yitbos1

Sorry for the above recommendation. I must've forgotten that you are installing a SWG. My bad!

Your CH is fine. You have a vinyl liner, so I wouldn't bother with raising the CH. Your CYA does need to be increased, but you do not need 80. Anything over 50 is really not necessary.

Actually, I shocked to 30 ppm, waited until the FC went back to about zero and shocked to 30 ppm again. I waited until the FC went back to the 3 ppm range before I tested pH again. I can see how the pH ended up so low now, though. More Borax is in my future... I do not plan on using any stabilized chlorine products now that my CYA level is where I want it. I have a Liquidator coming soon (hopefully), but until then I will merely add bleach daily. Thanks for the quick response, Richard!

Well, I finally got around to partially draining the pool a couple of times. Let me just say that a 2" outlet submersible pump makes quick work of the job. I neglected the pool until that point so it was quite green and had debris falling in it thanks to a strategically placed honey locust tree. I now despise honey locust trees... Anyway, after the job, CYA levels were actually very low. I could still clearly see the dot at the bottom of the tube using the K-2006 kit. I wanted to super-shock the water, so I killed two birds with one stone by using dichlor to shock rather than an unstabilized chlorine. After the sun went behind the trees, I added enough to give me 30 ppm. The next morning, FC was back to near zero and CC was about 3, so I super-shocked to 30 ppm again since the morning was overcast. This afternoon, I checked to see where my CYA was, and it is now about 50. I still had about 3 ppm FC and maybe 1-2 ppm CC, but my pH is now very low. It was 7.6 before I started shocking, but now it's off the scale low. Using the base demand test, I needed to add somewhere around 20 drops to get a change in color. Are my chlorine levels mucking with the test or is my pH really that low? I used dichlor (9 lbs total in a 10,000 gal pool), so I didn't think it would affect my pH that much. At any rate, I just added 3 lbs Borax. I didn't really think things through before doing so, but I was in a bad mood to begin with. I just wanted to do something. Did I do the wrong thing? Other numbers for reference: TA - 80, CH - 80

Thanks for the info, Richard. Without you I'd be scratching my head trying to figure out what the problem is.

Tested my CYA and, sure enough, it was not at/near 0 but very high. I would have to estimate 200-300 as the level (using the Taylor K-2006) only got to about halfway to the 100 line. Looks like I am draining and refilling this weekend!

Thanks, Richard, for your reply. You seem to be the resident expert and I was hoping you would post. I actually just bought a Taylor K-2006 since I determined the reagents in the kit from the previous owner were shot. The numbers I gave were partially from that kit and partially from a Leslie's analysis earlier the same day. The CH and CYA numbers are from the latter, so they may very well be off. I will do my own CYA test this evening. Thank you so much for your info. I will post the CYA as soon as I get it.

First off, this is my first post, so if I forget something or sound like I don't know what I'm doing, I apologize... My pool (in-ground, vinyl, ~12,000 gal.) currently has very low pH (< 6.8) and cloudy water. I am currently aerating with both returns pointed upward. Actually, for whatever reason, the previous owners had made a few 90 degree angles from PVC that thread into the returns. These I used to make the returns face up above the pool surface, hence a fountain-like effect. Here are my numbers: FC - < 0.5 (it was steady at about 2, but then started dropping recently. Separate issue?) TC - 1ish pH - < 6.8 TA - 120 CH - 100 CYA - 0 Aeration has been going on for several days without much effect. Do I need to add soda ash to counteract the pH a bit first to get it to a more manageable level or just keep aerating? As for the chlorine, I use an automatic chlorinator with 3" dichlor pucks. I know this isn't ideal, but I am still trying to get my pH in line before I worry too much about the chlorinator.