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How's My Water Look?


cpuKEN

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My Taylor 2006 test kit arrived today. I was looking forward to its arrival but worried if I could learn how to use it before using up all my reagents. This is week 2 of our new tub, started week one with the dealer recommended water treatment but I'm going to be switching over to the Nitro method but the 1st week was the dealer method. I have a 500 gal tub with an ozonator.

Here's my Taylor kit results:

pH = 7.8

FC = 10.2

TA - 80-90 ppm (OK, I added two drops from the kit so it was either 80 or 90)

Calcium Hardness = 170 ppm

CYA = 82 ppm

-------------------------------------

MPS OK range as tested by test strip

(the one test I had a problem reading was the Calcium Hardness (partially color bland that I am)

Seems to me the CYA is way higher then Nitro calls for. I guess this was a result of adding

to much Dichlor ? Not sure what to do about it... leave it as is and just keep a higher level of free chlorine?

Suggestions, comments?

Thanks

Ken

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My Taylor 2006 test kit arrived today. I was looking forward to its arrival but worried if I could learn how to use it before using up all my reagents. This is week 2 of our new tub, started week one with the dealer recommended water treatment but I'm going to be switching over to the Nitro method but the 1st week was the dealer method. I have a 500 gal tub with an ozonator.

Here's my Taylor kit results:

pH = 7.8

FC = 10.2

TA - 80-90 ppm (OK, I added two drops from the kit so it was either 80 or 90)

Calcium Hardness = 170 ppm

CYA = 82 ppm

-------------------------------------

MPS OK range as tested by test strip

(the one test I had a problem reading was the Calcium Hardness (partially color bland that I am)

Seems to me the CYA is way higher then Nitro calls for. I guess this was a result of adding

to much Dichlor ? Not sure what to do about it... leave it as is and just keep a higher level of free chlorine?

Suggestions, comments?

Thanks

Ken

Looking pretty good, I would drop the ph to 7.5 (that's where I keep mine.)

The free chlorine is pretty high, I would shoot for more around the 2-5ppm range.

Your TA should be good if you switch to Nitro's method and add some borates....which are wonderful by the way.

Your CYA is already a bit high, most like to run it at 20-30ppm. As the CYA increases your chlorines ability to react with organics is diminished. In function this makes it necessary to have a higher Free Chlorine to do the same amount of sanitation work. You should stop using Di-Chlor immediately. for every 10ppm FC added via dichlor, you add 9ppm CYA.

As to the calcium hardness I wouldnt worry too much about that either.

Back to the PH and alkalinity, you will find that your ph will stabilize when you get the right alkalinity. If you alkalinity is too low, your PH will want to swing lower, if your alkalinity is too high you ph will tend to swing high. As you add small amounts to correct your ph it you will eventually change your alkalinity to the proper reading and your ph will functionally lock. Borates help this, and Nitro explains it much better in his water maintenance thread.

I think your TA is pretty close to where you want it so no major adjustments should be necessary.

One technique that works pretty good for adding chemicals (other than sanitizer) is to figure out the theoretical amount to be added via the pool calculator. then half that measurment and add it to your tub. come back in a half an hour, re-test, figure the theoretical amount, halve it, and add it. Do this until you hit your target measurements. This really helps avoid overshooting and yo-yo'ing.

Good luck...you are well on your way.

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My Taylor 2006 test kit arrived today. I was looking forward to its arrival but worried if I could learn how to use it before using up all my reagents. This is week 2 of our new tub, started week one with the dealer recommended water treatment but I'm going to be switching over to the Nitro method but the 1st week was the dealer method. I have a 500 gal tub with an ozonator.

Here's my Taylor kit results:

pH = 7.8

FC = 10.2

TA - 80-90 ppm (OK, I added two drops from the kit so it was either 80 or 90)

Calcium Hardness = 170 ppm

CYA = 82 ppm

-------------------------------------

MPS OK range as tested by test strip

(the one test I had a problem reading was the Calcium Hardness (partially color bland that I am)

Seems to me the CYA is way higher then Nitro calls for. I guess this was a result of adding

to much Dichlor ? Not sure what to do about it... leave it as is and just keep a higher level of free chlorine?

Suggestions, comments?

Thanks

Ken

Just for my own education in trying to understand all this, how does CYA get so high after 1-2 weeks of a new tub??

Does well water have CYA? I assume tap water doesn't?

I'm just reaching 30 CYA after 1.5 weeks of Dichlor, and my FC has been running in the 3.0 range after 24 hours, so I've been adding a little too much Dichlor to get up to the magic 30 CYA.

Switching to bleach tonight though :D

EDIT: Just thought, could the high FC content give a false CYA reading?

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My Taylor 2006 test kit arrived today. I was looking forward to its arrival but worried if I could learn how to use it before using up all my reagents. This is week 2 of our new tub, started week one with the dealer recommended water treatment but I'm going to be switching over to the Nitro method but the 1st week was the dealer method. I have a 500 gal tub with an ozonator.

Here's my Taylor kit results:

pH = 7.8

FC = 10.2

TA - 80-90 ppm (OK, I added two drops from the kit so it was either 80 or 90)

Calcium Hardness = 170 ppm

CYA = 82 ppm

-------------------------------------

MPS OK range as tested by test strip

(the one test I had a problem reading was the Calcium Hardness (partially color bland that I am)

Seems to me the CYA is way higher then Nitro calls for. I guess this was a result of adding

to much Dichlor ? Not sure what to do about it... leave it as is and just keep a higher level of free chlorine?

Suggestions, comments?

Thanks

Ken

Just for my own education in trying to understand all this, how does CYA get so high after 1-2 weeks of a new tub??

Does well water have CYA? I assume tap water doesn't?

I'm just reaching 30 CYA after 1.5 weeks of Dichlor, and my FC has been running in the 3.0 range after 24 hours, so I've been adding a little too much Dichlor to get up to the magic 30 CYA.

Switching to bleach tonight though :D

EDIT: Just thought, could the high FC content give a false CYA reading?

Your CYA is in your Dichlor. Every 10ppm FC via Dichlor adds 9ppm CYA.

Typically this takes me about two weeks to get to 30ppm CYA using dichlor, then I switch to bleach.

I have never heard of a high FC causing a false CYA reading. but having that high of a FC does indicate lots of dichlor usage. Which would in-turn show high cya.

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My Taylor 2006 test kit arrived today. I was looking forward to its arrival but worried if I could learn how to use it before using up all my reagents. This is week 2 of our new tub, started week one with the dealer recommended water treatment but I'm going to be switching over to the Nitro method but the 1st week was the dealer method. I have a 500 gal tub with an ozonator.

Here's my Taylor kit results:

pH = 7.8

FC = 10.2

TA - 80-90 ppm (OK, I added two drops from the kit so it was either 80 or 90)

Calcium Hardness = 170 ppm

CYA = 82 ppm

-------------------------------------

MPS OK range as tested by test strip

(the one test I had a problem reading was the Calcium Hardness (partially color bland that I am)

Seems to me the CYA is way higher then Nitro calls for. I guess this was a result of adding

to much Dichlor ? Not sure what to do about it... leave it as is and just keep a higher level of free chlorine?

Suggestions, comments?

Thanks

Ken

Just for my own education in trying to understand all this, how does CYA get so high after 1-2 weeks of a new tub??

Does well water have CYA? I assume tap water doesn't?

I'm just reaching 30 CYA after 1.5 weeks of Dichlor, and my FC has been running in the 3.0 range after 24 hours, so I've been adding a little too much Dichlor to get up to the magic 30 CYA.

Switching to bleach tonight though :D

EDIT: Just thought, could the high FC content give a false CYA reading?

Your CYA is in your Dichlor. Every 10ppm FC via Dichlor adds 9ppm CYA.

Typically this takes me about two weeks to get to 30ppm CYA using dichlor, then I switch to bleach.

I have never heard of a high FC causing a false CYA reading. but having that high of a FC does indicate lots of dichlor usage. Which would in-turn show high cya.

That's my point. To get to 82 ppm of CYA he would have to add 91ppm of Dichlor which would be 219 ounces of Dichlor :o

And he says "this is week 2 of our new tub", so he hasn't even reached 2 weeks yet.

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My Taylor 2006 test kit arrived today. I was looking forward to its arrival but worried if I could learn how to use it before using up all my reagents. This is week 2 of our new tub, started week one with the dealer recommended water treatment but I'm going to be switching over to the Nitro method but the 1st week was the dealer method. I have a 500 gal tub with an ozonator.

Here's my Taylor kit results:

pH = 7.8

FC = 10.2

TA - 80-90 ppm (OK, I added two drops from the kit so it was either 80 or 90)

Calcium Hardness = 170 ppm

CYA = 82 ppm

-------------------------------------

MPS OK range as tested by test strip

(the one test I had a problem reading was the Calcium Hardness (partially color bland that I am)

Seems to me the CYA is way higher then Nitro calls for. I guess this was a result of adding

to much Dichlor ? Not sure what to do about it... leave it as is and just keep a higher level of free chlorine?

Suggestions, comments?

Thanks

Ken

Just for my own education in trying to understand all this, how does CYA get so high after 1-2 weeks of a new tub??

Does well water have CYA? I assume tap water doesn't?

I'm just reaching 30 CYA after 1.5 weeks of Dichlor, and my FC has been running in the 3.0 range after 24 hours, so I've been adding a little too much Dichlor to get up to the magic 30 CYA.

Switching to bleach tonight though :D

EDIT: Just thought, could the high FC content give a false CYA reading?

Your CYA is in your Dichlor. Every 10ppm FC via Dichlor adds 9ppm CYA.

Typically this takes me about two weeks to get to 30ppm CYA using dichlor, then I switch to bleach.

I have never heard of a high FC causing a false CYA reading. but having that high of a FC does indicate lots of dichlor usage. Which would in-turn show high cya.

That's my point. To get to 82 ppm of CYA he would have to add 91ppm of Dichlor which would be 219 ounces of Dichlor :o

And he says "this is week 2 of our new tub", so he hasn't even reached 2 weeks yet.

Your math is wrong....91ppm FC via dichlor is achieved with 8.8 ounces in a 400 gallon tub.

if you used 219 ounces of dichlor in a 400 gallon tub you would achieve a FC level of about 2,500ppm.

Make sure to change your pool size in the pool calculator...I suspect it's still at the default 10,000 gallon pool volume.

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My Taylor 2006 test kit arrived today. I was looking forward to its arrival but worried if I could learn how to use it before using up all my reagents. This is week 2 of our new tub, started week one with the dealer recommended water treatment but I'm going to be switching over to the Nitro method but the 1st week was the dealer method. I have a 500 gal tub with an ozonator.

Here's my Taylor kit results:

pH = 7.8

FC = 10.2

TA - 80-90 ppm (OK, I added two drops from the kit so it was either 80 or 90)

Calcium Hardness = 170 ppm

CYA = 82 ppm

-------------------------------------

MPS OK range as tested by test strip

(the one test I had a problem reading was the Calcium Hardness (partially color bland that I am)

Seems to me the CYA is way higher then Nitro calls for. I guess this was a result of adding

to much Dichlor ? Not sure what to do about it... leave it as is and just keep a higher level of free chlorine?

Suggestions, comments?

Thanks

Ken

Just for my own education in trying to understand all this, how does CYA get so high after 1-2 weeks of a new tub??

Does well water have CYA? I assume tap water doesn't?

I'm just reaching 30 CYA after 1.5 weeks of Dichlor, and my FC has been running in the 3.0 range after 24 hours, so I've been adding a little too much Dichlor to get up to the magic 30 CYA.

Switching to bleach tonight though :D

EDIT: Just thought, could the high FC content give a false CYA reading?

Your CYA is in your Dichlor. Every 10ppm FC via Dichlor adds 9ppm CYA.

Typically this takes me about two weeks to get to 30ppm CYA using dichlor, then I switch to bleach.

I have never heard of a high FC causing a false CYA reading. but having that high of a FC does indicate lots of dichlor usage. Which would in-turn show high cya.

That's my point. To get to 82 ppm of CYA he would have to add 91ppm of Dichlor which would be 219 ounces of Dichlor :o

And he says "this is week 2 of our new tub", so he hasn't even reached 2 weeks yet.

Your math is wrong....91ppm FC via dichlor is achieved with 8.8 ounces in a 400 gallon tub.

if you used 219 ounces of dichlor in a 400 gallon tub you would achieve a FC level of about 2,500ppm.

Make sure to change your pool size in the pool calculator...I suspect it's still at the default 10,000 gallon pool volume.

Oops, your right

Pool Calculator at home = 425 tub

Pool Calculator at work = 10,000 gallon pool :o

That is still a lot of Dichlor to be adding over a 1-2 week period.

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It is a lot, but his dealer instructed him to initially add 2-4 ounces...yes....ounces of dichlor for start up.

Then the dealer instructed him to add 2-4 ounces of dichlor after heavy use....i.e. 3-4 people.

I suspect his tub was superchlorinated the entire period, as witnessed by his current FC of over 10ppm and a CYA over 80.

The dealer should maybe tone down the amount of dichlor they recommend using, or use a proper PPM recommendation as opposed to volumes of dichlor.

Anyways....moot point...we don't care about the dealer....just Ken's water quality.

It's done and over, it's in the tub.

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It is a lot, but his dealer instructed him to initially add 2-4 ounces...yes....ounces of dichlor for start up.

Then the dealer instructed him to add 2-4 ounces of dichlor after heavy use....i.e. 3-4 people.

I suspect his tub was superchlorinated the entire period, as witnessed by his current FC of over 10ppm and a CYA over 80.

The dealer should maybe tone down the amount of dichlor they recommend using, or use a proper PPM recommendation as opposed to volumes of dichlor.

Anyways....moot point...we don't care about the dealer....just Ken's water quality.

It's done and over, it's in the tub.

So with this high CYA, I should probably maintain my FC level at around 10, 12,... (since the CYA is reducing the effectiveness of the chlorine added (bleach). I see that if my CYA was around 30 then I'd modulate the FC between 2-6. Does this make

sense then that I should maintain the higher level of FC?

thanks

Ken

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It is a lot, but his dealer instructed him to initially add 2-4 ounces...yes....ounces of dichlor for start up.

Then the dealer instructed him to add 2-4 ounces of dichlor after heavy use....i.e. 3-4 people.

I suspect his tub was superchlorinated the entire period, as witnessed by his current FC of over 10ppm and a CYA over 80.

The dealer should maybe tone down the amount of dichlor they recommend using, or use a proper PPM recommendation as opposed to volumes of dichlor.

Anyways....moot point...we don't care about the dealer....just Ken's water quality.

It's done and over, it's in the tub.

So with this high CYA, I should probably maintain my FC level at around 10, 12,... (since the CYA is reducing the effectiveness of the chlorine added (bleach). I see that if my CYA was around 30 then I'd modulate the FC between 2-6. Does this make

sense then that I should maintain the higher level of FC?

thanks

Ken

It does make sense, but I have no experience running my tub at that high of a FC. I know the recommendation is that you keep it at 5ppm FC or below before entering the tub. I have heard from people on here that they soak at up to 10ppm FC with no problems.

Chem Geek may need to chime in here with a little better working knowlege of keeping your tub at that high a FC.

Another thought is that it seems CYA does degrade over time, so over the course of a few months your CYA may drop a bit too.

Looks like you are getting good use out of the pool calculator...good for you! If you have an ipod/iphone get it for that too...it's awesome! (and very impressive when you can whip out your device and have the answers in seconds.)

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I would just dump and replace half the water, which will cut the CYA in half. That would be a more reasonable level to go forward with. Or, given that this is the first fill of a brand new tub, just dump the whole thing. Typically you'd do the first refill of a new tub pretty early, like after a month or so. This one has only been a couple of weeks but so what.

--paulr

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