Opening pool troubles???

[HuskerFan_1]

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

 

[257WbyMag]

Welcome to TFP!

With a low CYA, you are losing much of your FC to the sun in a pretty short amount of time. Regardless of what you use as a chlorine source, you really need to get your CYA up to at least 30 ppm for starters. This way, your chlorine can stick around long enough to do its job.

Your FC may also be being lost to something organic in the water such as algae. A way to tell is see if you lose any of your FC overnight. After the sun goes down, check your FC. Then, the next morning, before the sun hits the water, check your FC again. If you lost more than 1 ppm of your FC overnight, you need to shock your pool. And your pool guy is correct in saying that non-chlorine chemicals used to shock your pool are not very good at doing the job.

 

[HuskerFan_1]

No sun all day today so can't blame the sun it must be something in the pool. Should I use the dichlor shock to get the CYA up and then continue with the bleach 6% to shock the pool? Do I need to use the shock that has all the buffers and clarifiers and all the other stuff the pool guy says is good for my pool, or can I use straight dichlor chlorine? I did use a flocullant last year after a few weeks of struggles and this cleared everything up. I'm just waiting a little while before doing this again this year.

Thanks,

Dan

 

[duraleigh]

Hey, Dan, UV rays from the sun pentrate cloud cover and still result in loss of chlorine, just not as much.

1, Please get a second opinion on your CYA test result...something other than colorQ. The colorQ is simply not very good at testing CYA and a reading of 13 is impossible precise. Don't be surprised if a turbidity test from a pool store (or purchase your own) gives you a different result.

2. I hate dichlor. I like to think of it as being smart by half. Almost everyone has much better luck when they simply adjust CYA by adding ONLY CYA. It is easy to use the pool calculator and bring your CYA around to a respectable 40ppm or so and then you can start the shock process using liquid chlorine.

3. Done properly, you will find that opening your pool requires CHLORINE ONLY. You can stay out of the pool store and stop purchasing chemistry that has multiple effects on your pool water.....some of them unwanted.

Pool School contains much of this information. The ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry is a good place to start. The Pool Guy is not helping you.

 

[Speedo]

How could your CYA be too low if you have been using dichlor and trichlor tabs?

My CYA after 1 season of being pool stored was around 85-90. But they did have me adding CYA weekly along with using tabs.