Opening Numbers, pH-TA, Chlorine questions

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D

dpatti1

0
Apr 18, 2012
15
Chicagoland
First, thanks to the great forum here and all the advice I've gained by searching.

I have recently opened and need a second opinion on my numbers. Pool is ~25k gallon inground plaster and connected hot tub.

Using Taylor K2006 today numbers are:

pH 7
CYA <30
TA 160
FC 12.5
CC 1.5
C.H. 300

I have dumped tons of clorox in to open and am still surprised how quickly FC drops. I know CYA is low, but is always covered. Is the cover also a reason for the lower pH and high TA? Do I need to adjust this?

Currently I am floating Trichlor, figured with the low CYA I would continue and pull as it starts to register on CYA and go BBB from there.

I seemed to REALLY battle keeping FC up last year so I want to make sure I am starting out ok.

Any comments are welcome, thank you!

D
 
Welcome to TFP!

Is your chlorine ever dropping near zero before your next addition? If so, this will prolong your battle. Normally hitting it really hard and checking every few hours for about a day will really reduce the chlorine consumption.

Uncovering the pool will allow sunlight to get rid of your CC.

Don't trust your pH reading with high chlorine levels. Wait until the chlorine is at normal levels to mess with pH.
 
:wave: Welcome :wave:

+1 to what John said.

It does not sound like you are following the shock process and are just dumping in chlorine. Read Shocking Your Pool in Pool School.

We believe in only adding what the pool NEEDS and to do that you need frequent testing and accurate dosing based on the poolcalculator.com

The trichlor will add CYA, although if you are very low with your CYA level, you may be loosing a lot of the FC to the sun (the cover helps some, but also does not allow the CCs to be broken down as well).

If you are battling to hold FC levels up, either your CYA was too low and you were loosing it to the sun OR you had something growing somewhere using up your FC.
 
Thanks for the replys, I was thinking of checking Cl tonight and again in the morning to get better quantitative data (actual loss) and then go from there. Is that a reasonable approach?...As you are correct I've been all over the road, just got the K-2006 test kit which makes me feel much better about the data I am now collecting.
 
Check hourly when you can until you see how much it's dropping. Then go to every 4 hours. When it makes it through 4 hours with only a little drop, back off to 8 hours.
 
I think you are talking about doing an OCLT? Sure, you can do that if you want, but it is usually done as one of the three criteria to confirm when you are done shocking.

In the interim, you should follow the advice given above from John & Jason and test often and follow the shock process in Pool School.

Leave uncovered during the day so the sun can help eat the CC's.

Welcome to the forum :wave:
 
dpatti1 said:
Noon FC = 12.5 CC = 1.5
3pm = FC = 11
4pm = FC = 9.5 CC = 1
Click to expand...

Are you shocking or just measuring??? If you are shocking, you are suppose to raise the FC back up to >12ppm (based on CYA of 30) every time you test.

Read the Pool School article in my first post.
 

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Yes read the instructions and the CYA/FC balance charts etc. Since its dropping I need to add according to the guides, but this is what is frustrating me, I feel like I need a faucet supplying chlorine. Or rent a truck to pick up a skid of clorox at Costco. The water looks only very slightly dull btw.
 
Dropping pretty fast. Either you have something organic consuming your FC or the sun it knocking it out or both.

I would recommend adding some CYA separately as the pucks are not going to add it fast enough until you can measure it and then shock the pool to make sure nothing is living in it.

Or you can just continue to have bleach and wait for the pucks to register. For reference, each puck is adding 2.2ppm FC and 1.3ppm CYA ... it may take a lot of pucks to get up to 30+ if you are near zero.
 
I'm really about to give up. I've actually had the pool for 6 years and never had this problem.
FC
18-Apr Noon 12.5
18-Apr 3:00 AM 11
18-Apr 4:00 AM 9.5
18-Apr 5:00 AM 9 Added 2 182 oz bottles 6% clorox
18-Apr 8:00 PM 17 cc=1
18-Apr 8:30 PM Hung 4lbs CYA
19-Apr 9:00 AM 11 cc=1

Ugh!!!
 
You definitely have organics in your water and they are consuming your chlorine. Keep your FC above 12 at all times and you will kill everything off. When the FC drops below shock level the organics make a comeback and you fall behind.

Make sure you are brushing the entire pool at least once a day and keep the pump running 24/7.

You will be finished shocking the pool only when you pass the OCLT, the CC is .5 or less, and the water is clear.
 
FC
18-Apr Noon 12.5
18-Apr 3:00 PM 11
18-Apr 4:00 PM 9.5
18-Apr 5:00 PM 9 Added 2 182 oz bottles 6% clorox
18-Apr 8:00 PM 17 cc=1
18-Apr 8:30 PM Hung 4lbs CYA
19-Apr 9:00 AM 11 cc=1

My times were off on a couple (had am instead of pm). But yes, dropped from 17 to 11 overnight. The water is the clearest it has been in a week this morning. I will try one more time, going to costco to by cases of bleach (again) and will make sure to be >12 at all times.

Now might be the time for the rest of you to quickly grab some shares clorox (NYSE: CLX) stock.
 
Hey d, now would be a good time for you to add your pool and equipment specs to your sig :wink: .
Go to User Control Panel (upper left under TFP logo), select Profile, then Edit Sig.

btw, if it was my pool (plaster, too), I'd raise the shock to 20 FC tonight.
 

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