Maintaining pool levels

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dshuster

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Jun 4, 2013
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Hunt Valley, MD
We moved into a house three years ago and I always had a pool guy maintain my pool throughout the year. This year I decided to try to maintain the pool myself. The pool guy has been using chlorine tablets and I wanted to try using liquid chlorine because I read it causes less problems. I have been reading the forums and pool school the last couple of years and learning from other people. When I go to poolmath, it mostly explains how to increase or decrease the different levels if they are not optimal. How do I know how much I should add of liquid chlorine on a daily, weekly or monthly basis to maintain the optimal levels or will this just be a guessing game until I get it right?

Thanks
-Dimitry
 
At the bottom of pool math it indicates how much adding of what chemical should affect it.

Until you know for sure how your pool is affected by additions, it's recommended to use half of what
pool math calls for, then test.

Lets say you wanted to raise your CH by 50 ppm, if pool math said to add 6lbs of CH up,
add 3, then wait about an hour with the pump running and test again and see what actually happens.

Do you have one of the recommended test kits? TF100 or Taylor K2006C?

It would be a good idea to post a full set of test results, especially for CYA.
 
How do I know how much I should add of liquid chlorine on a daily, weekly or monthly basis to maintain the optimal levels or will this just be a guessing game until I get it right?
Click to expand...
As a general rule, you will lose 2-4 ppm of chlorine each day. A little less when it's cool and more when it's hot.

Use PoolMath to help you decide how much liquid chlorine would be 3 ppm in your pool. Start with that and see what happens.
 
We add only what is required to keep our readings within the recommended ranges as noted on the Pool School - Recommended Levels page. Refer to it along with the Poolmath calculator and you will do fine. If you would like to post a full set of test results for us we can give you some advice. Of course let us know if you still have any questions. Have a nice day.
 
dshuster said:
When I go to poolmath, it mostly explains how to increase or decrease the different levels if they are not optimal. How do I know how much I should add of liquid chlorine on a daily, weekly or monthly basis to maintain the optimal levels or will this just be a guessing game until I get it right?

Thanks
-Dimitry
Click to expand...

This may seem very basic, but I too recall my confusion when I first used the poolmath app. As was stated above by smforte be sure that you have your numbers correct in the proper columns along with the proper profile (gallons, type and % of chemical (bleach). Don't forget to hit the re-calculate button. Also another cool feature is when you place your mouse/cursor over the amount look at the top and it will give you the breakdown of qts/cups etc. I would also encourage you to keep a notebook/log as it will help you get an idea as to how much you are adding on a daily/weekly basis.

Hang in there, you are in good hands with this fine group of experts. I'm amazed at the depth of their knowledge and willingness to help us newbies.
 
So my pool guy opened the pool on Tuesday and it looked like a green swamp. I still had to fill the water to the half-way up the skimmer so I can start running the pump. Since I will be maintaining it myself now and have to wait until the water fills, I had a couple of questions.

1)Should I run the pump with filter on or bypass mode? The reason I ask is last year when it was also green, the pool guy ran it in bypass mode so my DE filter would not get clogged up.

2)Should I add DE powder or wait until the pool is clear?

3)Should a pool be green normally when you open it or does it mean it was not properly closed? The first year we had it opened, the water was crystal clear and we had a solid cover which was held down by water weights. We also had another company open and close it. The last two years, we had a mesh cover and a different person opened and closed the pool.

4)Can I run my polaris 380 or will it ruin it and try to vacuum it manually until it is clear?

On Saturday when I have more time, I will run all the tests with the TF100 kit I have and post the numbers. I will also take a picture of the pool so you can see it.

Thanks
-Dimitry
 

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Some answer for you:
1 - You can by-pass for a short time, but after you circulate for a while and backwash to waste the heavy stuff, eventually you will need to filter normally to eliminate any algae in the filter.
2 - DE will need to be added once you filter (and recharge after backwash). You really don't want to run the filter without the grids protected.
3 - Ideally - no, not green. But it can happen to the best. Just depends on how it was closed and environmental conditions throughout the winter.
4 - You can during a SLAM, but I would ensure you have the major junk off the bottom first so that you don't clog-up or damage your toy. :)
 
I did all the tests on the TF100. I feel like I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Here are my results:
Simple Test using the blue plastic box:
PH is about 8
CL is 0
BR is 0

Chlorine Drop Test:
No Chlorine

Total Alkalinity Test:
TA = 160

Calcium Hardness Test:
Redish - Pink

Not sure what the R-0012L does but I used 21 drops which equals 210 because it says multiply the number of drops by 10.

CYA Test:
less than 20

Not sure if I need to do any other tests.

Currently, I am running the pump in circulate mode.

Here are a couple of pictures. Please let me know what you would recommend next since I am new at this.

Thanks
-Dimitry
 

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We've seen worse!

First, edit your profile to add your location, city and state/country, so that it shows up over there <-----. Climate is important in pool care.

You need to lower your PH to 7.2, raise your CYA to 30 and SLAM your pool.

Here is how to lower PH and add CYA, Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals, use Poolmath to calculate how much to add.

Here is how to SLAM, Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain follow all steps for a successful SLAM.

In between testing and adding more bleach read this, Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

If you are unsure about following the test instructions there are videos here, https://www.youtube.com/user/tf100testkit?feature=results_main
 
Pooldv thanks for the info.

I am using Pool Pal on my android phone and wanted to make sure that the chemicals and amounts make sense.

I put FC of 0.0 with a goal of 4.0....It told me to add 168 fl oz Bleach
I put PH of 8.0 with a goal of 7.2....It told me to add 120 fl oz Muriatic 20 Be/31.45%
I put TA of 160 with a goal of 90.....It told me to lower PH to 7.0-7.2 and aerate to raise it again
I put CH of 210 with a goal of 260...It told me to add 166 fl oz of Calcium Chloride
I put CYA of 0 with a goal of 40....It told me to add 156 fl oz of Dry Stabilizer

Also when should I change to DE filtering as opposed to just keeping it at circulate?

Thanks again for all the help.
-Dimitry
 
Most PH tests don't measure much above 8.0 so it could be higher than that. Test again 15 minutes or so after you add the acid and add more as needed until the PH drops. Leave your TA alone for now. You can work on it after the SLAM. I would raise CYA yo 30, not 40. If you raise it to 40 you will have to add more bleach. Here is the process and steps to SLAM, Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain

I am not familiar with that app. You can check the math using Poolmath, link above.

I would filter while you are there to monitor it and backwash when pressure rises 25% and recirculate when you can't monitor it.
 
Here is what I did yesterday:
Added 168 fl oz Bleach
Added 128 fl oz Muriatic 20 Be/31.45% (1 Gallon jug)
Added 12 lbs of DE Powder based on my DE Filter documentation
Added 6 lbs of Stabilizer 100 from the pool store

When I did the simple test after waiting a couple of hours, I got a PH of 6.8 or less and CL between 1 and 2.

Running the pump through the filter. It is starting to be less green but still needs a lot of work.

My questions are as follows:
1)I read somewhere that you have to wait 1 week after adding Stabilizer 100 to get a true reading on CYA. Should I wait a couple of days or do the different tests tonight?


2)Should I add more bleach or anything else if I need to wait?


Thanks
-Dimitry
 
How did you add the stabilizer? What level were you targeting?

Yes you should add more bleach. In the SLAM process, you need to be testing and raising the FC up to shock level at LEAST twice a day, and more often is better.
 

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