I'm pretty new to the pool thing - we just got ours last summer. Started out with the pool store chemicals but quickly found this site, picked up a TF-100 while in Minneapolis and started with BBB last fall. Pool was very murky at opening (dark green/black water, maybe 1 foot of visibility) but quickly cleared up. It was looking good the first week after it cleared, then the weather turned cold and rainy and I've been fighting slight cloudiness since then. It seems to be pretty clear now, but it's not sparkling crystal clear like it was last summer. Should I keep it at shock levels? I did the OCLT the other night when I was shocking. Had a reading of 15 TC/FC at 11pm, and dropped 1 ppm to 14 at 8am...water looked clear so I thought I could let it drop down to normal. I tested again after 10 hours of sun on the pool and a few swimmers and it was 5.5. I added 5L (1.3 gallons) of 4% bleach, put on the solar cover and it was at 4.5 this evening (24 hours later). Is this a reasonable rate of chlorine consumption? It seems like a lot to have to add a 5L jug of 4% every day to maintain levels around 5ppm.
Here are the latest results from the TF-100:
FC 4.5
TC 4.5
CC 0.25 (sample turns faintly pink and then clears completely with 1 drop using the FAS-DPD method)
pH 7.3
TA 130
CH 210
CYA 45 (I can still see a hint of the dot at the 50 mark, but it's completely gone at the 40 mark)
Borate 20-30 (strip test)
From the pool store test:
Copper 0.1
Iron 0.0
TDS 748
Note: The pool is pretty much fully in the sun from 9am - 5pm (and partially from 7:00am - 7:00pm). And there are a number of mature trees around that drop a lot of seeds, pollen, leaves, twigs, etc...I've been having to fish that out every day. It's hard to believe how much stuff a big mature tree can drop every day. We have an 80 foot silver maple that hangs over a bit of the deep end (from the north, so it doesn't block any sun) and the neighbours have an American Elm that has been dropping seeds for a couple of weeks now.
Here are the latest results from the TF-100:
FC 4.5
TC 4.5
CC 0.25 (sample turns faintly pink and then clears completely with 1 drop using the FAS-DPD method)
pH 7.3
TA 130
CH 210
CYA 45 (I can still see a hint of the dot at the 50 mark, but it's completely gone at the 40 mark)
Borate 20-30 (strip test)
From the pool store test:
Copper 0.1
Iron 0.0
TDS 748
Note: The pool is pretty much fully in the sun from 9am - 5pm (and partially from 7:00am - 7:00pm). And there are a number of mature trees around that drop a lot of seeds, pollen, leaves, twigs, etc...I've been having to fish that out every day. It's hard to believe how much stuff a big mature tree can drop every day. We have an 80 foot silver maple that hangs over a bit of the deep end (from the north, so it doesn't block any sun) and the neighbours have an American Elm that has been dropping seeds for a couple of weeks now.