New Pool. need CH help

[Lawdav45]

I test my water twice a day, early morning and mid afternoon. I only have a cheap little test kit and test strips while I await my Taylor K2006 that I ordered.

My ph level has been within safe range since opening the pool and my CH level has also been within range, until this afternoon. It is slightly low. It doesnt help that its 98 degrees and always in direct sunlight. I have an auto chlorinator with 4 pucks in it and also a floating dispenser with 3 pucks in it. Should I add liquid bleach to raise the CH to a safe range?

Also, when is the best time to run the filter, on low speed or high speed? And for how long? I have been running it on low speed from the morning til evening, about 10 hrs a day.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! Just to be clear you are asking about raising chlorine levels? CH is the abbreviation for calcium, FC is for free chlorine. Have you added anything other than pucks? You can use PoolMath to determine how much bleach you should add.

As for pump time you want to run it long enough to get at least 2 turn overs of water per day. Low speed is best for filtration, high speed for vacuuming. For more information on pump times please read Pool School - Determine Pump Run Time

This article will explain the chemicals and their abbreviated names. Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

 

[Lawdav45]

oops. I did mean chlorine and wrongly assumed CH was chlorine. I havent added anything other than the pucks, altho I did shock it once I opened it last week.