My First Day of Testing - Chlorine seemed to burn off FAST!

[sh9730]

OK - YEAH - my ABG is filled - level - and the water is warming up!

Broke out the TF100 last night for the first time - of course my FC was zero and my PH looked fine on the first test - I think about 7.6.

Turned on the pump - added some chlorox (10%) and did my first turnover.

This morning it appeared I added too much chlorine as the level was high at about 4.5-5.0 - I wasn't too worried - nobody was swimming today and the weather was hot and sunny (90 degrees) so I felt comfortable it would burn off. PH was a bit high in the morning which I attributed to the high HC level.

Unless I did something wrong - BOY did it ever - in 9 hours we went from really yellow test to almost clear test in the afternoon! PH is back down.

I had already planned on starting CYA entry this afternoon - but now I am adding some more bleach first.

Will our AZ sun really burn it off from my 5000 gallon pool that quickly until I get the CYA up? Or does something seem amiss?

Thanks.

 

[Texas Splash]

That will happen with no CYA. Also, with no CYA the chlorine is much more harsh on the skin and liner, so don't go over 3 ppm until you know you have added the stabilizer. In the Valley of the Sun, I'd make my CYA target at least 40 for now, with FC in the 4-6 range - never below 3. In the future always make sure the FC matches the CYA (target) as noted on the Chlorine/CYA Chart (link below in my sig). Hope that helps.

- - - Updated - - -

Good job putting that TF-100 to good use.

 

[jblizzle]

As Pat said, the sun will burn off the FC very quickly, something like 50% every hour (so in 3 hours you would be down to 13% of what you started with), when you have no CYA in the water to protect it.

 

[sh9730]

OK - at least I know - I just added 20 oz of CYA in a sock in the upward trend to 40 - should I even both to do the CYA test for a few days? Or let it dissolve and monitor my FC levels and when they seem to stabilize a bit then test to see where the CYA is?

 

[jblizzle]

No need to test the CYA until it is all out of the sock. Massaging can greatly speed up the process.

As the sock empties, just assume you are at your target CYA level.

 

[sh9730]

OK - I will wait - pool math suggested 26 oz to get to 40 - but I remember reading to start at 60% or so - hence the 20 oz in the sock for now. Hopefully I will see a difference in the morning.

Do I need to over bleach in the meantime - I mean is there a worry that I will get any green things in there while waiting in this hot sun? Actually we may swim a bit tomorrow - supposed to be close to 100 for the first time this year! But, the next few days after will be windy, dusty, and even rainy so we will likely cover until that passes.

But again - should I blast almost to shock level the bleach for now?

 

[jblizzle]

You know you are starting with 0 CYA, and calculating the volume of a circular pool is easy, so the 60% thing is overly cautious in your case.

No, just try to keep around 2ppm of FC in the water until the CYA starts to dissolve and then up it a little more.