to eventually arrive. Also, as long as the PH stays good and I don't get cloudiness or scaling, do I have to mess with the TA?

[CarlD]

The bad news is he raised it too much and probably charged you for the "Alk Up" which is nothing more the baking soda, plain old A&H.
The good news is that with a CH of 170, a TA of 150 is probably harmless. Generally in vinyl pools, that combo of TA and CH should be no big deal. Only in the rare case when a pool owner cannot keep their pH constant and it rises on them do they have to lower it.

However.....SWCGs tend to raise pH so a low TA tends to inhibit that a bit, and you may need to work to get TA down. If, however, with your SWCG, you don't see pH rising, again, you're OK. With a bunch of tri-chlor pucks you probably won't see pH rise because the pucks are very acid. But when they are gone it might start rising.

I wouldn't test FC and CC too often at the 5 drop/ppm level or you'll burn through your powder and drops really fast. Use the 10ml water mark so each drop is .5 ppm, not .2. Save your reagents.
We cannot tell if you CYA is "fine" or what that means. For us at PF, CYA can be "fine" at 30ppm, or at 80ppm, as long as you chlorinate appropriately for that level. But since you have an SWCG, "Fine" for you means, probably, 60 to 80 ppm, depending on the manufacturer. Generally, with an SWCG, unless you are shocking your pool, an FC of 5% of the the CYA (in the 60-80ppm range) is recommended. So at CYA=60, standard FC is 3, and a CYA=80, FC is 4.

[JimK]

He also had me turn up the automatic chlorinator with trichlor pucks because my FC was low.

Sounds like she's not using a swcg.

[CarlD]

JimK:
You are 100% correct. She said "chlorinator" not "Salt water chlorinator". In which case, the TA shouldn't be an issue.

[poolgal13]

Thanks for such quick replies! I'm not as worried about the TA now. I did turn one of my eyeball jets in the shallow shelf area to break the water surface, and we should be getting some rain and thus fresh water in the next week or two. Thankfully my "pool school" was free so at least I didn't pay extra for him to raise the TA! And I'm relieved it won't be too much of an issue if it stays slightly higher.

The pool package came with the automatic chlorinator where you stack the trichlor pucks in it. I was planning to do a combination of the trichlor (on a low dispenser setting) and bleach, because it was a totally new pool fill in the fall and isn't overstabilized.

I am curious about the relationship between CYA and the required level of free chlorine--is that something I can find in a chart somewhere on the site?

I also just bought the simple OTO red and yellow test kit for quick chlorine checks because I thought the same thing you guys mentioned about the Taylor test kit--I'm going to be running out of the reagents and powder quickly as I try to get the pool set up properly. The whole reason my chlorine got so low is that my "pool school" visit was delayed so I fell through the cracks between them coming out periodically and the guy arriving for pool school. Plus my test kit arrived only the day before. Hopefully with the guidelines on this board it will be a smooth summer. Thanks so much!

[JimK]

Here you go:

http://poolsolutions.com/gd/best-guess-swimming-pool-chlorine-chart.html

[CarlD]

You can order the reagents from various on-line sources. But if you use the chlorine test at 25ml, it takes 5 drops to get 1 FC. At 10ml it only takes 2 and that is enough. I think I last used the 5 drops in 25 ml about 5 years ago.
So you know:
Alk Up! and similar alk t/a raisers are nothing but Arm and Hammer Baking Soda.
pH Up!, soda ash and similar pH raisers are nothing but Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (comes in a yellow box, usually next to the 20 Mule Team Borax).
They are the same chemicals in expensive packages.

Tri-chlor pucks can be heaven-sent--or the bane of your existence. You need to have the CYA test to know. Right now, since my pump died, 4 pucks in a floater are a blessing, keeping my pool clear, and I run my robotic cleaner once a day to turn the water over.
But, if you don't watch the CYA level, before you know it, it will go over a 100ppm and then normal levels of FC won't keep it clean, and the pool store will tell you "you have chlorine lock"--there's no such thing. If you check the best-guess table JimK linked to, you'll find that for EVERY level of CYA, there's an effective match range of FC levels.

CYA slows down chlorine's action, which is a two-edged sword. It acts like sun-block to keep the UV from breaking down the chlorine (which can take as little as 15 minutes) but you need higher levels of chlorine to maintain a sanitary pool. So, our moderator, aylad (Janet) lives in Louisiana where the heat and sun eat chlorine like it was junk food. Jan keeps her CYA at a high 80ppm, and just keeps her FC between 5 and 10ppm. That way, she doesn't have to add chlorine all the time. I, living in NJ, where it gets very, very hot, but the sun isn't as intense, usually keep mine at around 40, and keep my FC between 3 and 6ppm. That way I don't have to add chlorine more than every couple of days. In the Dog Days of August, I'll raise CYA higher and keep a higher residual FC level, for the same reason.

Pucks also are very, very acidic. Had a friend at the gym ask me: "Why do I keep have to add Alk Up!? My pH is always going down?" Nice guy but not on our forum. Answer was simple: "Your pucks drive your pH down. Use bleach or liquid chlorine instead".

Hope this all helps.

[poolgal13]

Yes, it's been extremely helpful. A lot to learn, but I feel I'm getting there slowly!