Just got it! First Results!

[jeffnye]

We just bought a new house with a 23, 000 gallon 10 yr old gunite pool. I just received Ben's new PS234 kit today. Here are the results. Any suggetions?

FC - 11
CC - 0
TC - 5
pH 7.5
Alk - 180
Cal - 370
Cya >150

Thanks!

[Watermom]

First of all, welcome to the forum! You will love your new test kit and you will learn a lot from this forum. One thing, your chlorine readings aren't quite right. FC + CC = TC. I'm guessing that maybe your TC reading came from the quick OTO kit? If that is the case, then since that kit only goes as high as 5ppm, then your cl is actually higher.
Your ph is good, alk is a little high, but I would leave it alone as long as it doesn't go any higher. Your calcium is OK, but I wouldn't use any cal-hypo as your chlorine as it will cause your calcium to continue to climb and you may end up with cloudy water problems. The biggest concern I see is your cya greater than 150! Are you sure that is the correct reading? If so, you have two choices. One, you can do a partial drain and try and lower it. Or you can run higher than normal chlorine levels. See the following link for more about that. Either way will work - its just up to you.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365

[CarlD]

To add to Watermom:
Welcome!

Since you have a concrete pool, you'll need to consider lowering Total Alk, expecially since your Calcium is close to 400.

Follow the steps in the Alkalinity forum to lower Tot Alk--remember it's a ratcheting-down process--the aeration is to raise pH w/o raising Tot Alk.

Since your FC is 11, that should be an OK level to keep FC at with such a high CYA--you want to keep it between 8 and 15ppm for CYA levels between 100 and 200.