New pool owner, trying to get my chemicals balanced

[mitchryan912]

1. Get a K2006, so you can test it yourself. It actually sounds like you may be one of the very few who have found a pool store that tests water accurately . . . but the only way to know is to DIY. http://pool9.net/tk/ (Please ignore the booklet and wheel in the kit, at least till this fall!).

Working on ordering one, as NO ONE in town carries Taylor kits (one I don't frequent can get the 2006... for $99!) Yeah, I think the guy who did my first couple tests knows what he's doing, but then I went to the sales counter and was told to change the order of operations:

Test guy:
1. Shock the pool (3 gals chlorine)
2. Raise TA (15 lbs baking soda)
3. Raise CH (5 lbs CaCL2, 3 doses @ 8 hour intervals)
4. Adjust pH (1 qt muriatic acid)
5. Stabilizer (5 lbs CYA)

The sales guy's suggestion:
1. Adjust pH (3 qts muriatic acid, and I already had a gallon at home, so he didn't make an additional sale here.)
2. Shock the pool (3 gals chlorine)
3. Raise TA (15 lbs baking soda, all at once)
4. Raise CH (5 lbs CaCL2, 3 doses @ 8 hour intervals)
5. Stabilizer (5 lbs CYA)

I'm not sure what's the preferred order of operations here, as I've read conflicting things about what works? All I do know is that the store has a sheet they fill out when testing, and that the sheet says to go in the order of each item (maybe I'll scan it so you can see what I'm seeing.)

2. Transported samples of pool water may not have the same TA or pH as the same water in the pool, due to heating / cooling / aeration. See http://pool9.net/alk-step/ for an (indirect) explanation. Basically, if you want an accurate test of pH you must collect the sample in a bottle leaving ZERO head space (ie, cap it underwater) and (b) keep the sample temperature stable.

It's a 30 minute drive to this particular pool store, but I often am heading straight there after I take a sample.

3. Depending on how they tested, the testing error for CYA levels at the low end can range from plus-minus 10 ppm (K2006 with experienced user) to plus-minus 50 ppm (eye-balled test strips). I don't know your pool volume, so I don't know what your CYA should have been after you added 5# . On a 30k gal pool, 5# would add 20 ppm. BUT, it dissolves slowly. People often 'lose' it backwashing before it dissolves. This most often happens when your pump is timer operated.

I think I've gotten myself frustrated because I just bought some AquaChek yellow test strips, and was told these should get me in the ballpark but wouldn't be totally accurate. My test strip shows pH 6.8 while my cheap pH test (with phenol red) shows pH 7.6. Granted this is after adding acid and chlorine over the past 24 hours, so I don't expect either of them to be accurate, but was hoping for them being close to each other.

I have a 26,000 gallon pool, and was told to not backwash for 3 days after adding CYA. I've been backwashing, rinsing, and sending out extra water to waste (lots of rain lately) before I do any major adjustments, so I don't lose anything I've just added and so that my skimmer actually skims.

Also, I don't have a timer, so the pump runs 24/7. I don't know if this is a bad thing for anything outside our electric bill? I don't have a way of changing it to add a timer unless I revamp ALL my home's electrical paneling (I'm a former electrician, and the main panel is ancient and wired WAY out of code, much less the "sub panel" the pool pump is wired to.)

Next time, dissolve it in a sock in the skimmer OR use dichlor (9 ppm CYA for ever 10 ppm FC). (I know that doesn't add up; not going to explain while I'm behind on new users.)

. . . membership updated.

Thanks, I'll give that a shot next time.

[mitchryan912]

3. Depending on how they tested, the testing error for CYA levels at the low end can range from plus-minus 10 ppm (K2006 with experienced user) to plus-minus 50 ppm (eye-balled test strips). I don't know your pool volume, so I don't know what your CYA should have been after you added 5# . On a 30k gal pool, 5# would add 20 ppm. BUT, it dissolves slowly. People often 'lose' it backwashing before it dissolves. This most often happens when your pump is timer operated.

Next time, dissolve it in a sock in the skimmer OR use dichlor (9 ppm CYA for ever 10 ppm FC).

I just wanted to follow up on this. My store recommends dumping all 5 lbs into the skimmer, with both the skimmer and pump baskets removed while it circulates. They also warn STRONGLY not to backwash for 3 days after adding CYA. Is this something that sounds right?

If I dissolve it in a sock (a regular sock?), does this change anything with those recommendations?

EDIT: FWIW, I have a ~26k gallon pool and adding 5 lbs on Monday brought me up to 15ppm of CYA on Wednesday.

[PoolDoc]

Their recommendations are about right, if your pump runs 24/7. Otherwise, not so much.

The only reason to clean the pump / skimmer basket is to keep you from dumping stabilizer out when you clean them. If you clean the pump and skimmer basket first, on most pools they won't need cleaning again till after the CYA is fully dissolved.

On a 26k gal pool, 5# of CYA fully dissolved will give you 23 ppm of CYA, so a measured level of 15 ppm is well within the range of error.

[Watermom]

If you put it in a sock in front of a return, you don't have to worry about throwing it out when you backwash.

[mitchryan912]

I bought another 5 lbs at my last trip to the store, just to save a trip. Should I put some of this in (dissolved in a sock) to bump it up a bit, or should I save it for the inevitable rain storms that have been hitting the midwest? I was told that stabilizer should last a whole season, but with all the draining and backwashing I've had to do after storms, I'm sure I've lost a lot of it.

[PoolDoc]

When you are having to drain and backwash a lot, a sock would be better, to keep you from losing it.

A better solution for you may be to buy dichlor at Sams Club. They have a 24# pack and a 50# bucket for very good prices. Each pound of dichlor will add about 3 ppm chlorine, and about 2.5 ppm of CYA . . . and it dissolves almost instantly.

[CarlD]

I find it both sad and hilarious that a pool store wouldn't see you a K-2006 even at an inflated price. I'm guessing they want you to use one of the junkier kits and have to come them for proper readings. Inane. Like a tool store recommending you buy a bargain brand hammer rather than an Estwing. That fact that they stock the K-2006 is pretty amazing but if they stock them for the pros I'm surprised they don't stock the K-2006C instead.

Just yesterday I had to buy some CYA at a local store and the young saleswoman tried to tell me the alkalinity raiser was a "special" formulation of Baking Soda, as if it wasn't NaHCO3! "Yeah, right. I just need the CYA."