First time with low TA, looking for reassurances

[dleonard1122]

My fill water is very high TA, so I've never had low TA before. The logs in my account are up to date, but when I opened this past weekend after a lot of draining over winter I had:

FC - 0
pH - 7.2
TA - 30
CH - 25
CYA - 40
Salt - 2000

I dumped 4 gallons of bleach to get some immediate FC up to SLAM level. Then added salt and got the SWG running at 20%. It seems to have normalized around 10 FC and judging by the water I do not need to continue a SLAM.

I'm planning on adding 3lbs of CYA to bring that up to 70-80, and then I will be ready to address TA.

I plan on adding 5lbs of baking soda (the folks at the store are going to think I'm baking a ****-ton of cookies!) to bring the TA back up to ~60. I'd like to keep it at the low-ish end because if I have to add water I know it will continue to rise.

 

[PoolGate]

Are you using new reagents? When I use new reagents I tend to get a false low the first time I test my T/A. Try testing again making sure to wipe the tip very well between drops.

 

[dleonard1122]

Are you using new reagents? When I use new reagents I tend to get a false low the first time I test my T/A. Try testing again making sure to wipe the tip very well between drops.

Interesting, I am using all new reagents from a set I just got. I did notice the squeeze bottles seem firmer too. I'll re-test everything before I make any more changes.

 

[Newdude]

Welcome back brother !!!!

Overnight Chlorine Loss Test Before raising CYA.
Slam FC is 16 at 40 CYA
Slam FC is 28 at 70 CYA.

It makes a huge difference in your wallet and effort.

Wipe the TA bottle as it says for the first few weeks.

 

[duraleigh]

I wouldn't change much.

Give the pH and TA a chance to slowly rise which should happen over time.

What is the TA and pH of your fill water?

 

[Bperry]

Interesting, I am using all new reagents from a set I just got. I did notice the squeeze bottles seem firmer too. I'll re-test everything before I make any more changes.

Make sure you add an extra drop on the TA test to see if the results gets more red. If it does, then that drop counts. Sometimes people stop the test when it looks like red and stop prematurely which would read as low TA.

 

[dleonard1122]

I wouldn't change much.

Give the pH and TA a chance to slowly rise which should happen over time.

What is the TA and pH of your fill water?

My earliest logs from when we initially filled the pool seem to indicate a pH of 7.8 and a TA of 110. I can take a sample of that later today.

 

[dleonard1122]

Wipe the TA bottle as it says for the first few weeks.

I've always wondered why this is required for the TA test? What is it accomplishing?

 

[PoolGate]

I've always wondered why this is required for the TA test? What is it accomplishing?

Static electricity I believe.

 

[Newdude]

Yup. It gets static-y in shipping. Several tests in it works itself out.

 

[pjt]

My fill water is very high TA

110 isn't that bad. (We have TA 330 in our area.)

judging by the water I do not need to continue a SLAM.

Make sure you meet all the SLAM exit criteria before stopping a SLAM. Don't add CYA until that's done.

I plan on adding 5lbs of baking soda

Don't add baking soda (at least for now). For the TA test, are you continuing to add drops until there's no further color change? We didn't get a response from post 6. Your fill water should increase your TA as we head into summer.

 

[dleonard1122]

I'll update this with my new test results later today

 

[dleonard1122]

New results:

FC: 10
pH: 7.5
TA: 50
CYA: 40
Salt: 4200

I ran the TA test as 'by the book' as I can and I'm confident in the reading. So, I'm not going to mess with it. I'll run the OCLT for the SLAM and then add CYA tomorrow.

 

[pjt]

TA: 50

You're looking good! TA of 50 is perfectly fine.

Once you pass the OCLT and then bump up your CYA, you'll be set for summer.

 

[dleonard1122]

All systems go this morning. Added the 2lbs of CYA that I had leftover. PoolMath tells me that should get me up to ~60. I'll see where it ends up before deciding if I need to add more.

 

[duraleigh]

Don't be in a rush to increase CYA above 60. For your climate, I would leave it at 60 until HOT summer when I might go to 70-80 or so but NO higher.......I might even leave it at 60 to keep my FC lower in the pool. Either way works.

 

[Newdude]

I stayed in the 80 to 90 range last year and saw no difference over the previous years 70 in your general area. The daily losses were the same, just starting at a higher FC level.

I experemented because the first year losses seemed overly high after moving. It turns out it was the blazing sun on the open yard, where my last house was mostly shaded.

I'm currently at a 50 just fine, but it's early still so I'll pause at 60 and see if it loses more than 70 did when it's time to raise it. If 60 holds great then I'll go to 70 anyway so a couple of wet weeks don't drop me to 50.

 

[dleonard1122]

Thanks. Last year I think I started at 80 and just let it slowly drift down to ~60 over the course of summer. But agreed that there doesn't seem to be a point in raising it past 60 for me until we get to at least July.