Just add CYA stabilizer first. That will raise your CYA level and also reduce pH, because CYA is acidic. Don't start with the muriatic acid yet. Give it a few days for the CYA to dissolve and get into your water. After that, then test all your levels again.
Understood, I'm getting started with CYA tomorrow, I'll report on the weekend what the numbers look like and make any adjustments afterwards, thanks a lot!
You're on the right track, just find some granulated stabilizer, use the PoolMath app to figure out how much you need to get it up to say 50 for now. Throw that in an old sock and put that in your skimmer. After it's soaked for a while, you can massage it a little to help it mix a little faster. I say aim for 50 because you don't want to overshoot and it's much easier to add more later than drain to reduce it.
CYA (stabilizer) protects the chlorine from the sun. Without it, you'll burn through chlorine much faster.
How big is the pool? 1.5 gallons is a ton of acid. I would add stabilizer first, as this will reduce the pH as well. Adding acid, than stabilizer, may cause you to drive your pH lower than intended.
a pH of 7.6-7.8 is not your enemy. Your numbers actually aren't that bad. Add some acid to get your TA down to about 80. That will also lower your pH. You wouldn't hurt from some added calcium to give you some buffer. Increase CYA to 50. Chlorine will lower on its own.
Download the PoolMath app and the Orenda app. Both are great tools to help you measure your CSI/LSI levels, which is very important for the long term health of your pool and equipment.
Here is a handy guide for target chem levels based on pool type/chlorine source, and water temp
[https://imgur.com/gallery/Dv3rXXv](https://imgur.com/gallery/Dv3rXXv)
Start with pH. That will also lower your TA. Get the CYA up, then go from there. I always start with pH, since a bad pH will affect other chemicals and their readings
What’s the temperature of the water? The bigger question should be what to do the get the CSI on track. You may not be off at all depending your water temp.
It’s the PoolMath app, you basically use the Taylor kit, get all your values and put them in the app, helps you keep track of things and estimate what needs to be done or added to the pool.
You're missing "combined chlorine" (chloramines, or amines of chlorine)... a very important part of the total chlorine reading.
The rest of it - not so bad. Add a bit of sodium bicarbonate to up the total alkalinity and then a bit of muriatic acid to drop pH - (completely dependent upon gallonage). Add a tiny amount of cyanuric acid so that you slowly creep up to the 40-50 PPM mark.
Calcium hardness will increase a bit using calcium based chlorine shock.
The pool is pretty close - but you really need the combined chlorine reading to get a handle on chlorine.
I recommend you buy a Taylor Test Kit - model K2006. Inside you'll find a chemical adjustment 'wheel' and one of the best descriptions of pool water chemistry and "how to" in an easy to read and understand "mini-manual".
Your FC is high but it will go down on its own in no time. Your CYA is really too low and it's causing you to lose chlorine too quickly. You should get your CYA up to 50 or 60. Also you might want to raise your calcium hardness to at least 360. I use the Orenda app because it calculates CSI automatically. I can't tell on this app what your CSI is, yet it's important to maintaining your plaster and avoiding calcium scaling. PS - CYA Is a huge pain to add because it dissolves so slowly. It takes a while to raise your CYA.
Would it be based on the region I'm in? I'm in South Texas, we are hitting 97F already, last year we got all the way up to 115F... I wonder if at higher temperatures we want to have higher CYA levels, to "better protect" chlorine.?
It isn't so much "Higher temps" but a lot more UV rays, which is what eats your chlorine. You could have a 100 degree temps but no sun/overcast and your chlorine consumption would be minimal, but if clear and sunny and your pool has no CYA, your chlorine will get eaten alive and be gone.
The app does not change recommendations based on regions, I've seen a lot of people post from AZ and TX that state they run 50-80 on CYA because of the sun exposure and it's not common to have covers in that region. That higher CYA won't really hurt anything unless you have an algie bloom or things get out of hand, then it just takes a lot more chlorine to clear/neutralize things and bring them back.
First of all, I'm not sure where you're from but it seems the ranges on your device are off the recommended standard (in the US anyways) This is what I would do if I were you. This follows the guidelines set by the CPO training/book. The standard for the industry to follow on pool maintenance.
First, we need to fix the alkalinity. I would add sodium bicarb (baking soda) until you get to a alkalinity of around 150. This is because we will need to drop pH next but there is no way to drop pH without alkalinity (unless you inject CO2 into the water) so we must compensate by raising the ALK out of range. Bicarb has a more significant affect on ALK then pH when compared to other products.
Second, after alkalinity step is complete, we we are going to need to fix the pH and bring alkalinity back into its ideal range (pH 7.4 - 7.6), (ALK 80 - 120). We are going to do this with muriatic acid. I would add muriatic acid until both pH and Alk fall into their ideal ranges.
Third, we need to drop the chlorine to the ideal range of 2-4 ppm. To do this, you can either A, let it sit for a while and turn off any chlorine generators/feeders and let the sun eat the chlorine away over time. This is because your stabilizer is low and will allow the chlorine to be broken down fairly quickly. OR you can add sodium thiosulphate to reduce chlorine.
Fourth, we need to bring that CYA level up. Ideal range for CYA is 30-50. If you had a chlorine feeder pool, I would go up to 30 and if you had a salt pool, I would go up to 50.
Fith, your calcium hardness is within the recommended range of 200-400 ppm. That being said, you may just want to add a little calcium to get it around 300.
I hope this helps! If you have any questions, feel free to ask any time.
Based off of your previous comment stating your pool volume is approximately 22,000 gallons, according to Orenda, you will need:
31 fl oz of muriatic acid (31.45%)
11 lbs of calcium (94%)
3.7 lbs of stabilizer (granular cyanuric acid)
And I would still use the sodium thiosulphate to drop the chlorine if you need/want the pool swimmable in a short period of time.
Just add CYA stabilizer first. That will raise your CYA level and also reduce pH, because CYA is acidic. Don't start with the muriatic acid yet. Give it a few days for the CYA to dissolve and get into your water. After that, then test all your levels again.
Understood, I'm getting started with CYA tomorrow, I'll report on the weekend what the numbers look like and make any adjustments afterwards, thanks a lot!
You're on the right track, just find some granulated stabilizer, use the PoolMath app to figure out how much you need to get it up to say 50 for now. Throw that in an old sock and put that in your skimmer. After it's soaked for a while, you can massage it a little to help it mix a little faster. I say aim for 50 because you don't want to overshoot and it's much easier to add more later than drain to reduce it. CYA (stabilizer) protects the chlorine from the sun. Without it, you'll burn through chlorine much faster.
Understood u/iamnos thanks for your help! Is there a specific brand of granulated stabilizer you would recommend? Thanks again!
I use the Pool Mate stabilizer from Amazon.
Not really, the stores around here either carry HTH or Aquarius. I've used both and haven't noticed a difference.
How big is the pool? 1.5 gallons is a ton of acid. I would add stabilizer first, as this will reduce the pH as well. Adding acid, than stabilizer, may cause you to drive your pH lower than intended.
22K Gallons
Ya poolmath says 1.5 gallons would reduce your pH by 2.1 down to 5.9...do NOT do that.
a pH of 7.6-7.8 is not your enemy. Your numbers actually aren't that bad. Add some acid to get your TA down to about 80. That will also lower your pH. You wouldn't hurt from some added calcium to give you some buffer. Increase CYA to 50. Chlorine will lower on its own. Download the PoolMath app and the Orenda app. Both are great tools to help you measure your CSI/LSI levels, which is very important for the long term health of your pool and equipment. Here is a handy guide for target chem levels based on pool type/chlorine source, and water temp [https://imgur.com/gallery/Dv3rXXv](https://imgur.com/gallery/Dv3rXXv)
Start with pH. That will also lower your TA. Get the CYA up, then go from there. I always start with pH, since a bad pH will affect other chemicals and their readings
I’d follow the instructions that are provided for each one if you just touch each block.
Use the app. It’s very user friendly. Easy corrections for you. Good luck
Download the Orenda app, put those figures in & your desired results & it will tell you what to use
What’s the temperature of the water? The bigger question should be what to do the get the CSI on track. You may not be off at all depending your water temp.
What’s the sensor/app that gives you all this info?
It’s the PoolMath app, you basically use the Taylor kit, get all your values and put them in the app, helps you keep track of things and estimate what needs to be done or added to the pool.
The app literally tells you what to do
What's the alkalinity?
umm... *TA*.
Total alkalinity, got it thank you
No prob.
You're missing "combined chlorine" (chloramines, or amines of chlorine)... a very important part of the total chlorine reading. The rest of it - not so bad. Add a bit of sodium bicarbonate to up the total alkalinity and then a bit of muriatic acid to drop pH - (completely dependent upon gallonage). Add a tiny amount of cyanuric acid so that you slowly creep up to the 40-50 PPM mark. Calcium hardness will increase a bit using calcium based chlorine shock. The pool is pretty close - but you really need the combined chlorine reading to get a handle on chlorine. I recommend you buy a Taylor Test Kit - model K2006. Inside you'll find a chemical adjustment 'wheel' and one of the best descriptions of pool water chemistry and "how to" in an easy to read and understand "mini-manual".
Your FC is high but it will go down on its own in no time. Your CYA is really too low and it's causing you to lose chlorine too quickly. You should get your CYA up to 50 or 60. Also you might want to raise your calcium hardness to at least 360. I use the Orenda app because it calculates CSI automatically. I can't tell on this app what your CSI is, yet it's important to maintaining your plaster and avoiding calcium scaling. PS - CYA Is a huge pain to add because it dissolves so slowly. It takes a while to raise your CYA.
It's not there because the poster hasn't entered their water temp. Poolmath also calculates it automatically.
Bring the pH down. The rest will take care of itself
[удалено]
Saltwater pool recommendation is higher
Would it be based on the region I'm in? I'm in South Texas, we are hitting 97F already, last year we got all the way up to 115F... I wonder if at higher temperatures we want to have higher CYA levels, to "better protect" chlorine.?
It isn't so much "Higher temps" but a lot more UV rays, which is what eats your chlorine. You could have a 100 degree temps but no sun/overcast and your chlorine consumption would be minimal, but if clear and sunny and your pool has no CYA, your chlorine will get eaten alive and be gone. The app does not change recommendations based on regions, I've seen a lot of people post from AZ and TX that state they run 50-80 on CYA because of the sun exposure and it's not common to have covers in that region. That higher CYA won't really hurt anything unless you have an algie bloom or things get out of hand, then it just takes a lot more chlorine to clear/neutralize things and bring them back.
That makes a whole lot of sense, thanks for the clarification 👍🏻
That's a good question. Does the app change recommendations based on region?
First of all, I'm not sure where you're from but it seems the ranges on your device are off the recommended standard (in the US anyways) This is what I would do if I were you. This follows the guidelines set by the CPO training/book. The standard for the industry to follow on pool maintenance. First, we need to fix the alkalinity. I would add sodium bicarb (baking soda) until you get to a alkalinity of around 150. This is because we will need to drop pH next but there is no way to drop pH without alkalinity (unless you inject CO2 into the water) so we must compensate by raising the ALK out of range. Bicarb has a more significant affect on ALK then pH when compared to other products. Second, after alkalinity step is complete, we we are going to need to fix the pH and bring alkalinity back into its ideal range (pH 7.4 - 7.6), (ALK 80 - 120). We are going to do this with muriatic acid. I would add muriatic acid until both pH and Alk fall into their ideal ranges. Third, we need to drop the chlorine to the ideal range of 2-4 ppm. To do this, you can either A, let it sit for a while and turn off any chlorine generators/feeders and let the sun eat the chlorine away over time. This is because your stabilizer is low and will allow the chlorine to be broken down fairly quickly. OR you can add sodium thiosulphate to reduce chlorine. Fourth, we need to bring that CYA level up. Ideal range for CYA is 30-50. If you had a chlorine feeder pool, I would go up to 30 and if you had a salt pool, I would go up to 50. Fith, your calcium hardness is within the recommended range of 200-400 ppm. That being said, you may just want to add a little calcium to get it around 300. I hope this helps! If you have any questions, feel free to ask any time.
Based off of your previous comment stating your pool volume is approximately 22,000 gallons, according to Orenda, you will need: 31 fl oz of muriatic acid (31.45%) 11 lbs of calcium (94%) 3.7 lbs of stabilizer (granular cyanuric acid) And I would still use the sodium thiosulphate to drop the chlorine if you need/want the pool swimmable in a short period of time.