Cal Hypo Question

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kmgambino11

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Sep 20, 2011
59
Hey to all the pool pro's.....
Question, my pool water is clear BUT LOOKS LIKE dead algea puddles on floor with some green (very little) running up side of pool.
Tested today with the TF100 tester and results are as folllows:
CYA 70
PH 7.8
FC 9.0
TA 140

I will shock the pool to FC 28 but wondering will CAL-HYPO be ok to use or should I use Bleach the calculator suggest I add 560 oz of bleach......What is your take on this.....And when shocked, will in time the brown puddles go away on their own.
Thanks
 
Well, cal-hypo will be adding CH to your pool ... and you did not post what your current CH level is at. So, hard to recommend yeah or ney.

Can you vacuum out the "puddles"? Although if you are seeing green you need to go through the shock process as described in Pool School.
 
The primary reason cal-hypo is not recommended is because it adds CH. This can be expensive to fix if your CH gets to high. Do you know your current CH level?

Also, have your preformed an overnight FC loss test? This will give you an idea of how much 'live' algae you have in your pool. Once you have killed all the algae, you want to remove it (either via a vacuum, or brushing the walls and running filter). If you use filter, you will want to clean the cartridges often.

I know I didn't type as fast as Jason, but figured I would post anyways :cool:
 
Well, you may have a little wiggle room. The general recommended levels for vinyl are 50-300ppm CH. What % is your cal-hypo?

I hesitate to advise you to use it as once the CH is in and high, you have to drain to remove it.

If you did raise the CH up to 300, your could lower your pH to 7.4 and be at the same CSI you are now. Working to lower your TA would help as well.

EDIT: Do you just happen to have some already or are you thinking of buying it? It would take quite a bit of the cal-hypo to raise your pool CH by 150. You would probably be fine if you used less than ~35 lbs of it ... but then you should switch back to bleach.
 
Have you used the poolcalculator.com? At the bottom you can see what different chemicals will add to your pool.

You should be OK to use it. Just realize that every 1lb (16oz) by weight you add will raise your FC by ~5.5ppm and CH by ~4ppm
 
jblizzle, thanks I will go with Cal hypo and yes I use the calculator....have learned to stay away from pool store. Since my CH is so so I agree I should be fine. I will do now since the sun is going down and retest tomorrow.....will give you numbers. I hard piped my water to the pool and boy what a nice addition this added, when the pool needs a little water just turn on the spicket! I will add pics of decks and pcv jobs soon....you guys rock and thanks for all your help....
 

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ok, guys this morning (early) I tested my chlorine level using the TF100 kit trying and obtained a reading of 13.5. I added 50 oz of cal hypo hoping to reach my FC goal of 28. I am working nights 7 to 7 so thats why I did my test this morning. I had my wife retest the water tonigt and she gave me the same reading as it was this morning before the Cal Hypo was added and I am baffled. I was hoping to reach my number tonight then retest again in the morning when I get home to ensure I did not loose any chlorine over night. My wife knows how to perform this test so that is not the issue just not sure what step to take now to get the chlorine level up.....add straight chlorine, this is what i use to maintain my FC during the year anyway......I know I may have lost a little today due to sunlight but no change after adding 50 oz of Cal Hypo......hummmm Thanks for any advice (the Cal Hypo was mixed in bucket with tap water mixed and added to pool.
 
What does your water currently look like?

You should have gotten about a 17ppm rise in FC from that, but it is possible that it was all used up through the day between when you added it and your wife tested. Can you test your pool 30-60 minutes after you add tonight to see if you are hitting your target?
 
the water is cloudy from adding the Cal Hypo. I will test the water again in the morning when I get home from work at 0700. This time I will take my number from morning test add bleach only to raise the FC to 28 using the pool calculater test again in 1 hr to see if it changed. If not what could be going on? Will me adding all the bleach hurt the pool or liner? Do i need to check my CC or perform any other test at this time. Right now I just wanted to get my FC levels up due to algea.....Thanks so much for answering me and hope you continue your support!
 
Hopefully your pH was adjusted to the mid to low 7s before starting the shocking as the pH test is not accurate with FC > 10. If it happens to drop below 10, test the pH to see where it is at.

The liner should not have a problem if you stay around the FC shock levels. Test for FC and CC every time and add a time stamp to your test results that you post as that can be helpful to see when things are happening.
 
before I started the shock process on April 10 in the evening my ph was at 7.8 and was not planning on checking again until my FC fell below 10 after reaching my goal of FC. I was going to check PH, CYA, TA CC, AND CH When I reach shock level and falls to under 10. So in closing for tonight, I will check my FC level in the morning and add BLEACH using pool calculator to reach FC 28. I will test again in 1 hour to see if its reached, if not I will proceed to perform again using the same steps.......if after twice my FC will not climb is there anything I should do? Thanks a million for your time.......This site is teaching me something !
 
At the start of the shock process the more often you can test and adjust your FC the faster the process tends to go. Just stay on top of it and let us know the results and you will eventually be ready to start the swim season.
 
Sister in law tested water last night and FC was 13.5
Tested all this morning at 7:20 and my readings are as follows:
FC 13.5
CC 0
CYA 60
CH 200
TA 150
PH 8.0 (ADDED 20oz of M.ACID to drop)

Any other recommendations after viewing my numbers?

I am learning and thanks for your help.
 
Well you lost less than 1FC overnight.....and your CC is less than 0.5 let's see if you passed the third test. What does your water look like???
 
It does appear that you have met the criteria (if the pool is still clear as in your first post). My only concern is have you been brushing the areas that you said had green algae on the wall? Is that all gone?
 

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