Water Test Results. Now What?
bb1248
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
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Soil test results - now what?
Comments (5)Kelp is also a good source of K. A pH of 7.5 is well within the tolerated range of peas, kale, beets and other veggies in these families, and a little above the range of solanums and cucurbits. To accomplish a more gentle lowering of pH, I'd continue using the alfalfa pellets and SBM (both of which will gradually acidify the soil over time) and add sulfur at the low end of recommended amounts, particularly if your soil is sandy. I use Tiger Sulphur, which is 90% S and 10% clay and the pellets "explode" once exposed to moisture and warmth. Till it well into the soil. For more quick results and less risk of getting your pH too low, use iron sulfate instead. You should be able to purchase that at a garden store. Iron sulfate heptahydrate has one-sixth the acidifying power of sulfur, but don't apply more than 4 lbs per 100 sq ft at any one time. Till it in....See MoreWell water test results. Now what?
Comments (2)Thanks, Alice; much appreciated. You probably saw in my post on possibly drilling a new well that we've decided to stick with the existing well for a year or two, assuming it recovers somewhat after the nearby reservoir is filled again. So, we will definitely address the hardness issue in the next month or so. I do check the pH of both the pool and spa regularly using litmus paper, as well as the raw water when I periodically re-fill the spa. The lowest I ever saw of the raw water was 8.4, and is usually in the nines. I suspect that either the lowered water table at the moment has an effect on pH, or that the sample was stale by the time they analyzed it, even though I packed it in a cooler. The lab is about 60 miles away (like everything else.....). And, sure enough, the well water is about 10 degrees warmer than normal at the moment! That really suprised me. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks as the table comes up. We do have a cheap dual sediment filter in place, which at least keeps the big chunks out of the house. I generally replace them about every 2 months, and they are usually rusty in color, I'm sure from the rusting well casing. But recently they are always brown and full of fine silt, consistent with our clay-based soil. We'll likely add another set or two before putting in the softener. As far as hydrology reports, I haven't found any real local. According to a professor who has studied the area, we have some of the most intricate and complex aquifer systems in the world, but where I am, near the major creek that drains the whole region, there is almost universal flow through our property, meaning we'll hit water no matter where we drill. So, now it's time to design a softener system that will work. Not too many local resources around here (that 60 miles to anywhere thing), so I'm not sure where to start. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks again....See MoreWater softner advice request with water test results
Comments (1)Drain. You have been given poor advise. Discharging to your septic, provided your septic tank is sized appropriately for your home, is not going to hurt your septic system one bit. Discharging to the surface out in the woods, however present a whole slew of problems: 1) Freezing, as you already noted, 2) Discharge line that is too long, 3) Illegal, 4) Damaging to plants in the area of the discharge if you use sodium chloride, 5) Did I mention Illegal? Softener. You live alone. Buy a softener for your situation. A 0.75 cubic ft softener will be just fine. Should you sell the house down the road, simply disclose that the softener is undersized for a family. You have a bit of iron and manganese, so you will need to ensure your softener regens at least every 7 days. 4 days would be better, but any softener you purchase is going to be oversized for your situation so I'm not terribly concerned about losing some softening capacity - A periodic iron treatment will suffice....See MoreNew pool....water test results...help...input?
Comments (1)You pH is at least 8 and may be considerably higher. Keep testing and adding acid in small amounts (8oz. or less at a time) until you get the pH down to 7.2-7.8. Don't worry about your alkalinity for now. Get the pH in line and then see what you alk is. It will probably actually go down some more as you lower pH but you don't want to try to adjust both at the same time. When it is time to adjust it, yes, you use baking soda to raise it. You may want to consider running a lower alk than is typically recommended if you see constant pH rise. Many SWG users report that problem and a lower alk will help combat that. There are several threads and posts by chemgeek on that issue over at poolforum.com. What does your pool manufacturer say you should have for calcium? Most people think it doesn't matter in a fiberglass pool (and it probably doesn't) but your manufacturer may require something like 100 ppm or greater to maintain your warranty. If so, yes you can use calcium chloride to raise it. It doesn't sound like you're doing the CYA test right. There is no color change in that test. You mix equal parts pool water and reagent, mix for thirty seconds, and then add it a little at a time to the test tube until you can't see the black dot at the bottom of the tube. You then read the CYA level from the side of the tube. If you haven't added any CYA don't bother testing for it because you don't have any. You can add pure CYA or you can chlorinate with tri-chlor or di-chlor until get the CYA to the level you want it. Have you added any chlorine? If not, that's why your sample doesn't turn pink when you add the DPD powder. By the way, you only need to add two level scoops of the DPD powder. If it doesn't turn pink, go no further as you have no chlorine. If it does, add the R-0871 dropwise, swirling after each drop, until the sample turns clear. Multiply the number of drops time 0.5 (if you use the 10ml sample size) or 0.2 (if you use the 25 ml sample size) to get your free chlorine level. Is the Autopilot running? If so, you should have some chlorine. Seek advice on that from whomever installed it (they should be responsible for getting it running initially) or post your question about it over at troublefreepool.com. One of the members over there, poolsean, is an autopilot employee and very helpful on all things SWG. Good luck....See Morebb1248
8 years agobb1248
8 years agobb1248
8 years ago
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