I know NOTHING! Where do I start?

[lbmoore]

And the results are in from the pool supply store. Amazingly enough, hubby said the woman was very nice and didnt try to sell him anything really. Just told him we might think about adding some stabilizer.

Hardness 225
Total Chlorine 3.9
Free Chlorine 3.9
Ph 7.9
Total Alkalinity 98
CYA (stabilizer?) 17

[aylad]

I agree with Watermom--if you haven't added any stabilizer to the water, then there is none in the water. If you've added the shock and swim though, that may be where it came from. Do yourself a favor and get a drop-based kit so that you know you have accurate numbers.

Anyway, from looking at what you have posted here, there are no reasons why you can't swim, if the water is clear....the hardness is high, so you want to avoid using cal-hypo as a chlorinating source, because high calcium in a vinyl pool can lead to milky water. Your pH is high and your stabilizer could stand to come up, so using the dichlor that you have is an okay option for now--but not until you have a way to accurately measure pH. Dichlor will raise stabilizer levels and lower pH, so you need to be testing as you use it to make sure that your pH stays above 7.0 and that your stabilizer (you're right, same as CYA) stays under 40 ppm or so.

Your alk is fine where it is. Just be aware that, as your stabilizer rises, so will the amount of chlorine you need to keep in the pool to keep it clean. See the sticky thread called "Best Guess Table" in the chlorine forum.

Janet

[CarlD]

I think you said you had HTH Super Shock and Swim #3.

If so, that's Cal-Hypo and with your calcium level you shouldn't use it. If it was Di-Chlor it would be, in this situation, a good choice. So would Tri-chlor pucks but not those "double-acting" ones laden with copper.

So you'll need to get some CYA/Stabilizer powder. You can use the Muriatic acid to lower your pH for now. I'd start with 1/4 to 1/2 cup--no more. Mix it into a 5 gallon bucket of pool water first, then add it. Safer that way.

[lbmoore]

Nope, we havnt added anything other than the Walmart brand (6%) bleach, 1/2 gallon last night and then the other half this am.

I don't know why both the pool supply company that tested our water and the test strips I have are showing cya.

The hth super shock n swim is a 1 lb bag. The active ingredient listed is calcium hypochlorite 52.0%
Other ingredients 48%

Since we have not used any of the hth products that were bought, I would rather just return them.

If I need to buy a stabilizer, I will. Then I have borax, baking soda, muriatic acid and of course bleach on hand.

[aylad]

Since the shock and swim is cal-hypo, then you'd be better off returning it and getting a small container of stabilizer (also labeled conditioner, balancer, etc...but the active ingredient is cyanuric or isocyanuric acid). Somewhere in my mind I thought you said it was dichlor--must have confused you with another poster. Sorry!

Janet

[CarlD]

No, that was me ASKING if it was Cal-Hypo or Di-Chlor, and what could be done if it was Di-Chlor. Easy mistake to make.

[lbmoore]

Thank you everyone for your input. I have to go into the city tomorrow and will get some stabilizer and a better test kit.

It was close to 90 today (pool is in full sun all day) and by tonight @ 9:30pm we are back to zero on the chlorine due to no stabilizer, am I right about that? (I hope I'm learning )

Is there any certain stabilizer that should or should not be used?

[Watermom]

It is sometimes labeled as stabilizer or maybe conditioner. Check the label. If it says cyanuric or isocyanuric acid, that is the right stuff.

If you buy a kit, make sure you get something that has a FAS-DPD test in it. If they don't have something like a Taylor K-2006, consider order it through Amazon.com at this link because by doing so, the Pool Forum will get a donation. Take a look at this link:

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=10006

[lbmoore]

Good Morning!

Here's my update:
Intex 15'x48" 4400 gallons

Bought stabilizer. According to pool store's analysis our cya was 17. So hubby added 8oz to raise 10ppm through skimmer. (Wish I had seen the sock method before hand) We decided to start here, but really not sure if that will be enough due to pool being in full sun 12-13 hours a day and temps here are around 90 everyday.

Ph continues to be 7.6 according to our new "dunk" test kit.

Chlorine continues to dissolve/evaporate. I add 1/2 gallon bleach in am and another in pm.

Here's my questions to be sure I understand right.

I will need to continue to add the bleach twice a day until stabilizer dissolves, correct?

How long will it take stabilizer to dissolve and how will I know? (by my chlorine levels starting to stay up?)

The new "dunk" kit we bought only has enough to do cya test twice. So my thoughts were to use these stress strips, I mean test strips () to monitor a CHANGE in cya, once there is a change I would say the cya has dissolved and we can use the "dunk" test or take another sample to pool store to get actual cya numbers.

Once the cya dissolves how often do you typically have to add chlorine in hot humid weather to maintain?

How often do you recommend checking the ph and cya? The bottle of cya says to test cya once a week. I've not found anything regarding the ph.

I think thats all the newbie questions I have for now.

I want to thank watermom, Carl, aylad and everyone else who has taken the time to help us. It's greatly appreciated.

[aylad]

Looks like you're on the right track. The stabilizer typically takes up to 4-5 days to dissolve and show up on testing, so I wouldn't bother to retest for it for at least 4 days. I don't remember what kind of filter you have (sand? cartridge?) but remember that the CYA that you put into the skimmer is now sitting on your filter while it dissolves. That means that if you backwash (sand) or rinse off (cartridge) you're going to rinse out the CYA you've added and you'll have to add more. So...try not to clean your filter for the next 4 days, if you can help it. If you have to, go ahead, and just add more CYA, and wait 4-5 additional days to retest for it. You are correct in that you're going to have to add chlorine at least twice a day to keep a residual in the pool, at least until your stabilizer dissolves. Once the stabilizer dissolves, you can cut that back to daily or maybe every other day because the stabilizer will protect the chlorine from the sun. Once you get your CYA up to the 30-40 ppm range, then you can fine-tune it from there. Most people keep theirs around 40-ish and it works well for them. I live in Louisiana, where it is hot and humid every day (the heat index today is 112) and my pool is in full sun all day long. I find that if I keep my CYA low, then I still can't keep chlorine in the pool even with daily additions, but I keep mine around 80-90 ppm and can add chlorine every other day. The downside to the higher CYA, though, is that I have to maintain higher base levels (Cl at 5-10 all the time, and shocking requires 20 ppm) for the same sanitation as lower chlorine levels in lower CYA pools. The difference is how fast the chlorine gets eaten up. The other problem with high CYA that many people find is that over the winter, if the pool isn't kept chlorinated, the CYA tends to be broken down by bacteria, creating a by-product of ammonia, that causes an EXTREME chlorine demand to overcome upon opening. I don't have to deal with that in my pool because my pool stays open and chlorinated all year.

So...once you get the stabilizer in the water, then it will only take a week or so of daily testing for you to get an idea of how fast the chlorine is used up, then you can make a decision on whether to raise your CYA or not then.

Regarding testing for pH, I usually check mine weekly, although mine hardly ever fluctuates more than 0.4. If yours isn't as stable, then you might want to check it daily for a week or so until you get a feel for where your pool "likes" to be. For CYA, once you get the level where you want it, then you really don't need to test more than 2-3 times per season to make sure you're maintaining it, since the only way it will lower is by splashout/refill. You can order refills for the CYA reagent--it's the same as the Taylor reagent, and can be reordered in larger quantities. I get mine at http://www.spspools-spas.com/, but have also gotten it from the Taylor Technologies website, as well. Might also check http://www.amatoind.com/.

Hope this helps!

Janet