New Pool Owner

[Watermom]

Test the CYA with your kit. If your CYA really is 90, that is actually already too high but you don't really want it any higher. Those tabs will continue to add CYA. How many do you have left and are they wrapped or unwrapped? A better choice would be to just use plain, unscented bleach. Walmart's generic is what many of us use.

Borax is 20 Mule Team Borax --- laundry aisle at Walmart.

Get rid of the mineral cartridge. You don't want metals added to your pool.

[mchale76]

The mineral is out. If I understand you correct...I'm going to balance my pool with bleach and borax? Is the main advantage price? Ease? I am willing to try...just curious. Thanks for all your help so far!

[Watermom]

The only things I ever use in my pool are bleach and Borax. But, my pH is very stable so I seldom need Borax. I also add baking soda maybe once or twice a summer if my alk gets low and my pH starts bouncing around. The only other thing I ever use in my pool is some CYA which I add at the beginning of the summer.

The premise behind our methods here is that you have a way to test accurately and then only add the basics of what you need to use without a bunch of extra stuff that more often than not, can mess up your pool. Many pool store chemicals are blended mixes of a various assortment of things some of which are things you really don't want in your pools like copper! A lot of the cheap algaecides cause issues with foaming, so we also don't recommend them.

We know the ingredients of bleach and Borax and we know that there aren't other unwanted things in there. We also know those items are readily available and also cheaper than pool store products in most cases.

The key is having the ability to test accurately yourself which is why we push the Taylor K2006 kit as much as we do.

Do a lot of reading here on the forum and also on our sister website www.poolsolutions.com. Lots to learn there as well.

[mchale76]

What are the guidelines for using the bleach? I am finishing up the chlorine tablets that I had purchased. The mineral cartridge is out. I've got some Borax but also have not used it as my pH seems right on. Today's test:

Ch = 1-2
pH = 7.5
TA = 210ppm

Let me know about using the bleach and the borax. I did not test CYA today, but I will and report back. Thanks...

[Watermom]

You do not need to add Borax at this time but as far as adding bleach, without knowing your CYA, we cannot advise you.

[mchale76]

Used the Taylor kit:

pH 7.4
free 5
CC 1.2
TA 250
CYA test was inconclusive, as the black dot never disappeared.

Next step?

[Watermom]

You see why we don't like test strips. Back in post #3 in this thread, you reported that your CYA was 90 according to the strips. Now with your K2006 kit, you are finding that it is actually very low. If you fill the entire vial and can still see the black dot, then it means that your CYA is less than 30.

I'm kinda wondering if there might be some 'new test kit owner error' to get a CC reading of 1.2. Take a look at these testing demo videos and then try the FC and CC tests again. Your pH is fine. Alk is too high. You might want to think about lowering it some.

http://pool9.net/K2006-vid/
http://pool9.net/alk-step
http://pool9.net/muriatic/

(Remember to copy the links and paste them into a browser window after you log out.)

[PoolDoc]

. . . membership upgraded.

[mchale76]

Thanks for the upgrade...nice to see everything.

This morning's test:
pH 7.4
Free 9.5
CC .2
CYA 35

A couple days ago, I saw a link to a pool chemical calculator...but I can't seem to find it this morning. It seems that my CYA is finally going up, the dot never used to disappear. I am using the last of my chlorine tabs and then plan to go with the BBB method, but would like to have my head wrapped around the basics of it a bit more. What should I do concerning the CYA?

[PoolDoc]

I could give you the link to the pool calculator and I will if you insist, but I'd rather not. It tends to encourage people to obsess over numbers, rather than focusing on their pool.

=> Your CYA is fine.
=> Your pH is fine.
=> Your chlorine is fine, if a bit high. (Shoot for FC= 10% of your CYA level, unless there's a problem).
=> Don't keep testing CYA: it only goes up when you add some (via stabilizer granules, or dichlor and trichlor use), and it only goes down when water drains out of the pool (backwashing, leaks, but NOT evaporation!)

When testing chlorine, use the 10 ml sample size (1 drop = 0.5 ppm) rather than the 25 ml sample (1 drop = 0.2 ppm). Knowing your chlorine level to the nearest 0.5 ppm is plenty accurate, and uses less reagent.