Hey! Just got my new test kit...now what?

Hi Everyone,

First of all, thanks to everyone who posts here. I had an easier time opening my pool than ever before after spending some time on here. So, to business...

After reading numerous threads on the forum, I realized the value of a good test kit. It's hard to find a post that doesn't mention it!

So, my K-2006 arrived in the mail today, and I can tell I need to do some work!

FC: 0
CC: 0
PH: 7.2
TA: 60-70
CYA: <30

I did not test Calcium Hardness as I understand it's not entirely vital for Vinyl pools. If any of the numbers look off, let me know and I'll re-test.

I have a Vinyl Pool with 24,000 gallons running a D.E. filter and an Hayward in-line chlorinator. I'm sure you probably need more information, so please let me know what I'm leaving out.

Remarkably, my water is still clear! I'm sure it won't be for long though.

I've been using the HTH Super Shock n' Swim (Calcium Hypochlorite...I think) at least once a week, and the
HTH Super 3” Chlorinating Tablets.

Now that you have most of the information....

My questions are:
How do I get my CYA up to the 50s?
How much Borax do I need to raise my PH to 7.4-7.6ish (if that's where it should be)?
Is my TA at an OK level?

Thank you in advance!

Please fill in your pool's information in our pool chart and answer a couple of questions and then someone here can help you go from there.

Pool Chart Entry Form
Pool Chart Results

Please check the ingredients of your 'shock n swim' and report them and also the ingredients of your trichlor tabs.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

Thanks Watermom.

I've filled out the Pool Chart. I failed to enter the Thread Number, but you'll find it on line 176.

The Trichlor Tabs are:
Trichloro-s-Triazinetrione........93.5%
Copper Sulfate Pentahydrate.....1.5%
INERT INGREDIENTS.................5.0%

The HTH Super Shock N' Swim:
Calcium Hypochlorite...............52.0%
Other Ingredients...................48.0%
TOTAL................................100.0%
Minimum Available Chlorine........49%

Do NOT use those trichlor tabs! They have copper in them. You do NOT want copper in your water. Contrary to popular belief, it is not chlorine that causes blonde hair to turn green and stains pool surfaces green, it is copper! How many of the pucks do you think you have used?

I am also leery of your cal-hypo. 48% other ingredients? What does that mean? We don't like voodoo mystery mixes where you do not know what you are adding to your water.

If it were my pool, I would just use bleach for the source of chlorine. (It is what most of us use. Plain, unscented, 6% household bleach -- generic is fine.)

Since you don't know for sure what your CYA reading is, only that it is less than 30, we'll have to assume for now that it could be almost 30. I'm going to recommend that you buy some CYA and just add some directly instead of using stabilized chlorine. For now, add a dose that should give you an additional 20ppm. A week after adding it (no sooner), run the CYA test again and post your result. Then, we can decide if we need to tweak the level any. One way to add CYA is to pour it slowly into your skimmer and let it dissolve in your filter with no backwashing for a week to make sure it all gets dissolved. Also run your pump 24/7 for 4 or 5 days while it is dissolving. Another way to add it is to put it in an old sock and hang it in front of a return jet. If you give the sock a squeeze every now and then, it will help it dissolve faster. You'll want to move the sock out of the way if you add other chemicals through the skimmer, though. Either method for adding it is fine. Your choice. I would suggest a dose of about 4 lbs. When you buy it, it may be labeled as stabilizer or conditioner. Check the label ingredients. If it says cyanuric acid or isocyanuric acid, that is the right stuff.

You also need to get some chlorine in there before your water turns green! For the next week, until your CYA gets in there, you'll need to test chlorine morning and evening and each time, add enough bleach to get your chlorine up to about 6ppm. After the CYA starts registering, you'll be able to go to testing and dosing with bleach in the evenings only. In your pool, each gallon (4 quarts) of 6% bleach will add approximately 2.5ppm of chlorine. Use that as a reference to help you figure out doses you should add. You can either pour the bleach slowly into the skimmer while the pump is running or slowly in front of a return jet.

Go ahead and add a third of a box of Borax slowly to the skimmer, breaking up any clumps. Retest pH after a couple of hours and then redose with more Borax if needed. it is ok to add the bleach and borax one right after the other with no problems. Your alk is not bad, but if you want, you can add a couple of pounds of baking soda (in the same way as the borax) to bump it up to 80-120, but this is not critical. You're probably just fine where it is for now. If you find that your pH isn't very stable after you raise it some, you can always adjust the alk then.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have further questions.

That's a huge help Watermom!

Thank you. I'll see if my local pool store sells CYA tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be able to get some somewhere!

I'm about to go buy some Bleach. Just curioius...If my pool DID have a CYA of 50ish, how much bleach would you guesstimate I would need to add per week? I'm just trying to figure out how many gallons to buy.

I also have super blonde hair, so I'll take that info regarding the Trichlor tabs to heart!

It's hard to say. I depends on the weather conditions, how much sun your pool gets, how big of a swimmer load you have, etc. I'd probably go ahead and buy 10 of the big jugs for now. You'll end up using it.

Most of us use generic Walmart bleach. By the way, not all bleach is the same concentration. Some places like dollar stores sell 3% bleach which is typically not a good buy. You may also find a pool store that sells liquid chlorine that is usually either 10 or 12.5% sodium hypochlorite which is the same ingredient as bleach. If it is at a good price, you can use that and it will save you from having to buy so many jugs of bleach since you have a pretty big pool.

You may be able to find CYA at Walmart. Just read the ingredients. You don't want a mystery mix.

How about trichlor tablets with zinc sulfate monohydrate? Are those an improvement over the copper? I just noticed I had two different kinds. Thanks!

Walmart does have CYA by the way!

Alright I added about 2.5 Gallons of generic Bleach and tested 20 minutes later. FC is now just under 6ppm (so I added a little more bleach) and after re-reading the instructions, my CC is 0.4ppm, not 0. I hope that doesn't change anything!

I had a box of 20 Mule Team Borax that conveniently had about 1/4 missing, so I poured the remainder in. I'll retest PH in the morning - not sure how long borax takes to have an impact.

Also, I purchased some CYA granuals at Walmart. According to their dosage instructions I needed to add 4lbs to raise my CYA to about 20ppm. Per your recommendation, I filled an old sock and tossed it into the skimmer basket. I bought an extra 4lbs in case I needed to raise it higher.

Now I'll wait 3 or 4 days to retest CYA, and I'll check the FC, CC, and PH in the morning...

I really appreciate the help!

Anything else I should do now that I have all of that heading in the right direction?

A CC reading of 0.4 is ok but if it goes higher than 0.5, you'll want to shock the pool.

When adding Borax, generally a couple of hours is enough for it to get mixed in well. Testing it again in the a.m. will be fine.

I do not know what trichlor tabs with zinc sulfate monohydrate are. I'll run it past Ben. But, definitely don't use the ones with copper.

Sounds like you are doing fine.

I've already discussed the trichlor with zinc with Ben, and it's basically just a really expensive way to buy trichlor tabs--if you'll look at the prices, those tabs are about 1 1/2 times more expensive than the trichlor with copper in them. The zinc probably won't hurt anything, but we really can't be sure--and I'm not adding anything to my pool that I'm not sure of. You can buy a whole lot of bleach for what one bucket of those tabs cost.... ;)

Janet

Thanks for that info, Jan. i don't add stuff to my pool that I'm not sure of either! All that goes into my pool is generic Walmart bleach, Borax, baking soda and CYA. Oh yeah, and ME!! ;);)

That makes sense. I haven't opened that tub of tablets, so maybe I'll return them and buy a whole bunch of bleach.

Also, l checked my ph this morning. Apparently there was more than three quarters left in the box I added. It is now 7.8...Is that too high?

As long as 7.8 isn't the highest reading that your test kit can register, you are ok at 7.8. But, if it goes any higher, you'll want to lower it. (To clarify -- you have a K-2006 kit so your kit can read higher than 7.8, so you know that it actually is 7.8. However, if someone has a kit that can't read past 7.8, when they get a reading of 7.8, that means it could actually be higher than that but the kit can't distinguish anything higher. Make sense?)

That makes perfect sense!

Thank you for all of your help.