Optimum Levels?

Hello!!

We just refilled our 16' x 24' x 48" AGP after draining, releveling, installing a new liner and building a deck. Now, I did pretty good last year with it but of course I have forgotten most of what I learned last year. I tested my water this morning with the exception of the CYA since I am going to have to obtain some more of the reagent. Here are my levels after testing this morning...

TC = less than .5
pH = 7.2
Alk = 55 ppm
Hardness = 90 ppm

Of course we just refilled it, so this is what I have done so far...

1. When the pool was halfway full, I added 3 gallons of bleach (6%)
2. When it finished filling this morning and was high enough to reach the skimmer, I started the pump and filter.
3. Immediately added 3 lbs of stabilizer and 4 1/2 gallons of bleach (6%)

I guess my questions is what are the optimum amounts for each test? I know I will have to test for CYA but since I just refilled I figured it was definitely going to need some so I added it and will get more reagent and test after 48 hours.

Jen

I searched my computer and found a word doc where I had saved some of the info that I pulled off of here last year, I am including it in this post, maybe it will help someone!


At Walmart or Kmart, get a cheap OTO/phenol red testkit, 4 or 5 gallons of household bleach, a trichlor floater of some kind, a small container (10 - 25 lbs) of trichlor tabs or sticks, a couple of boxes of borax, and a small container (2 - 3 lbs) of stabilizer (conditioner/cyanuric acid).

Do NOT get anything else, at this time -- no shocks, clarifiers, miracle treatments, etc.

After it's filled, turn the pump on, and leave it on. The first evening, after filling, add a gallon of bleach. The next morning, clean the filter, then SLOWLY put the stabilizer, through the skimmer. Don't do it so fast that you choke the skimmer. Do NOT backwash for 3 days (it takes that long to dissolve, and you'll lose it otherwise).

That evening, test your chlorine and pH levels. If the pH is below 7.4, add 1/2 box of borax slowly to the skimmer. If the chlorine is low, put one puck in the floater, and put the floater in the pool.

The next evening, test again. If the pH is still below 7.4, add the rest of the open box of borax. If the chlorine is low, add 1/2 gallon of bleach, and add one more puck to the floater.

My PS233 kit will help, but you probably won't need it right away, if you keep things simple: pH between 7.4 & 8.0; chlorine between 2 and 5 ppm. Do NOT use test strips!! If you get the urge to do some serious testing right away, go ahead and order. Stay away from dealers as much as you can. Many of them will have you adding a bunch of things that will only complicate your life. By the time you can tell the good ones from the bad ones, you'll pretty much be able to do it yourself, anyhow.

Run your pump continuously till the water is clear; do not clean it excessively; add 1/2 gallon of chlorine one evening each week as shock or insurance against algae or other pool problems; adjust your floater by adding/subtracting tabs and opening the slots; use the floater to maintain a low constant level of chlorine. (If you take tabs out, store them in a plastic container OUTDOORS, and do NOT close any lid tightly.)

If the pool doesn't clear in a week, buy a quart of Super Blue from a pool dealer, and add the label dose -- but NO MORE!!.

Learning your pool is like learning to drive: it takes a while to become proficient, but with time -- if you learn to do it right -- it will become very easy. Read here and at PoolSolutions; repost as you have questions.

One thing to remember, though: low calcium doesn't hurt pool liners, but low pH does. To be safe, make sure you keep the pH in your vinyl pool above 7.2!

It turns out that the easiest and cheapest way deal with algae is to simply raise your chlorine level . . . and keep it there. Also, if your stabilizer is too high, you can drain your pool -- the conventional recommendation -- or you can just begin operating at higher chlorine levels. If your stabilizer is at 100 ppm, maintaining chlorine levels of 7 - 12 ppm works fine, and is both cheap and easy. (You'll also need to make sure your pH stays above 7.4) Unfortunately, this is nearly impossible with regular testkits. The problem is that these kits can't distinguish 10 ppm, which is fatal to most algae, but fine for people, from 30 ppm which is uncomfortable for people and not so good for vinyl liners, either.

The copper PS251 kit allows reasonable accurate measurements of low copper levels. There may be a better kit out there, but I haven't found it, and I have looked. Many of the copper kits I've seen do not discriminate copper levels in the ranges usually recommended (200 - 500 pp b). If you use copper algaecides, Nature2, "Frog's", ionizers, Pristine Blue, or whatever, and do not have a current, fresh copper kit and accurate kit, you need this kit. Excess copper levels can cause serious pool damage that is expensive to correct.

Timing is Everything -- If You Want an Easy Swimming Pool!

Adding chlorine to your swimming pool in the evening, instead of the morning can reduce cut your chemical costs in half.

Why? At night, chlorine is used up doing useful work in your pool, like oxidizing all that sweat and sun-tan lotion from your pool party. During the day, it mostly is wasted -- lost to UV in the sunlight.

Depending on stabilizer levels, and sunshine, you can lose half of the chlorine in the pool in as little as 30 minutes! Even when your swimming pool is stabilized, you can lose half the sanitizer in your pool in 4 hours. But, at night, all of the chlorine used up, was used up doing something useful to your pool water!

How Monsanto Cyanuric Acid Stabilizes Chlorine in Swimming Pools . . . And Helps Reduce Disinfection Costs , pgs. 7 - 9, Monsanto Technical Bulletin I-291, n.d.

Be careful if you're going to use the tri-chlor pucks. They contain CYA and if you add CYA AND use the tri-chlor pucks then you're continually adding CYA to your water...eventually you'll have sky high CYA levels and it will be difficult to keep your pool sanitized no matter how much chlorine you put in it. (See the Ben's Best Guess CYA thread.)

I definitely don't use the pucks anymore, you guys changed my ways! I just posted that stuff cuz I saved it from last year in the old forums. I am just wondering what my optimum test readings should be?

Thanks for all the help!!
Jen

PH 7.2-7.8
Alk 80-125
CH not needed in a vinyl pool, but definitely not over 500
CYA 30-50
Chlorine - depends on your cya reading

Hope this helps.

Watermom

Thanks soooo much! That is just what I needed!! It is all coming back to me the more I read through here... SLOWLY! I will post my readings as I take them

Thanks!
Jen
(formerly Jen in Tx, now Jen in Tx2)

OK, yesterday when I tested this is what I came up with....
TC = 5
Ph = 7.2
Alk = 75
CYA = 55

Today (about 20 hours later) my readings were...
TC = 4.5
pH = 7.0

Now I know I need to bring up my pH, I have added about 1/2 box of Borax total and no bleach since I first filled it up.

Other than your ph being a little low as you already know, everything looks fine. After you add the Borax, let it circulate a few hours. Then retest and redose til you get it to 7.4-7.6.

Watermom

Great post, thanks for the numbers. I just opened my pool, do you guys/gals think 135 is too high for alkalinity? My pH was 7.6. Thanks!

135 is fine.

Michael