Originally Posted by Gracy101
:eek: Ok - finished pool school today, was feeling pretty confident in taking over because the water was fairly stable the last few days. Then - today - the pool guy adds like 1 1/2 -2 jugs of acid trying to clean some stains of the plaster so he can hand over the pool. I say - "uh - excuse me pool guy, won't all that acid screw up my water? Couldn't you do part of it today and the rest another day?" He said nope, his instructions were to fix the punch list items and turn over the pool. He left at noon in a raging thunderstorm, BTW it's been raining cats and dogs for 4 days, had to drain the pool a bit twice already, presently draining a little again.
This seems to be a normal part of new plastering--lots of acid washing up front. I'm no whiz on plaster but that seems to be SOP.
So....I've been working my self up into a tizzy, I know I need to do something, don't have the taylor/Ben's kit, suddenly I don't trust my testing with the rinky dink walmart kit, so I panicked and went to the pool store for a water analysis at 5. I'm hosting the 4th in my beautiful new pool, wwwaaaahhhh! Here are the numbers...
You MUST get yourself a decent test kit ASAP. If you can find one at WalMart called the HTH 5 way test kit. You need a drop-test kit, not strips. Leslies and other pool stores may have them that test the items in your list.
Total Alkalinity 20
ph 6.2
cyanuric acid 0
total hardness 160
FC 0.6
TC 0.6 These are the results from the stores analysis
T/A=20 That's low. Aim for 80-125. But take your time. Add one lb of baking soda (that's all the stuff that they gave you is), wait a few hours and TEST your water. It's easier to undershoot your target and add more than to overshoot it and treat it. Or use Soda Ash to raise T/A AND pH together.
pH=6.2. That's VERY low. Luckily, you have a plaster pool and I THINK that's part of the normal conditioning process. The pool plaster will raise the pH itself, but you should get it to 6.9, minimum. Use Borax--you'll need a few boxes, but add one at a time. 6.9-7.8 is OK for pH but with your pool you want it lower--it will go up on its own. You CAN use Soda Ash to treat both T/A and pH at the same time--but go to the grocery store and buy Arm&Hammer WASHING Soda (NOT baking soda) as it is soda ash and FAR cheaper than the EXACT same stuff at the pool store.
Cyanuric Acid--that's CYA or stabilizer. You aim for 30-50ppm. Whatever the package says to use to reach 30ppm to 50ppm, use 1/3 to 1/2 the amount for your volume of water. Hang it in an old lady's stocking away from the wall, like off the ladder and expect it to take 48 hours to a week to dissolve. Then test for CYA and add more if it's low.
Tot. Hardness/Calcium is a little low. 200 to 400ppm is your target--no higher. Calcium in the water keeps calcium in the plaster from dissolving and leaching out. Calcium Carbonate or use Cal-Hypo powder to chlorinate.
FC, TC =.6 this means CC is 0--that's good. With no CYA, .6 FC means you are (barely) sanitary. You'll need MUCH higher levels as your CYA goes up. You can use liquid chlorine--it's the same as bleach, just maybe a higher concentration. For every 10,000 gallons of water you have, I would add one gallon of regular bleach, or one 3 quart jug of Ultra bleach. If you don't have algae, you have leeway.
Ok guys - I had a gift certificate my sister gave me from the store so from them I bought stabilizer(bag), bicarb (bag), and two jugs of chlorine :o I know, I know - I broke down, but they all ganged up on me when I told them I was going to do BBB - they shamed me into it. It was a 20 minute lecture my head was spinning.
You don't have to STAND for that crap! YOU ARE THE CUSTOMER!!!! If the jugs are liquid chlorine, you are fine, if not, TAKE THEM BACK! If they won't take them back, tell them they conned you, you will tell everyone you know, and they will NEVER get another purchase out of you--and do it! Most stuff you need is available on-line anyway. If you follow our advice, you don't EVER need to feel ashamed. If that bicarb cost more per pound than Arm&Hammer baking soda, make them take THAT back too!
But we do have tricks. I tell them I use Liquid Chlorine. It's absolutely true. It comes in a jug that says "Laundry Bleach" but it's the same stuff.
I do have two jugs of bleach (6%) and a box of mule team borax from yesterday when I was all brave about taking over. I'm embarrassed but I might as well be honest. So there it is in all it's ugliness!
Don't be embarrassed. Please. You have been "Pool Stored" and it's happened to more experienced people than you.
Hope I don't get kicked off the forum... I AM SERIOUSLY COMPLETELY PARALYZED WITH FEAR RIGHT NOW AND AM BLANK ON WHAT I SHOULD DO -IT'S 9:30 P.M.
Help please - I will monitor this site for the next couple of hours if anyone is out there! I'll stay up as late as I need to - just please be as specific as possible, the dummed down the better:o
