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I have a 10,000 gal 22' Intex gray pool, not sure of the correct name. It was a Walmart special. I left it up over the winter and used bleach, borax, and Muriatic acid to clean it up. I also use dichlor granules. Yesterday the alkalinity was 230 so I used HCl last night. This morning's test results were:
pH 7
Alk 145
Free Cl 1.2 ppm
Comb .4 ppm
Hardness 700 ppm
CYA 40
I added borax and dichlor this morning. Should I continue using dichlor or use bleach for maintenance?
What kind of test kit are you using?
You can use dichlor for awhile longer if you want. Once you get your CYA to about 50ppm, then you'll want to switch and just use bleach.
How did your hardness reading get so high?
Welcome to the Pool Forum!
I use a Taylor k-2006 test kit. Our well water is super hard and some of the chemicals I used last year had calcium in them. Do you have any suggestions for reducing hardness? We used a saline system last year and had to stop because the cells would be crusty in a couple hours.
I figured you were using a K2006 when I saw readings in increments of 0.2. Actually, instead of using the 25mL sample, just use 10ml as it will save on your reagents. You'll multiply the drop count by 0.5 instead of 0.2.
The only way to lower calcium is to do a partial drain and refill which doesn't make sense to do if your fill water is also high in calcium. It will be important to keep your pH and TA on the low side, though, so you don't end up with a milky pool. And, definitely no more products that have calcium in them.
Steps for lowering alk can be found here: http://pool9.net/alk-step and also please read this one, too. http://pool9.net/muriatic/
(If you decide to try the alk lowering process, you'll need to raise your pH up before you begin with adding acid.)
(Edit --Actually, I just asked Ben if he thinks you should mess with lowering an alk of 145 in this case or not. Let's see what he thinks.)
I just looked at your thread title: I'm afraid that with a CH of 700, "easy" may be out of reach. I think the best we can offer is "easier".
Anyhow, as a starting place, test pH, TA, and CH on your well water. Post those results.
It's possible to drop out calcium, but it may be easier to dump and refill, depending on what's coming out of your well.
Also, you need to get yourself some distilled water from Walmart, before you test CH again. Mix 1/4 cup pool water with 1/2 cup distilled. Mix and test. Multiply the result x3. It's easier that way, and saves on calcium reagent.
From my outdoor spigot:
pH 7
TA 320
CH 720
Yup. That's some tough water to work with.
I actually wish I had some here, so I could test some of the methods we've recommended easily. It would be a pain to mix a batch that duplicated that! But, I don't wish it on pool owners!
Anyhow, you certainly can't solve your problems by draining and refilling. And, unfortunately, there aren't any handy-dandy chemical treatments for calcium -- or at least, none that I'd want to swim in! There are 2 options for you.
1. Lower your TA to 60 - 70 and keep your pH below 7.6. That should be fairly easy.
2. DELIBERATELY precipitate the calcium, let it settle, and then vacuum it out. Doing this is rather a pain.
Once you've done either of these, IF you have a sand filter, I think there's a long term option that can make maintenance relatively easy.
Assuming you are going to pursue the easier option, you need to read about using muriatic acid safely, and about lowering alkalinity:http://pool9.net/ma/
http://pool9.net/alk-step/