As a first-summer owner of a home with a pool (in-ground, vinyl, ~29k gal, SWCG, propane heater), I'd been using test strips and occasional pool store testing to evaluate my water. As I posted previously, I found that the various results were often inconsistent with one another. Then I found this forum...
The water looks great, but i was seeing high FC, pH and TA readings and low CYA from the strips, and widely varying results from the stores. I finally acquired my Taylor K-2006 (from the Amazon link) to learn what's really going on, and my initial results are in. I want to make sure my analysis is accurate and correction plan appropriate. Interestingly, of my previous testing results, the test strips most closely match the Taylor results. Here they are:
Chlorine: 27 drops in 10 ml sample -> 13.5 ppm TC; no pink with the 5 drops R-0003 means 0 CC (right?), means 13.5 ppm FCC
pH: bright purplish-pink -> 8.0+
Alkalinity: 19 drops -> 190 ppm
Ca hardness: 19 drops -> 190 ppm
CYA: filled the tube right up, could still see the black dot somewhat -> less than 30 ppm
Salt: 18 drops -> 3600 ppm
So...I have my stabilizer and my muriatic acid. I've read waterbear's post from this thread...
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...h-pH-chemistry
...and will keep it in mind, though I'm not sure I need to bring borax into the mix yet.
I've turned down the % output on my SWCG and reduced my pump runtime from 18 to 16 hours, but don't have updated results yet. I keep a solar cover on the pool at night and days when we're not swimming.
What should my next step be...stabilizer or pH/alkalinity adjustment? Can't seem to find dosage recommendations for the muriatic acid for the pH and then the alkalinity lowering process. Will return jets pointed up to the surface adequately aerate for the alkalinity adjustment?
I'm such a rookie. Any step by step advice, references to other applicable threads, or other wisdom would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Mark
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