Total rookie dedicated to learn

[Watermom]

Just adding my welcome to you as well!

[Tymeborn]

Hi again,

I've finally got my K-1720, Taylor's "Pool Stabilizer Pool Water Test Kit for Cyanuric Acid", and did my first test this morning. Now I understand why the professionals said the pool was overstabilized. I get a reading above 100ppm, which is the upper level this kit can measure. I completely lose the black dot in the white cloud and there is still a good amount of height to reach 100ppm line.

I've also got a Taylor kit that can measure high Chlorine levels, K-1515-A as was suggested by aylad. I've been measuring with it for the last week. I moved down from FC 13.5ppm slowly down to 11.5ppm, by disconnecting the salt water system all together. But now I'm thinking with the Cyanuric Acid level this high, maybe I need FC to be this high?

BTW, 110ppm total alkanity is my incoming water supply. My TA used to be 170ppm, and by aerating I got it down to 120ppm, I'm no longer doing it, it's not gonna change any more given my incoming level.

Unfortunately, I still don't have anything to measure calcium hardness alone. Given that I have 3 kits now (basic Taylor for FC/CC, pH, alkanity + K-1515-A for high FC/CC, and K-1720 for Cyanuric Acid) I'm hesitant to get K-2006. Is there something simpler I can buy just for calcium hardness level? Is that really necessary? My wife is already making comments about the increasing number of little blue boxes in the house .

Also, it is important to say that the water is crystal clear now that the pop-ups are working. I've changed the ones on the stairs with ones that have small nozzle openings, that seemed to fix the problem.

So here are my latest readings from this morning:
FC 11.5ppm
CC 0ppm
pH 7.4
TA 120ppm
Cyanuric Acid >100ppm

Here are my questions:
1) What does this very high cyanuric acid level mean? Does that mean I need to keep my FC also at these high levels? Or does that mean I need to replace the water as the professionals suggested?
2) Do I need a calcium hardness kit? If so, which one would you recommended?
3) Although my FC went down slowly, my CC never moved (always 0), where did the FC go?
4) How can I tell what kind of pool I have? It looks like a pebble pool from the pictures I've seen, but is there any other way to tell?

Thank you for the great support you are providing.

[aylad]

You can dilute a sample of your pool water 1:1 with distilled water, and re-test your CYA with that, and just multiply your result x 2 to get a ballpark CYA number. Once you have that, you have two options..1) is to drain and refill some water to lower that CYA level (although with a SWCG, most of them call for it to be around 80 ppm, so check your owner's manual before making that call), or 2) just run a high CYA/high chlorine pool. If you'll take a look at the info here, it will explain more and give you the chlorine levels you'll need to expect to run with a high CYA pool http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/forumdi...ting-Chemicals. If you can't follow the link, then log out, go to the main forum page, and look for the subforum called "Using chlorine and chlorinating chemicals". Then click on the 2nd sticky called "Best Guess Chlorine Chart". Personally, I run a high CYA pool on purpose. In my climate, with full sun, I find that I use much less chlorine if I keep the pool highly stabilized. The pool people will tell you that you can't do that, that at some point your stabilizer "won't work" and you'll have "chlorine lock", but I've been doing it with no problems for 11 years now, so I know better. The best guess chart will explain more.

Your calcium hardness level may or may not be important, depending on what kind of pool you have. If you have plaster, concrete, gunite, etc, that uses plaster or concrete in the mix, then it is crucial to know your calcium levels so that the water doesn't leach the calcium out of your decking. However, you may be able to just get the pool store to test that for you, if you're not using any calcium-based form of chlorine like cal-hypo. (Just be prepared for them to try to sell you a list of stuff--just resist, smile, and tell them that you have it all at home.). If you can take pics of your pool and upload them to flickr, photobucket, or one of those picture hosting websites, you can post a link to the pics here and maybe somebody here on the forum can help you identify what type of pool you have.

So... I've already covered #1, #2, and #4. To address #3, your FC was degraded by sunlight and/or gunk in the pool. Although stabilizer is in the pool water to protect the chlorine from degrading in the sun, it doesn't completely stop it, so you'll still have some slow reduction in FC. If you have goo in the pool, that will also contribute to the reduction in FC.