phishfood Posted December 31, 2013 Report Share Posted December 31, 2013 So finally after getting home learned to do the TA and CHT tests. Repeated twice After being gone for ~ 7 days (neighbor came over every 48 hours to check chlorine) I came up with: pH 8.0 Did acid demand test - 1 drop lowered to 7.6 "+" - 2 drops lowered to 7.4 Calcium HT 110 Total Alk 90 So I figured adding 1.5 Tbsp ph reducer (.75 oz) to my 415 gallons. Also all these numbers people quote in oz - I can just do the standard .5oz=1Tbsp (3tsp) dry chemical? Does that conversion work? Right now water looks crystal clear Should I do anything further? OK at least as far as those numbers go (alk, calcium)? I read about people fighting TA-pH relation and read stickies about aeration/etc and think gack I should probably not do anything, numbers are fine. Comments? Probably need to learn and do free/combined chlorine tests next to see how that's looking. Then maybe a CYA to see how I'm doing on that after using dichlor. If one has 0 combined chlorine is shocking necessary? Spa store says "shock every week!" which seems like I don't know if they know whats best, or want me to buy more chlorine. Is combined chlorine be only test to see when a shock is needed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem geek Posted January 3, 2014 Report Share Posted January 3, 2014 You don't need to shock if you use enough chlorine after every soak. If your pH tends to rise, you can try lowering the TA some. If you lower it a lot (say to 50 ppm) then you should use a supplemental pH buffer such as 50 ppm borates (usually from boric acid). I wouldn't worry about CYA until you've used enough Dichlor cumulatively to worry about it. Your calculating it based on FC dosage will probably be more accurate than the CYA test anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phishfood Posted January 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2014 Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.