My first pool, and first time to test

[oedo808]

Hello, I just purchased a house with a concrete pool. It's a little odd shaped kind of kidney shaped but not quite with a hot tub that overflows to the pool. The seller's tell me it's a 15000 gallon pool. I ordered a k-2006 kit and tested today.
.6 ppm of free chlorine
.2 ppm combined chlorine
7.8 pH and acid demand test took 2 drops to lower it to just above 7.4. I think it's supposed to be between 7.4-7.6 but I guess maybe it can be a little high and be fine? I'm going to research an article I saw here about running the pH higher and see if that works for me.
900 ppm total alkalinity which seems crazy high to me. The little sheet I got from the pool says it should be between 80-120 which I think is probably accurate.. After freaking out I checked it on the other side of the pool and got a reading of 100 but I only tested at 10ml with reduced drops because I was expecting much higher amount.
Calcium hardness is 250ppm which I think is okay for concrete chlorine pool.

[CarlD]

You're on the right track.
Test FC and CC with the 10ml line, not the 25ml line. Each drop of R-0871 will be .5, not .2 of FC/CC. Your reagent will last longer and there is no significant increase in accuracy for using 25ml.
Don't bother with the acid demand or base demand test. pH is enough.
You've done something wrong with the TA test. 1) fill to 25ml 2) Add two drops of R-0007 and swirl 3) Add 5 drops of R-0008 and swirl till it's green 4) add one drop of R-0009 and swirl. Keep adding drops till the solution changes color, counting drops. Each drop is 10ppm. So 10 drops is 100ppm.
CH is fine.
Where's your CYA/Stabilizer test? It's the hardest to run but very important. You can pour the mixture back into the squeeze bottle and then pour it into the black dot tube again. You can do this repeatedly without actually needing to get fresh pool water and R-0013.

[oedo808]

Thanks! I'll re run the TA and get the CYA test this evening.

[oedo808]

I added a half gallon of bleach on Tuesday evening but it was too dark to test. I was able to test today though including my CYA

FC 0.6 ppm
CC 0.2 ppm
pH is up a bit around 8 this time
TA 100 ppm
CH 375 ppm
CYA 80

I'm going to add about a half gallon of bleach now because we may actually use the pool today due to the warm weather and then more tomorrow for shock. I'm not sure if I need to be concerned with the pH level or not but it doesn't seem high enough to cause damage though.

[CarlD]

OK. First, looks like you are still using the 25ml line to test FC and CC rather than the 10ml line. Stop, or you'll run out of chemical really fast (the brown bottle).

I would add Muriatic Acid to get your pH down at least into the mid 7's. As it's a new pool you may well see pH rise for a few weeks.

Then you'll need to add bleach to get your pool to and FC between 5 and 10. One jug of 8.25% bleach (121 ounces) should add about 5.2ppm of FC to your water. I'd add 2 jugs and test FC, then let it come down below 10ppm.

[PoolDoc]

Keep in mind the two most critical pool water values are chlorine level, and pH.

If the pH is between 7 and 8 . . . no rapid damage is occurring, so you've got time to learn more. (Higher than 8 or lower than 7, and you could be doing real damage real fast!)

If the chlorine is above 2 - 3 ppm and the pool is not green . . . you are probably OK. (There are complications that mean there are exceptions.)

The fast and easy way to be sure of these two factors is to get a CHEAP OTO / phenol red test drops kit. Test strips are NOT accurate or reliable . . . and the K2006 we recommend is complicated. So start with the OTO / phenol red, from Walmart or Amazon. The Taylor K1000, from Amazon is preferable. [http://pool9.net/k1000]

You *will* need learn the K2006. But a cheapo K1000 or other OTO kit offers an easy and reliable 'sanity check' while you are learning to use the K2006.

[oedo808]

Thanks gents! I have a Taylor k2006 and a k1000 although I haven't used the k1000 yet. I put a half gallon of bleach before I read the replies so I'll add another gallon now. I'll also run to home depot and get some muriatic acid to add to lower the pH. Any suggestions of volume of muriatic acid to start with to try to get pH to a better level? I was thinking about this http://www.homedepot.com/p/Smart-2x1...8-HD/100119310 which is 31.5% hydrochloric acid and the rest water.

Oh and I'll stop using the higher test for chlorine, thanks for the help!