Chem log, to see....

[Charlie_R]

Thank you!

Results from this evening's tests:

Chlorine...................3 added 1/4 c bleach
pH..........................7.2 holding steady
TA..........................firm 210
TH..........................240 probable testing error?
CYA.........................70-80 depends on who was looking at the black dot.

By these results, I should be running chlorine about 5-7? or should that be higher?

Can't wait to be able to order the good kit.......

Daughter wants to put a "preventative" dose of HTH Algae Guard in the pool, I'm having trouble convincing her that it is not only not needed, but definitely unwanted. She's thinking that we are supposed to need that crap all the time, since the former owner seemed to always need it.

I can't thank you guys here enough for showing how uncomplicated pool chemistry can be, if you really want to learn instead of blindly following pool chem sales experts. They really are experts, at removing money from your wallet!

Thanks ALL!

Charlie

[Watermom]

I was trying to figure out why your CYA result was so much higher than your last test so I re-scanned this thread. I missed it before where you said you were going to continue using all of your 4 lb.container of CYA. You don't want to do that. It will make your CYA level too high. Don't add any more. Your CYA is already a little high. To compensate for it, you'll need to keep your chlorine between 5-10 ALL the time. (If you haven't already done so, please read the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature below.)

Do NOT let your daughter add that algaecide. It will most likely cause your pool to become a foamy mess. That is a pretty common side effect of a lot of the algaecides. The best algaecide is just to maintain proper chlorine levels.

[Charlie_R]

Thanks! I quit adding the CYA, Saturday morning was the last I put in, when I noticed that I didn't lose but about 1ppm chlorine overnight. still have about 1/4 bottle. I expect it will slowly come down with the addition of make-up water, and rainfall. Yes, I'll be using the best guess charts for chlorination. Thanks for the heads up.

As for the algaecide, I'm getting rid of the bottle tomorrow morning before she gets up in the morning. That and several other HTH bottles, like the clarifier that did anything but last year, when the pool was in the neighbor's yard. We were trying to help with the maintenance then, but the owner's sister wouldn't believe anyone but the salesman at a semi local pool store. Kept telling her to buy all sorts of junk without ever having had a sample to test on. Can you say replace filter carts every hour for 4 days, and still have white gunk floating in the water?

This is the reason I started searching for more info, and found you folks. Sure am glad I did! I surely didn't want to make the same mistakes they did last year! I'll probably make enough of my own!

Charlie

[Charlie_R]

Question for the more knowledgeable folks here.

I've put in about a gallon and a half of muriatic acid over the past several days, and can't seem to keep the pH down to 7.2 or below, yet the TA doesn't seem to be dropping that much yet. TA appears to want to hover for a while at the high levels, even with the spray rig I made. I realize the instructions said it will take a while, but shouldn't I have been seeing a more pronounced drop already? I'll test again tonight, and see where it is.

[BigDave]

I looked over the thread and it seems that your TA has dropped from 250 to 210. That's almost 20%, sounds prettty good to me. The pH goes up because you are aerating (and have plenty of TA). The pH drops when you add acid (kinda the definition). TA also drops when you add acid. If you want to see it: aerate 'till your pH is about 8.0, measure TA, add acid to drop pH to about 7.0, let it mix for a couple hours, measure TA.

[Charlie_R]

Thanks, BigDave.

I guess I just got a little impatient this afternoon, after having added yet another 1/4c of acid. This evening's test of TA did actually show a drop to 180, but still in the error range from the last test. May be a "can't see the forest for the trees" type of blindness. Thanks for the reminder of where I had come from. Maybe I should have started a spreadsheet to record all my test results?

Now if I could just figure out how to get the calcium down....Or am I OK with that at 250? Not sure what the saturation point would be where I would start to see scale on the ladder etc. I do note that there is some scale on the ladder legs at the waterline, from previous years use. I don't think it is from this fill.

Charlie

[BigDave]

Your pH rise will slow down as the TA gets lower and, I presume, you'll stop aerating when you get to your TA goal which will also slow pH rise (it's why your aerating). Remember, you're in the process of reducing TA - adding acid as often as you are is not a permanent state.

Calcium Hardness at 250 shouldn't be a problem, just avoid chlorinating with cal-hypo.