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I just got back from having my water tested at the local pool store and here are the numbers:
Total Alkalinity - 160
PH - 7.2
Cyanuric Acid - 100
Total Hardness - 120
Tolal Chlorine - 3
Free Chlorine - 0
Copper - .6
I had just put in some metal remover this morning. THe manager there said that could effect my cl levels. ???
So how do I lower my CYA and my ALK?
Thanks for your help.
I don't really consider 160 to be bad on the alkalinity. My fill water is over 400, so I always have around 200. Lowering CYA is done by draining water and replacing it. You need to shock that pool.
In the last week I've added over 7 gallons of liquid bleach to it. I guess need to add more! :confused:
To lower CYA, partial drain and refill is the easiest and cheapest option.
To lower Alk, Ben has a good process for that:
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=191
However, given your hardness is fairly low, 160 may not be too bad. Assuming 70 degree water, saturation index is -.5 which means slightly corrosive. If you do lower your alkalinity make sure you get your PH up. Ph balance is about 7.7 with your current numbers. At an alkalinity of 120 your PH would need to be about 7.8 for balance. You may want to bump your CH up to about 200.
Alapool / (JohnT)
I think your TC and FC is misstated. That would give you a CC of 3.0 which I have never seen before. That's why JohnT is telling you to shock.
My guess is your TC is 3 and your CC is 0 so you would not need to shock, if that's the case. In fact, probably shouldn't 'til you resolve your metal issues.
Dave S.
With a CYA of 100, once your water temp gets above 50 or 60, you're going to be fighting algae---with CYA that high, you need Cl closer to 8-10.
Janet
Quote:
Originally Posted by duraleigh
In your quote, do you mean FC instead of CC? If not what is CC?
Thanks for all the replies. This board is GREAT!:D :D :D
My pool is looking good right now with one exception. ITS GREEN!!! I put some metal remover in it yesterday morning and will probably put more this weekend. Then I am going to drain it to the level of where the water comes out (which is about 2 feet lower than what it is). While is at that level I am going to aerate it for a couple of days. And then fill it back up. Hopefully once I am done with this my CYA will be lower and my TA will be lower.
Total Chlorine(TC)=Free Chlorine(FC) + Combined Chlorine(CC)Quote:
Originally Posted by alapool
Combined chlorine levels over .5 indicate the need to shock the pool. Combined chlorine is chlorine that is "involved" with biological contaminants and is usually the cause of the chlorine smell people complain about.
You need to get some chlorine in there, and I wouldn't wait until you get the alk lowered.....if you're not careful, you're gonna end up with a swamp!
Janet
If your pool is green it's probably algae-infested already--metal remover isn't going to do anything.
With a CYA of 100, and water getting green, you need to shock your pool up to 25ppm of chlorine, IMMEDIATELY--as soon as you see this post....don't read any farther till then...
Now that you've raised your FC to 25ppm, you'll have to keep it there--check 3x/day and adjust as necessary until your pool is clear and blue.
Alapool,
Hmmmm. I'm not so sure that immediate shocking is the path to take. The problem is you may precipitate out the copper that's in your water.
Perhaps Marie or Ben will see this post and can get on board and let you know if that .6 copper is an issue. I have never had metal issues so I have no idea if that amount needs attention or not.
I notice you've been using a sequestering agent so you must think it's a problem or someone else has indicated it is.
From other metal problems I've read about on the forum, shocking may actually aggravate your situation. No doubt you've got to get the algae taken care of...I'm just not sure how to go about it.:)
Dave S.
I don't really know at what level copper is a problem but I do know that LaMotte's water testing procedures ( and their chemistry is sound and accurate, on par with Taylor's) recommends dealing with copper whenever it is above .3 ppm or (so they say) possible staining can result. Ben can probably answer this one better than me.Quote:
Originally Posted by duraleigh
When I said my pool is green I meant to say it is clear green. It doesn't appear to be any algae (well maybe some) growing. I was thinking that it was clear green because of the copper but I may be wrong. I am going to test again tomorrow.
How do I get Ben to reply to this?
Thanks everyone!
Clear green water can certainly be an indication of copper. Shocking would only possibly make the situation worse. I would try the seqestering agent according to directions--some require you to let your FC levels drop and lower your pH, some don't....also some work better than others...don't know if that is cause and effect.
If the green clears and the copper readings go down then you know you are on the right path
My question is where did the copper come from. If you put it there in the form of an algaecide then .6 ppm is not necessisarily that high. If it is coming from your fill water or pipes or heater then there is a problem. If it's coming from an ionizer...IMHO, get rid of the thing!
Before I became aware of this forum (and boy I'm glad I did) I was actually thinking about going with an ionizer. So I added an algeacide with copper in it and even last summer I added the same thing. The little bit of copper in the algaecide last year really cleared up my pool so I thought I was doing the right thing by using the same algaecide this year. So the copper came from the algaecides that I used. I also used a Pool Frog system the last 2 years.
Then I came across this great site. No more copper for my pool.:)
Thanks for your help.
Just an update...
I went back to my Pool store to have my water tested again and realized that they were using TEST STRIPS! I couldn't believe it. They use this device to read the strips which records the results. Here are their results:
pH - 6.8
Total Alk - 180
Cyanuric Acid - 100
Total Chlorine - 3
Free Chlorine - 0
I told them I didn't believe the numbers and I was surprised that they were using STRIPS. They said they agreed and then pulled out another DPD-FAS test kit to do the FC test. This time is showed my FC was 1.0.
I then purchased a DPD-FAS test kit by AquaTrend. When I got home I tested with these results:
pH - 7.8
Total Alk - 110
Cyanuric Acid - 30
Total Chlorine - 2
Free Chlorine 1
So as you can there was a HUGE difference in the results. Never depend on a test other than a DPD-FAS test!!!!
alapool,
It's funny (ok, not really ;) ) that they told you your CYA is exactly 100. My pool store uses the same test method and, since my pool was new last year, they ran a lot of tests. They always said it was 100 last year and this year the first test said 50.
Apparently they round up to the nearest 50 :rolleyes: because I used Ben's kit for the first time a few weeks ago and my CYA reading was zero. Unfortunately, I wasted a lot of bleach before I figured this out.