Are my chemistry instructions correct?

[CarlD]

I think i got the process correct by viewing the videos. What i dont know is how to increase or lower PH, TA, CYA, and Calcium Hardness. I know with what to raise them just not the dosage.

Amounts depend on the volume of your pool.

pH--add acid to lower, Borax or Washing Soda (same as pool store pH raisers) to raise it.
TA--add baking soda to raise, or Washing Soda if you want to raise pH as well. See our ratcheting--aeration method to lower TA (lower pH with acid to around 7 or 7.1, raise pH again by aerating the water--fountain, kids splashing etc).
CYA--Raise by adding CYA. Lower by dilution--drain off water and add fresh.
CH -- Raise by adding calcium flakes or Cal-Hypo chlorine. Lower by dilution.

[consoleman]

Amounts depend on the volume of your pool.

Inst there a mathematical formula to calculate it? I'm primarily worried about chlorine and I don't fully understand Ben's best guess chart. I know I have to CYA first to find out where its at and then gage the FC to that. Why am I testing for FC and CC to add them up and get TC when the best guess chart is for FC? Why not just test for FC only?

[CarlD]

I didn't see the pool volume before. Did you add it as a sig? There is a tool called "The Bleach Calculator" that I don't use, but others do, that gives you recommended amounts.
But for chlorine, the formula is:
(1,000,000 / pool volume) * (Bleach Concentration as a decimal) * gallons of bleach = PPM of FC added. (FC means Free Chlorine)

Bleach concentration means "6%" bleach is 0.06. "12.5%" is .125

So 1,000,000 / 17600 = 56.8

56.8 * .06 * 1 (that is, one gallon of bleach) = 3.41.

That means a gallon of "Ultra Bleach" that's 6% strength will add 3.4ppm of FC to your pool.

A gallon of 12.5% will add 8.5ppm of FC in your pool.

I generally ball-park the adding Muriatic Acid (1 cup at a time), Borax and/or Baking Soda (1/4 box at a time), CYA usually is marked to indicate how many pounds of stabilizer will raise CYA a certain amount per x# of gallons.

Hope that helps

[consoleman]

Thanks!!

[Watermom]

FC + CC = TC. If you know two of the values, you can determine the third. You need to know the CC level because if it is greater than 0.5ppm, it may indicate that you have an algae bloom beginning in your water. Or, if you have recently had an algae bloom, it can indicate that you haven't totally killed it off and thus need to continue shocking the pool.

Some pools close with a CYA reading and then open to none. In this case, it means that your CYA has biodegraded and the end result is that you end up with a lot of ammonia as a byproduct. This will show up as a low FC reading and a high CC reading even though your water may look clear. If you only had an FC reading, you would not know that something was amiss..

Hope this helps.

[consoleman]

My FC is suppose to be between 8 and 15. I now have 20ppm, after letting the chlorine go down from 25 (shock) last week by not adding chlorine. Is it harmful to for my gunite pool if I have a high chlorine FC level for an extended time? I don't plan on adding anymore chlorine, I rather have it go down to 12ppm slowly rater than draining.

[Watermom]

Not a problem.