New pool owner, trying to get my chemicals balanced

[Watermom]

Check chlorine and pH daily. CH doesn't need to be checked as long as your CH is low and you aren't using any products that add calcium. CYA only needs checked if you are adding CYA directly or using dichlor or trichlor. Otherwise once a month is fine. TA once every couple of weeks unless your pH starts bouncing around.

You don't have to use your K2006 daily. For those quick chlorine and pH checks, you can just use an OTO kit and then use the big kit maybe once a week.

[mitchryan912]

Check chlorine and pH daily. CH doesn't need to be checked as long as your CH is low and you aren't using any products that add calcium. CYA only needs checked if you are adding CYA directly or using dichlor or trichlor. Otherwise once a month is fine. TA once every couple of weeks unless your pH starts bouncing around.

I ran another batch of tests today, just to get some practice doing them and to see how accurate my first readings were a few days ago. I also added a few hundred gallons of water (had a leak I fixed) and 12.5% liquid chlorine last night (2 quarts) plus some liquid acid this AM (2 quarts), and got this at noon:

7.2 pH
5 ppm FC (0 CC)
100 ppm TA
45 ppm CYA

I think this sounds about right, considering the previous test.

You don't have to use your K2006 daily. For those quick chlorine and pH checks, you can just use an OTO kit and then use the big kit maybe once a week.

What do you recommend for OTO kits for chlorine accurate to around 5 ppm? The one I have only shows up to 3 ppm FC. What about phenol red that's accurate with up to 6 ppm FC? Would a K1000 work, or would it be just as good to use the K-2006 since the phenol red in that kit won't last over the winter anyway? Since we're in Wisconsin, we probably only have 2 months tops of swim time left, so a new .75 oz phenol red indicator vial should last until early October, right?

[PoolDoc]

The Taylor K1000 is available from Amazon: http://pool9.net/tk/

You can see the extended OTO range here: http://pool9.net/oto/

I wonder if that's coming from the filter?

Unless you live in a coastal area, or have a sand box for your kids / grand-kids -- it's probably coming from your filter. Vacuum it up, and see if it keeps entering the pool. If it does, you'll have to dig into your filter. But if it's not bad, I'd wait till fall.
.

[mitchryan912]

Just thought I'd post a follow up with my testing results. I feel pretty confident in how my testing is going and how much of [insert chemical here] effects various water levels. The only thing I'm not sure of is how much (if any) baking soda should I be adding, or is it something that you get right once and it's then mostly OK? Here's a little spreadsheet I've been using to track how things are going, along with some notes about weather conditions. We didn't use the pool much last week due to the "polar vortex" that dropped our nighttime lows down in the 40's.

Screen Shot 2014-07-19 at 10.10.14 PM.png

While I'm posting this, I thought I'd ask about how much effect temperature has on the chemicals and levels in a pool? From what (I think) I remember about college chemistry, higher temperatures tend to make reactions happen faster, but I'm not sure if +/- 5 degrees is enough to drastically change anything?

[PoolDoc]

Your TA is not an issue with a vinyl pool. The only reason to add more -- in your case -- is if you find the pH becoming unstable and fluctuating quite a bit.

[Watermom]

+/- 5 degrees isn't really gonna matter as far as your pool goes.

[mitchryan912]

So I'm pretty much OK, especially considering the water looks fantastic?