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OK, still a newbie here.
I've had the ag pool for half of last year - but this month will be my first attempt at BBB.
Taylor 2006 kit says the fill water out of the hose end is this:
pH... 7.0
TA... 310
CH... 30-40
So if I understand correctly, I need to lower the TA with muriatic acid, but bring the pH up by aerating. Yes?
7.0 is about lowest you want pH. Aerate and keep an eye on pH, when it gets to 7.8, then push it back down near 7 and keep aerating. With a TA of 310, the pH should climb pretty quick. Don't worry about Calcium Hardness in your vinyl pool.
I wasn't clear. When I wrote "... push it back down ...", I meant with Muriatic Acid. Be sure to read Using Muriatic Acid to Safely Lower Your Pool's pH first.
Thank you for the reply.
Do I want to be messing around with chlorine at all during this time, or does balancing come first?
Absolutely!
Do you have a K-2006? If not, order one - you'll be -much- happier with it than without.
Maintain FC levels appropriate for your CYA level as per Ben's Best Guess Chart. If you don't, you'll have to clean up a swamp. It's a good idea to read through The BBB Method of Swimming Pool Care if you haven't yet.
Yes, I have the 2006 kit.
Thanks for the replies.
I don't want a swamp. :)
me neither.:) . . . is that spelled right?
Well I filled the pool 5 days ago, and I've successfully gone from TA = 300+ to TA = 100 and pH of 7.4 as of tonight. It required gradually adding 3 1/2 gallons of muriatic acid and aerating 24-7 for 5 days straight. But I'm there.
Does TA change a whole lot week-to-week, or should it be pretty stable now?
Congrats, sounds like your fill and startup went well.
TA shouldn't move a whole lot but what's "normal" will be uniquely "normal" for your pool. Keep an eye on TA and pH stability for a while to get a feel for what's normal for your pool. A TA about 80 may be ideal for bleach chlorinated pools but if pH stays stable, 100 should be just fine.
Here is graphical data of my weeks activity.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps630a61c9.jpg
Nice recordkeeping! What kind of chlorine are you adding? How did you add the CYA?
Chlorine and CYA are just HTH from Wal Mart. Granular versions of both.
I'm a bit uncertain about the CYA, because I added 2 lbs and the test still says ZERO.
So I'm not quite sure I've got that dialed in.
I didn't exactly answer your question.. I've added both to the skimmer, slowly pouring it in.
CYA can take a long time to dissolve - don't bother testing for 4-5 days after adding granular CYA.
There are a couple types of powder chlorine - most likely Dichlor or Cal-hypo. Dichlor adds CYA, Cal-hypo doesn't. Either is OK right now as you need CYA but it's good to know what to expect. Which do you have?
Thanks for the heads-up about CYA - I would have probably added more too soon if you hadn't told me that. :)
I put in 47% cal-hypo. This: http://www.walmart.com/ip/HTH-Chlori...nules/17043619
So far, the water is sparkling clear.
Thank you for your help in my start up.
It's only 45 deg here, what crap...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps4edb361c.jpg