pool store test results

[fullhouse]

i went to leslie's this morning and had them check the pool water. this is their results
FC1.5
TC1.5
pH7.8
TA160
calcium hardness 300
CYA 0
TDS 1000
phosphates .1
copper/iron 0
i have an ag vinyl liner 10,500 gallon pool. also i am planning to add salt to it this weekend does that effect any of these other levels? Thanks for any advice or help.

[duraleigh]

If you have no CYA, you cannot hold in Cl in there for more than a few hours. You need to put in enough CYA to bring your level up to arounf 30-40ppm. Directions on container will tell you how much to add.

TDS is pretty darn high. Did you refill the pool this Spring?

[PoolDoc]

Assuming that those test results are correct, you probably ought to lower your pH to 7.2 -7.4 -- you're awfully close to levels where calcium carbonate can precipitate, clouding your pool.

Also, you do NOT want to crank up a salt system with no CYA in the water. Unless you have a massively oversized SWG, there's no way it can keep up, with the sunlight consuming your chlorine as it will with no CYA.

Of course, this assumes that the test results are correct. From what I gather from seeing Leslie's results posted here, their stores are somewhat erratic. You might want to take in a second sample, and see if they get more or less the same values the 2nd time. If they do, you'll have better reason to trust their results.

Ben
"PoolDoc"

[fullhouse]

my ph had been very low so i had been aerating the water. i quit that today so will the ph drop some just from doing that?
i added 3lbs of stabilizer last week my test kit had showed 20 on cya. i think i will take back another sample and have it rechecked. i also put almost a pound of stabilizer in yesterday to start dissolving.
We did refill pool last month. we had been using softswim and wanted to switch to chlorine and with all the problems we had been having we thought it best to drain, clean and refill pool.
we do not have an swg, just had been reading about the salt and was thinking about adding some.
should i wait until the sun moves off the pool to add more chlorine or does it matter at this point?
thanks for all the info.

[aylad]

Your pH will not drop by simply stopping the aeration--you're going to have to add either dry acid or muriatic acid to drop it.

As far as your chlorine goes, less of your chlorine will be lost to the sun if you'll wait until dusk to add it.

Janet

[Watermom]

Jan is right that the best time to add chlorine is in the evening, however, if you ever test in the middle of the day and find that you have no reading, don't wait to add it.

One other comment - with your calcium hardness at 300, no cal-hypo for your pool as it will cause the CH to continue to rise.

[fullhouse]

is cal-hypo sodium-hypochloride? or what is it? I just added one gallon of 10% sodium hypochloride super chlorinating liquid to try to raise chlorine a little. was that the wrong stuff to add?

[Watermom]

No, cal-hypo is calcium hypochlorite. Bleach is sodium hypochlorite - usually 6%. What you added was fine. It will not raise your calcium hardness level.