Taylor Test Kit Results

[rfreeman]

I have been reading this forum for abut two months, and have become a believer in the BBB method! I messed around and got a couple of Wal-Mart test kits, but soon found that it could only give me one of the three CL amounts! So I finally ordered a Taylor 2600. After some initial trial and error, I think I have the system figured out. I have a 16x32 IG pool with vinyl liner. Deep end is 6ft and shallow is 3'6".

About three days ago, my pump went out and i had to wait for one to be shipped to my house. By the time I got it and installed it, the pool water was a very ripe shade of green, complete with stuff on the bottom and the ladder steps! I superchlorinated that night to about 17ppm and checked it in the morning. Much clearer, and the Kreepy Krauley got most of the stuff off the bottom. Deep end (6') was still a little cloudy. I did a test of the water and came up with these results:

FC - .4
CC - .6
TC - 1.0
PH - 8.0 (the highest reading on the kit)
I performed the Acid Demand test to dtermine how much muriatic acid to add, using the instructions that came with the kit. (I had to add two drops of reagent to change the color down to 7.4
TA - 240 (!)
CYA - less than 30

The next evening I brought chlorine up to 15ppm and added 40 oz. muriatic acid. I also added some tri-chlor pucks to the floatinf feeder. As I understand it, it will raise the CYA levels. Mine was below 30, so I didn't worry about it. Just finished the test again. Results:

FC - 8.8
CC - 0.6
TC - 9.4
PH - 8.0 (still)
4 drops added on the Acid Demand test this time to drop to 7.4
TA - 200
CYA - <30 (even after adding the pucks)
CH - tried to run the test but could not get the color to change from red to blue. It just went clear and stayed. I quit when I reached 50 drops. I may have made an error on this, and from from what I've read CH isn't as important as the others.

Tell me is I am right on this. Since I live in Louisiana and the pool is in direct sunlight all day, I will let sunlight bring down the Ch levels to about 3ppm, but the PH is still on the high side, as well as TA. I will add some more muriatic acid to bring these down and keep testing. Am I on the right track? Thanks in advance. You guys and this forum are incredible!

[Watermom]

Is your water clear now? Keep working on the ph and alk. (Read the sticky in the alk forum.) Also, the reason you didn't see any change in your cya after adding the trichlor is because it is a gradual rise and takes awhile to notice it. BTW - use cl instead of ch to represent chlorine to keep things consistent with what we use on the forum and to make sure people know you are talking about chlorine and not calcium hardness.

[rfreeman]

Yes the pool is crystal clear. I'll continue to work on getting the PH down. My apologies with not being consistent about using CL instead of Ch!

[waterbear]

The reason your pH is not moving with the acid demand test (and one of the main reasons that I think it is a worthless test for the most part) is that it makes some assumptions as to where your TA is...Yours is on the high side so the acid demand test is not going to be worthwhile to you right now. My suggestion would be to lower your TA a bit by using the procedure in this thread
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=191