First time PS234 results...

[duraleigh]

Alex,

Have you read the stickies at the top of each forum? They will give you guideline numbers for "normal" ranges.

Try 2 lbs of Borax if you wish to raise your pH. Judge subsequent dosage from the amount your pH moves up.

The majority (probably) of folks on the forum don't use any algaecide. That's an individual choice.

Final thought....without sanitizer in your pool, algae and bacteria formation may become a real issue. Stabilizer and maintaining a higher chlorine residual will almost surely prevent that.

[brent.roberts]

stop putting expensive stuff in the hole with water that you don't need and you'll be able to afford the auto chlorinator sooner.
You should be able to do it for a lot less than 2K as well. I just put in a new AutoPilot that was about $ 1100. Easy to self install.

Basically if you get the CYA, PH and CL levels correct you don't need algecide untill you close in the fall, and don't need to shock unless you have something unusual, like a lot of little kids peeing, a deluge, a lot of leaves etc. And the new test kit will tell you that the CC levels are up and you need to shock.

A well run pool could go through a full season without a shock, except maybe when you open in the spring.

The pool stores want to tell you you need to shock so you'll buy something... anything.

[alexnco]

Thank you for your replies.

Alex in OK

[MBeardsley]

Hey Alex! Sounds like we may have used the same pool store. Yes I am from Oklahoma as well. I have been using wipe out shock as well as crystal clear shock, did you have any problems when switching to BBB method. We are a new pool owners and not by any means chemists! We want to convert and have been using cooper based algaecide as well, and just not sure if this will create any problems. Of course the pool store does not advise this, but at this point I find we are putting a lot more money into it than we should have to. Any advise or comments you have would be great! Thanks-Michelle

[aylad]

MBeardsley

Yes, copper levels in the water do create a problem--I would strongly encourage you to go to the "metals" forum, and read everything you can there, especially posts written by mbar (Marie) on how to deal with water that contains metals without staining your pool.

Janet

[mbar]

If you have been using a copper based product, you should put in a sequestering agent before you raise your chlorine levels. This will bind with the copper in the water and hold it in suspension, so that the high chlorine levels don't make it precipitate out onto the pool's surface. High chlorine along with high ph and no sequesterant will let any metal in the water precipitate.

[alexnco]

Michelle,
I used their own Pure n Blue branded "Metal Remover" (from the original kit) before I got too far into the BBB. It seems to have worked well, no rust or copper stains and my copper tests show zero. (And to be honest, after my whining, they agreed that copper seemed not to be working for my pool!)
The copper thing seemed "ok" for a while last year, but totally crashed last summer after the ambient temp. went above 92. All in all, it was pretty expensive, and still required chlorine, frequent shocking and (after all) needed additional algeacide.
Duh! I should've done a bit more homework first!
Interesting aside:
I also submitted my water to that company (1) and another one just north of them up I-35 (2) and here are the results (compare them to my "First time PS234 results"):

First time PS234:
FC<1, CC=0, TC=1, pH=6.8, Alk=100, Cal=80, Cya=0, Temp=82.5

(1):
FC=0.45, CC=??, TC=-0.1 (), pH=6.8, Cal=60, Alk=110, Cya=5, Iron=0.17 (their printer wasn't working -again- so they missed the actual CC)

(2):
FC= 0.48, CC=0.05, TC= 0.53, pH=7.12, Cal=116, Alk=133, Cya=15, Copper=0, Iron=0

Although I've never added cya or anything with cya, they both show cyanuric acid in my water!
Additionally, (1) wanted me to add muriatic acid to lower Alk and then add Cl. Why lower Alk? And (2) told me things looked pretty good, just to add Cl.

My new PS234 test results this weekend: FC= 0.5, CC=0.5, TC=1, pH=7.4, Alk=100, Cal=70, CYA=0, Salt=400, Temp=86
After the test, I added 9 lbs cya, 4 lbs borax, 120 lbs salt and will retest on Sunday.