Test results on new pool in Tucson

[Wilco]

Good help, thx. Tested with kit (Taylor) after gallon of bleach last night and borax the day before. Now at 7.4-7.6 and cl is 5 ppm on Taylor, although correlates at 1-2 ppm on strip. Think I'm ok for a bit, but will get oto kit for use as well.

[PoolDoc]

If chlorine levels hold overnight, but disappear during the day . . . your CYA is low. If your CYA testing is not indicating this, please watch the CYA test videos linked from the testkit page: http://pool9.net/tk/

[Wilco]

My cya has consistently tested high, like 100. That is consistent with the history of previous owners using trichlor tabs exclusively. I thinkits more a product of the super hard water here not allowing chlorine to stay free. (?)

[CarlD]

No, it's a product of using TriChlor tablets that release 6ppm of CYA for every 10ppm of chlorine. That's why your CYA always tests high. Nothing to do with hard water at all.

[Wilco]

Ok, but the tabs aren't keeping the cl level up at all. So I quit and went with Bbb method. ( although haven't added the third b yet, not sur when to. TA stays about 80.

[FormerBromineUser]

Please: Read all you can here http://http://poolsolutions.com/gd/t...pool-care.html
Then, throw away the test strips, hide the Tri-Chlor pucks somewhere cool, and then follow PoolDoc's advice. Keep your FC over at least 8 until you KNOW your CYA level for sure.

[PoolDoc]

+ As far as I know, hardness has NO effect on chlorine levels . . . or loss.

+ Trichlor will maintain chlorine levels just fine . . . IF you dissolve it. But undissolved trichlor has NO effect on chlorine levels. Also, I believe some 'diluted' trichlor tabs are now being sold.

+ Fully dissolving TWO complete tabs of 89% chlorine trichlor tabs is approximately equivalent to adding 1 gallon of 8% bleach, except that the tabs ALSO add CYA and acidity.

[CarlD]

Ok, but the tabs aren't keeping the cl level up at all. So I quit and went with Bbb method. ( although haven't added the third b yet, not sur when to. TA stays about 80.

The BBB method is a method, a philosophy, if you will, of only adding what you need, knowing what you need because you test regularly, and not being taken in by pool chem companies' flashy names so they can charge 3x as much for baking soda or washing soda, or "cocktails" of combinations of chemicals which are more a problem. It's not a rigid system--just the opposite. But you don't add stuff "just in case".

I use Tri-Chlor tabs from time to time--usually in the spring in a floater or two when my CYA is low. I also use Liquid Chlorine instead of bleach because....when I do the math, for me it's cheaper. LC is merely stronger bleach anyway. Mostly though, I use my SWCG for chlorine.
Borax is one of 3 ways to raise pH. But it's generally the preferred way.
Baking Soda is when you need to raise TA. I, and others, have found that TA is only a concern when something else is happening. So if your pH is trending down all the time (and it's not from constant Tri-chlor tablet acidity) raising TA can slow it. A constantly rising pH can be slowed by a lower TA, etc.

[Wilco]

So what do you mean by saying that the trichlor may not be dissolving? I was putting 4 pucks in the floater and they would last a week or so, but I had to add 2 bags do shock in order to notice any testable cl levels. And, as you said, my ph was staying low. Better now using bleach and regular testing. Would using the pucks be am option say if I were going on vacation for a week?