eric

[Watermom]

You don't ever HAVE to. I never do. I don't think any of the other mods do either. If you maintain your chemistry, you really don't need it.

[ericorlisa]

you told me to wait 3-4 days to re-test CYA and i'm following your lead because i'm new to the pool care club. i still have much to learn and i keep reading info on this forum. what are good number ranges for Cl, PH, TA & CYA. i live in north Alabama-hot and lots of humidity and we live in the valley so we get all the pollen and crud that settles all around which is why we get plenty of head colds-sinus infectionville.

[Watermom]

Hi, Eric,

Good ranges:
cl --- depends on your CYA level. If you haven't already done so, look at the Best Guess table in my signature.
pH -- anywhere 7.2-7.8 is ok. I prefer 7.4-7.6
TA -- 80-120
CYA -- I like 40-50. One of my co-mods, Aylad (Janet), lives in Louisiana where she receives full sun all day long and very hot temps. She deliberately runs her CYA 70-80ish because it helps her keep chlorine in her pool better. If I was you, I would try 40-50 first and if you find that you cannot make it through a day without losing all FC by evening, you can always decide to bump it up some. Easier to bump it up than to remove it.

[ericorlisa]

do you suggest using stabilizer as my source for CYA or Chlorine Tablets? i have 3 lbs of walmart stabilizer on hand. how long should i wait to test CYA after installing stabilizer? i plan to check my CYA tomorrow before adding any stabilizer though.

[Watermom]

I would wait 5-7 days before testing CYA after adding it. If you already have the granular cyanuric acid, use it but not until you retest first.

[ericorlisa]

i've retested 1 hour ago: CYA 20-25 (the test tube is cloudier this time but i had to fill my taylor test kit past the 30ppm mark before the black dot would completely disappear) FC 7 ( after adding half gallon of 6% bleach and i waited 1 hr before checking) CC 0 PH 7.8 TA 100. i think i remember testing for the FC drop over night two days ago and it was 1-1.5 drop from the night before. we're ready to do whatever we need to do next. what's next? thank you so much for your help btw.

eric and lisa

[Watermom]

If it has been about a week since you added any stabilizer (CYA) so that you know it has all dissolved, then I'd add a little more to bump you up to about 40.

is 7.8 the highest reading that your pH tester can differentiate? If so, was your 7.8 a true 7.8 or was it actually even a darker red than that?

By the way, a BIG, BIG, thank you for becoming a lifetime member! That is SO awesome and we really appreciate it very much! Ben was very pleased to see that you had done so. We are very happy to have you be a part of our forum!