New Pebble - first tests

[dawndenise]

OK, so I have new test results, fresh from the pool. We actually ended up adding only about a cup of muratic acid last night. pH still is 8.2+ but I think the color is closer to 8.2 than it has ever been. When seeing how little our pH dropped, we added about 2cups this AM.

Also bought a smaller test kit from Leslie's so I could get a free chlorine reading rather than just total chlorine in my current kit. So, the new results:

pH 8.2
Cl 1.0 (free less than .5)
TA 70
Hardness (calcium carbonate) 70
Stabilizer less than 30 (30 is last mark on vial going downward, had to add the final bit of solution but it finally did make the dot disappear).

We'll HAVE to add chlorine tonight, right? TA has been drifting down 10 parts each day since fill completed.

I need a plan.

Sandy

[duraleigh]

Hi, Sandy,

Bring your pH down. Sooner rather than later. I think you'll find it will rise on it's own with that new gunite pool...maybe for a few months. I'd shoot for 7.2

That greenish cast in your water might be algae. If it looks greener tomorrow, you'll definitely need to shock. I would put in a gallon of bleach today(should get you to 4ppm) or, if you decide to shock now, 4.5 gallons should get you close to 15ppm.

Thirdly, I would get some baking soda (alkalinity up) at the grocery store and raise your Alk to about 100 or so.....15lbs is convenient (5lb bags) and should get you around 110.

Keep a close eye on your pH.....don't let it get above 7.8 and a little lower would be better.

[cwstnsko]

If you Calcium Hardness really is that low, I'd probably use Calcium Hypochlorite to chlorinate your pool for a while to get the calcium up. With your pH that high, several pounds of baking soda probably won't increase the PH much, but will bring the TA up into the ideal range. I'd use Muratic Acid to bring the PH down, but you might want to get some Calcium and Alkalinity in the water before you drop it too much

[dawndenise]

Thank you, thank you for the info. I don't want an algae problem, so I'd rather just go ahead and shock it - I actually thought one should shock any newly-filled pool anyway. If I add the bleach or calcium hypo to shock tonight, should I see that 15ppm on my morning water test? Or would it have come down by then? What level is swimmable?

Can I add everything into the water tonight? I realize I can't MIX it all up together, but can I treat the water with muriatic acid, baking soda and bleach within, say, an hour?

Thanks again for all your help.
Sandy

[duraleigh]

Hi, Sandy,

Spread it out some. I don't think there is a hard rule about time between chemicals but it makes sense to let one get into the sytem, then, the other.

Get your pH down with the acid. Maybe let it circulate a half hour or so and then put in the Cl. Wait maybe another 30 minutes and do the baking soda.

cwstnsko makes a good point about Cal hypo...both to shock and chlorinate. Because you need calcium anyway (which I overlooked) that would be my Cl of choice. Dosage should be on the container.

If that is algae in your water, don't be surprised if most or all of your Cl is gone tomorrow AM. Keep the Cl at shock value 'til the water clears.

[dawndenise]

Thanks again for the info. I just got home from getting bleach and baking soda. I'll use that handy bleach calc, as I need to adjust your 4.5 gallon recommendation a bit since I was able to get 6% bleach rather than the 5.25%. Also came in 182 oz jugs. Anything to make it more difficult, right?

Also noticed at Sam's (where the bleach was) that the Clorox Ultra is a 6% solution and the "regular" bleach packaged the same way in 3-jug boxes, was also 6%. Ingredients on the labels on both kinds were identical - same price. Had I picked up the "regular" bleach without reading the ingredients, I might have put in more chlorine than I wanted.

We'll do some work tonight and see what the tests show tomorrow.

Sandy

[dawndenise]

Re-read your post about the calcium hypo. We'll probably shock with bleach and then try the calcium hypo as more of an ongoing chlorination with frequent testing of that calcium level.

Sandy