CYA level and chlorine level and pool store recomendation

[CarlD]

OK, I'm going to take my stab at it: I think you should not use the tabs at all. They lower pH, and yours is low, and they raise CYA, and yours is a bit high. Stick with regular unscented bleach. 1 gallon of 6% raises 10,000 gallons of water 6ppm of FC, so figure accordingly. Save them for next year when CYA is low.

With both a low Alk and pH, another alternative is Arm&Hammer Washing Soda, in the yellow box. It will raise both and at $.80/lb, is far cheaper than the pool stores sell it for, though it's the same stuff (sodium carbonate) as their "pH Up!" and similar products.

But baking soda and Borax will work just as well.

Carl

[aylad]

Personally, I wouldn't adjust the levels in the pool based on test strip results. When you spoke about the "newly acquired kit" in your above post, was that just for CYA? Or do you have drop-based testing for evrything else too? If you're depending on the strips, I would not dose the pool based on those results. You'd do better to go with pool store results if they're using drops.

In the post above where I spoke of test kits, if you don't have drop-based testing for TA, CH, pH, Cl, etc...then the K-2006 is the one we recommend. I was under the assumption that the "newly acquired test kit" was drop-based for everything else but chlorine. In that case, then the K-1515 is what you want.

Janet

[Fishcrazy]

Janet Sorry for the confusion and I think I will take your advice and wait for the kit to arrive. I have been using test strips for my personal testing except that I did just get a CYA test kit because the test strips did not have that test included and I therefore had no way to check it other than the pool store. The results I get with the test strips are quite different from the pool store results which im sure are good quality tests. I therefore am not going to act on the test strip results and am going to get a test kit to do my own testing with. I am suspect of the pool store test results as well due to our difference in the CYA results that we show. I will post the test results as soon as I get the kit.

Carl thanks for the input. I will get some washing soda if the test numbers reveal that they are the same as posted above with a real kit. Im only confidant of the CYA number though at this point. I was relieved that my CYA tested at 35 as opposed to the 60 that the pool store told me that it was. Im somewhat surprised to hear that you feel 35 is high for CYA. What would your target level be for CYA?

[aylad]

I believe that Carl was referring to the reported CYA at 60 ppm as high--we generally recommend that people start out around 40 ppm in their pools, and only raise it from there if there is a continuing problem with chlorine consumption that is due to the sun, all other causes ruled out.

Janet

[CarlD]

Thanks, Janet. Yes I was referring to CYA=60 as high. It's not bad, you simply must compensate for it.

Carl

[Fishcrazy]

Well I recieved my test kit today and ran the following test on the pool. FC=7.5, CC=0.5, pH=6.8, TA=40.

I did not recheck the CYA and assume it to be unchanged from 35 yesterday. pH is low and Alkalinity low. Washing soda? How much? My pool is 27 round 52 inch. I have initally added algecide to the water and am wondering if I should do a periodic maintenance dose of that. If so how much and how often? Thanks

[CarlD]

Hi Fish:
1) I would add a box of washing soda, with the filter running, wait an hour, then check pH again. Your pool MAY be 6.8, but it may lower and you won't know until it's 6.9 or better. If it's still below 6.8, put in a second box. wait an hour, and test. At this point I would switch to borax instead of washing soda..your TA should be fine by then.
2) DO NOT USE THE ALGaECIDE! It will only make more problems. The ONLY algaecide we ever suggest using is called Polyquat 60%. If it says "Poly....<something unpronounceable>.... 60%" and has no other active ingredient, that's the stuff. All other algaecides cause more trouble than they are worth. If you use PolyQuat, only use about 1-2 ounces a week--that's all
3) CC=.5 means .5 or less. It should be no problem, especially if your chlorine doesn't drop much overnight. If it does, raise the chlorine up to FC=15 and it should clear it.

Carl