Should I Get a UV unit for My Pool

[PoolDoc]

Do the metals test first -- the problem may not be as severe as you fear.

Re the 2nd pool: keep in mind I'm talking about a small pool, 15' round or so, that can be hidden somewhere. You can transfer treated / floc-ced / settled water from the little pool to the big pool via a small sump pump and a 100' water hose! But, hopefully that won't be needed.

[norman00]

Duly noted but I don't think a second pool is in my future. I will struggle with one. Will do the metals test this weekend.
I went to the house today and the water does not seem to be dropping just based on a mark I made 24 hours earlier, so that's not much of a concern. The pH is down to 7.0 so maybe I should add some Borax? That's a question. FC is down to 27, CC is 0 and the CYA is still well over 100. But the water looks really nice and clean. Temp of the water is about 84 degrees. We finally are cleared to close this Friday so I will have daily access this weekend. Looking forward to the first swim since it was 90 today. Thanks.

[PoolDoc]

Yes, add borax when your pH is low.

BUT, with FC=27, you need to retest your pH using a 1:1 dilution of your pool water with distilled water (gallon jug from Walmart; NOT 'bottled', 'artesian', 'spring' water: DISTILLED). Adding distilled water to your pool water will not change the pH noticeably, but will dilute the chlorine. Very high chlorine levels can convert the phenol red into another indicator, with different colors, leading to invalid results.

[norman00]

Finally, we own it. Won't move in for a couple weeks but it's on my shoulders now. Added Borax the other day and the retest of the pH produced a 7.6 and I did the distilled water dilution. Got the first swim in today, check. Water looks good but the chlorine count is still high. I might need to back off the chlorinator even more. Here's the big news of sorts. A guy tested my water straight from the well and he said the hardness was not crazy at 27, but he said there's lots of iron at 3.5. No time to do the bucket test yet since I'm redoing the kitchen. Thanks for all the input.

[norman00]

An update and a thank you. It's now June 2015 and my pool is amazing, in large part due to what I continue to learn here. So, thanks for that. When we opened the pool this year the water was down and I feared a leak. I was thinking it was leaking last year but my lack of knowledge held me back. Paid a company to go in the unheated (62 degrees) water in May and they found the leak at the underwater light fixture. A common problem I discovered. I am now losing about an 1/8-inch of water per day to evaporation and occasional splash. We've had so much rain this spring I actually need to drain some water to stay below the top of the skimmers. Realized a heater was essential and had one installed a few weeks ago. Only used it a few times but it works great and I haven't even used it enough to see a blip on the gas bill. Very happy so far. This is getting long because I think new owners might learn like I did. My auto chlorinator has been empty and I'm running only on the BBB method. Very happy with that too. Numbers just yesterday after getting another 1/2 inch of rain (1/2 inch rise in the pool) were FC 6, CC 0, PH 7.7, and CYA a week ago was tested at 80, which is down from last year when I used trichlor tabs. Numbers are very stable and predictable so far so I guess I'm lucky. Chlorine drop is slow with light use. I cover most of the surface with those solar rings the previous owner left me. I've added an inflatable alligator and turtle and the ducks have not landed in it in the 3 weeks since. Water quality is great. I love my pool. Thanks again for all the helpful insight.

[FormerBromineUser]

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Yay! Great post!!!

Just a thought... Since your CYA is towards the high end of the CYA range, you might want to consider raising your FC minimum to the corresponding higher end of the FC range. http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/best...e-chart.html#a

[norman00]

Thanks FBU. I agree with you on the staying on the higher end and normally do. But the rains have been heavy for three days (lowering my FC) and my grandkids were coming that day so I figured I'd add a gallon of bleach after we swam. Appreciate the input.