This is my fourth year as a pool owner. We have a 35,000 gal. 20' x 40' In ground vinyl pool with an automatic cover. Started out with pristine blue as this is what the pool installer sold. Half way through the second year I started doing my own research, mostly online and from this forum, I switched to chlorine. With pristine blue, and every year opening it seems to take a lot of chlorine to get the pool looking good. My pool guy wanted me to keep using pristine blue but my question to him was if I am using this much chlorine to open my pool why not keep it going on chlorine. I did not get a good answer in my opinion. So on my own I switched to chlorine. I am still having problems opening my pool, it seems to take a lot of chlorine. I am using a color Q water tester.
So far this year:
Ph 7.3
FC 1.0
TC 3.0
CYA 13
These readings are about an hour after adding about 13 gallons of liquid bleach 6%. Water is far from clear. I am using Hayward chlorine feeder using tri-chlor 3" pucks. Pool guy had me using di-chlor as shock, once I switched to chlorine, while using the chlorine feeder. CYA levels last year got borderline high but when I checked this spring it is now 13. I asked pool guy if I could continue to use tri-chlor in the feeder and use a non-chlorinated shock to keep CYA levels in check. He said non-chlorine shock is not that effective and wants me to use cal-hypo shock. I do not want to use cal-hypo shock as my refill water is somewhat hard water. Am I correct here? Also when I asked if all stabilized dichlor and trichlor chlorine would increase CYA, he said only the dichlor shock had the stabilizer in it and would increase CYA. I assumed any chlorine that said it was stabilized would increase CYA not just the dichlor bags of shock. More confused.
I have a grasp on FC, TC, and CC. Am I just not adding enough chlorine to open my pool? When I was on pristine blue I added 25 to 30#'s of dichlor 99% to get the pool opened. Not all at the same time over a course of about 2 weeks. This was before I knew anything about CYA levels. This was just to get FC levels above 5 ppm. (using dip sticks at that I'm not real good at matching colors not quit sure if it was actual levels).
This year seems to be starting out the same way as all the other years. We have an automatic cover that is closed all winter and it was crystal clear and I used algaecide when I closed it in the fall. What is in my pool burning up all my chlorine? When I do add the bleach I can see a brown cloud form and it starts to clear up but never fully clears up.
When I do finally get my pool up and running I have no trouble maintaining water chemistry. I just struggle for the first three weeks opening it.
Thanks for any advice and i have enjoyed all the information on this site.
Dan
So far this year:
Ph 7.3
FC 1.0
TC 3.0
CYA 13
These readings are about an hour after adding about 13 gallons of liquid bleach 6%. Water is far from clear. I am using Hayward chlorine feeder using tri-chlor 3" pucks. Pool guy had me using di-chlor as shock, once I switched to chlorine, while using the chlorine feeder. CYA levels last year got borderline high but when I checked this spring it is now 13. I asked pool guy if I could continue to use tri-chlor in the feeder and use a non-chlorinated shock to keep CYA levels in check. He said non-chlorine shock is not that effective and wants me to use cal-hypo shock. I do not want to use cal-hypo shock as my refill water is somewhat hard water. Am I correct here? Also when I asked if all stabilized dichlor and trichlor chlorine would increase CYA, he said only the dichlor shock had the stabilizer in it and would increase CYA. I assumed any chlorine that said it was stabilized would increase CYA not just the dichlor bags of shock. More confused.
I have a grasp on FC, TC, and CC. Am I just not adding enough chlorine to open my pool? When I was on pristine blue I added 25 to 30#'s of dichlor 99% to get the pool opened. Not all at the same time over a course of about 2 weeks. This was before I knew anything about CYA levels. This was just to get FC levels above 5 ppm. (using dip sticks at that I'm not real good at matching colors not quit sure if it was actual levels).
This year seems to be starting out the same way as all the other years. We have an automatic cover that is closed all winter and it was crystal clear and I used algaecide when I closed it in the fall. What is in my pool burning up all my chlorine? When I do add the bleach I can see a brown cloud form and it starts to clear up but never fully clears up.
When I do finally get my pool up and running I have no trouble maintaining water chemistry. I just struggle for the first three weeks opening it.
Thanks for any advice and i have enjoyed all the information on this site.
Dan