New user needs help

Jump to latest Follow Reply
E

ewatt

0
Jul 11, 2011
5
After spending a fortune last year at the pool store a friend recommended this site to me. I started using the system about a month ago. My water looks fabulous but I can not keep my FC at the right level. I will shock up to 16, then by the next morning I am back to FC of 0.5. I read some other posts about this problem so today I bought an ammonia test, but that came back at 0. Do I just continue to shock every night until I can hold my FC or should I try something else. Any suggestions are appreciated.

My numbers right now are:
FC = 0.5
CC = 1.0
Alk = 120
PH = 7.2
CH = 250
CYA = 50
 
As long as you have a CC of 1.0, you should still be in the process of shocking the pool. If you are losing more than 1PPM of FC during the overnight hours, you should still be shocking the pool. It looks like you are not done yet... keep at it and your FC issue will probably clear up when the process is complete.
 
You don't just shock at night. You try to keep it at shock level as often as once an hour until you start holding FC. Only shocking at night allows the algae to grow back during the time it's not at shock level. Read Pool School on how to shock your pool.
 
Thanks for the help. I guess I didn't understand that part. I thought if I shocked during the day that I would the chlorine to the sunlight. So according to the pool calculator I should shock to 16 (697 oz of 6% bleach). Then how often do I retest?
 
I forgot to ask how long do I need to hold the shock level? I know it says you don't want to lose more than 1 FC overnight, but I don't want to maintain a FC of 15 do I? I have spent hours reading this awesome forum, but I still am struggling to understand it all.
 
You will lose chlorine to sunlight, but you also have organics in the pool consuming your chlorine. Right now they are having all day to do their dirty work while the pool is under chlorinated. Don't worry about the misunderstanding of the shock process... most have us have been in your shoes, especially when there are products labeled SHOCK. It is a process. Once you get your pool up to shock level, try to keep it there by testing several times a day and adding more bleach as needed to bring it back up to the proper levels. This may require more bleach than you think, so I would stock up. The key is to sustain the shock level for a period of time until the organics have been killed off. You need to hold the shock level for as long as you have the chlorine consumption that you have now. The overnight loss of 1PPM or less indicates that the organics are gone and your chlorine will be able to sanitize your pool at much lower levels.
 
I bought 8 - 182 oz jugs today. So I have a decent start. My husband thinks I might be crazy with the amount of bleach I am adding to the pool. It looks like I was never beating the monster by just shocking at night. Thanks for setting me in the right direction.
 
Keep in mind that this process may take a few days and a lot of bleach. It has been different for all of us, but now that you understand that you must hold the levels at shock, you are on your way to a sparkly, healthy pool.
 
Just an update. At 11am I added 728oz of 6% bleach. At noon my readings were FC = 23 & CC = 2. At 1pm my readings were FC = 15.5 & CC = 2. At 2pm my reading were FC = 10.5 & CC = 2. I am going to add more bleach to reach a FC of 16. Shouldn't my CC be going down or am I just being impatient?
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply