need help tweeking

[aylad]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!!!

First off , I'm assuming that what you call ca is actally CYA( stabilizer) as opposed to CH ( calcium). Regarding the proper level, I think most SWCG companies specify 80 or so for optimal cell life, but check your owner's manual to be sure.

Regarding the pH, chlorine levels over 10 ppm can give falsely high pH results. I would always trust my own drop-based test result over the pool store's.

Do NOT dump 2 gallons of acid in your pool to lower TA. Instead, read the " how to lower alkalinity" sticky inthe alk and calcium forum for how to lower TA without damaging your pool.

The test kit we recommend is the Taylor 2006, which is very similar to the kit Ben used to sell here. You can use the link in my sig for ordering the Taylor kit, and Poolforum will get a donation from your order.

Sorry if this seems abrupt, but I'm at work on my cell phone and I can't edit like I want. Hoping to clean this up tomorrow when I'm on my home computer. Hope it helps!!

[keastman]

oops, ya, my ca was supposed to be cya. Guess I'll be ordering the kit. Thanks for the response. I'll keep ya posted of my progress. I think I just need to keep the chlorine level up longer but without the home drop testing, it's a crap shoot. Is that Alkalinity reading of 145 a real problem or can I deal with that after I get the chlorine/algae condition under control.

Thanks Again.

[madwil]

You can definitely leave the TA alone til Cl is taken care of...
TA of 145 might not be bad, all considering; liner pools really don't care what the TA is, so unless causing water to be milky definitely worry after the algae is gone.
Getting rid of TA is just a long term exercise- adding acid to delete it is just a waste, outside of the mentioned method!
madwil

[aylad]

You're going to eventually need to lower that TA, or you're really going to have a hard time keeping your pH stable, but that's not a priority for right now. You can always deal with that later, keep the chlorine up and get the pool cleaned up first.

Janet

[keastman]

I'm also assuming, I should get to increasing the cya to the 70 range once the algae is clear. It's looking pretty clear tonight, I dumped about 1/2 gallon of chlorine in again this morning and tonight. Still there is algae dust on the bottom (hopefully dying and dead) you can see when brushed only. I brushed it after adding the chorine. The water was slightly milky before all the chlorine, and is pretty clear now, so I'm assuming the shocking is doing it and it's not related to the alkalinity level being high.

Keep the comments coming, thanks as always.

Kevin

[Watermom]

If you are not losing more than 1ppm of chlorine from sundown to sunup the next day, you can assume that you have no live algae in the pool.