New To It All

[heymom1]

May I very respectfully request that when the "old-timers" answer a question by a new pool owner, that you spell out the abbreviations and explain what they are in brief, so as not to confuse? At first, all the chemicals are overwhelming and we don't know what you mean by CYA and Alk (I know now, but didn't have much of a clue right after our pool was filled). If you could remember how steep a learning curve all this is, it would be very nice to see things a little simpler.

Thanks a lot, and I say this with all respect to those of you who take all this time to answer our questions!

Heymom

[mwsmith2]

Hmm. Maybe we should have a FAQ page to refer the new folks to. In lieu of that:

Alk = alkalinity
CYA = cyanuric acid
SWC = salt water chlorinator
Cl = Chlorine
Ca = Calcium

Michael

[CarlD]

Hmm. Maybe we should have a FAQ page to refer the new folks to. In lieu of that:

Alk = alkalinity
CYA = cyanuric acid
SWC = salt water chlorinator
Cl = Chlorine
Ca = Calcium

Michael

pH is pH--same as high school chemistry.
Alk is also called variously: TA, T/A, and Total Alkalinity, and very rarely pH buffering.
CYA is also called either: Stabilizer or Conditioner
Cl is chlorine, but FC is Free Chlorine (the good stuff), CC is Combined Chloramines or Combined Chlorine (the bad stuff) and TC is Total chlorine, equal to FC + CC.
Ca can also be called CH (for calcium hardness) or just Hardness.

Michael and I do disagree (respectfully, of course) on how often to test. It takes me 2 minutes to run the OTO kit chlorine and pH tests, so I do it everyday. It's not that he's wrong, per se, it's that I'm more conservative when it comes to pool care and see daily testing as lower risk. That doesn't mean I don't cheat and skip a day everynow and then (mea culpa!), but only when everything has been stable for a while.

I believe Michael would agree with me that if, for some reason, things with your water seem iffy, and you aren't certain, more testing is necessary.

IF you have an SWG, then I must completely defer to Michael on that. I don't have one and only know a little about them. If you have to mess with it everyday, what's the point? It's a lot cheaper to just add bleach. But if your SWG allows "set and forget" for a week at a time, I can definitely see its attraction.

[mwsmith2]

I believe Michael would agree with me that if, for some reason, things with your water seem iffy, and you aren't certain, more testing is necessary.

Absolutely, without a doubt. When adding chemicals or setting the SWC, I will test on a daily basis. (!) Once everything settles down, I go back to the aforementioned schedule.

But if your SWG allows "set and forget" for a week at a time, I can definitely see its attraction.

It definitey is; It's very repeatable. Once I get to my normal 9hr summer pumping schedule, I set it to 40% output and I'm done. Once a week, I add 32oz of acid and that's about it. It's such a boon to me especially when my work schedule picks up and I don't get home early enough to fiddle with the pool.

Ok, 'nuff of that, back on topic!

Michael