Year 2 = A new beginning (with my test results)

Hello comrades,

THis is my second year coming back to this forum. The wisdom that fellow members here shared with me helped greatly last year, when I was a total newb to pool maintenance (purchased a house with existing pool) and had a very rough spring opening.

Benefiting from last year's experience, I avoided the mistakes and now things seem to be going smoothly: the water is very clear 48h after opening. Water is cold (50F) so that probably helps a lot too..

Here are my test results from today PM (after a mini bleach shock yesterday night):

FC = 12,15ppm
CC = 0,95 ppm
pH= 7,3
TA= 21 ppm
CYA (stabilizer) = 42 ppm
Calcium = 126ppm

Seeing my TA rather low, I've just added some Alk to raise it up to more proper levels (will retest). Will see how pH reacts as well.

I figured that CYA level is good. Local pool maintenance personel tried to sell me some Calcium+ product, but I'm very skeptical and not really buying into that, considering the BBB method.

Any comments, thoughts about those initial results?

Many thanks to all of you!!

Not sure how you got those numbers, but if they are right, only the TA is low--add Arm&Hammer baking soda to raise it. That's all Alk Up is--Sodium Bicarbonate in a fancy package. Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (in the Yellow box) is the same as pH Up! and other pH raisers--Sodium Carbonate.

You have a vinyl pool. Calcium does NOTHING for vinyl except waste your money and possibly make your pool cloudy, if you have too much.

But those must be pool store numbers because NONE of the kits we use can take those measurements.
FC: We could measure 12.2 or 12.4, but not 12.15. But, if it's between 12 and 12.5 and holding, it's a tad high but the CC is right and the CYA is right, you'll need to raise it to 15 till CC is below .5
CC: Could be .8 or 1. More chlorine to lower this
pH: 7.3 is fine
TA: 21??? I can measure 20 or 30, but not 21. IF your pH is holding fine at 7.3, I think you're ok. If it keeps dropping and you're not using Tri-Chlor pucks, try raising it to 60 first and see if it holds. Then 70, then 80. In theory, you could go as high as 190 with no problem--it's a vinyl pool.
CYA: Again, 42 could be 40 or 50. Either way, FC should be 3 to 6, shock at 15
Calcium: You can measure 120 or 130, but not 126. Either way, don't worry about it. Don't add more calcium, it's a waste.

With those #s, I'd stick to liquid chlorine or bleach for rather than pucks or powders. They all add stuff besides chlorine, which, right now, is all you need. Plus baking soda.

Thanks Carl for the feedback! Yes I should've mentioned, these numbers were from a pool store; they purchased a new, more advanced machine for analysis recently, and although they do charge for the test, I figured I would give it a shot for the beginning of the season (3$, not too expensive). I have pretty basic testing kits here at the moment, not much options for quality kits in Canada currently as far as I could tell.... I'm going for a 2 weeks trip in Florida next month, so hopefully I'll be able to purchase a decent Taylor kit so I can have some quality testing this summer.

I checked with my own kit at home, and these numbers were in line with the rough estimates I tested myself (although I suspected my pH could've been lower than 7,3)

I used the fancy Alk+ stuff since I still had some stock left from the previous owner, but you have an excellent point, baking soda will do the job afterwards.

I'll stick with liquid chlorine as much as possible. Thanks to you guys here, I've learned this trick and had a lot of success recovering the pool chemistry last year after a terrible start (think green mud!). I *may* have to rely on pucks for 2 weeks in May, since I'll be away on vacation and pucks in floater won't require as many maintenance visits from my friends to look after the pool. But otherwise, I'll keep going with bleach for sure

Thanks for confirming my suspicions regarding Calcium, and for the feedback, much appreciated!

You're welcome! If you're going to get a proper test kit in the US, get the Taylor K-2006 or K-2006C, or the Leslie's FAS-DPD Chlorine Service Test Kit. But you'll have to get them online and have them sent to a US location. Stores don't sell them that I know of. There's some issue with getting these kits north of the border, but I'm not sure what it is.

The problem with such pool store numbers is a lot of them test with...strips and then plug the results in the computer.

Neither Leslie's nor pinch a penny (the big pool store chains down here) carry the K-2006 kits. Pinch a penny carries most of the chems individually but not the R-0871 needed for FAS-DPD testing. I just ordered a few things from "Amato Industries" via amazon.com and it took four days to get here with standard shipping. You shouldn't have a problem getting an order to your destination with a two week window.

The only way to get the K-2006/2006C is online. Leslies CAN get the R-0871 and FAS-DPD powder on order. The Leslies FAS-DPD Chlorine Service Test Kit is only available on their web site. It IS the K-2006, re-badged and stuck into a Leslies box, with all Taylor re-agents.