How Many Chlorine Pucks to Put in at Once?

[Chaika]

Happy Independence Day to the US. Just did another full test today. These are are the results:

FC 2.5 ppm
CC 0.5 ppm
TC .03 ppm

TA = 160

CH = 300

CYA 70

pH 7.8

The FC seemed low, so I put in a 3" chlorine puck in the floating chlorine dispenser. Should I put in more than one puck at a time? The pool guy usually put in four per week in the dispenser, but he only checked the pool once per week. Since I'm here, I can check more frequently. This is my first week going solo and taking care of the pool myself.

I understand the pucks are bad because they cause CYA to accumulate. Unfortunately, I just bought an 25 pound bucket. I haven't opened it yet, so I guess I could send it back, but shipping will cost a fortune. I think I'll try to use it up and then switch to the liquid bleach method.

Finally, the pH is high, so I guess I should also add more muriatic acid as well.

 

[Richard320]

None.

CYA is already 70!! You don't give pool size, but just for argument, call it 20,000 gallons. That's a good-sized pool. If you add 25 pounds of trichlor, you will raise CYA by 83!!! If your pool is smaller, that will go up even more.

The pucks will keep for a long, long time. Save them for when you go out of town.

You need bleach.

Have you read Pool School?

 

[duraleigh]

Yep, None for all the reasons listed above.

 

[Chaika]

I'm not sure how many gallons the pool is. It's odd-shaped and of varying depth, so it's hard to calculate the volume. I understand your point. I guess I will stop at Walmart and pick up some 6% bleach. Thanks for the replies.

 

[jblizzle]

Post a picture and dimensions and we can help you estimates the volume.

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone

 

[Chaika]

This is embarrassing. Now everyone can see what an ugly pool and yard I have. The pool is about 6 feet deep in the middle. The max width dimension is about 17 or 20 feet. Lengthwise, it must be around 30 to 35 feet. The wide section up to the island portion is probably about 25 feet long and the island adds another 8 feet. The water around the island is shallow. That is where you're supposed to step into the pool and then it gradually becomes deeper as you walk towards the center.

The spa portion is about 5 feet by 8 feet.

 

[dattia]

Hmmm.... I wish I had an 'ugly' pool like yours!

 

[supertune]

No Ugly there!
I got a lot of dirt I'm working on after a new install of a 21' round buried 14" and 6'ft deep center, did I say LOTS of dirt!
The only ugly you could possibly have is to not listen to the advice given by some of the best here on this forum! :-D
P.S. Use bleach or liquid chlorine.
pH could be adjusted down to 7.2 to help lower you TA.

Chuck

 

[harleysilo]

Awesome pool! Love the island!

Now is it just the pic or is the water a little cloudy? This place will fix that for you!

 

[danivdp]

Yeah, put the bucket of pucks in the shed. They will keep. You don't want your CYA higher.....start using liquid bleach, then you can use up the pucks when your CYA goes down (I was on bleach for a year or so before I started using pucks again.)

 

[Smykowski]

I read the title of this thread, and I wanted to immediately post NONE. However, like always, you immediately got great advice, so I'll have to come up with something else of value to say. Here it is:

Pucks aren't evil, even though by reading a lot of the posts here you might think so. They're just not for everyday use. Vacations only, and that's only if you understand what they're doing to your water.

 

[Richard320]

This is embarrassing. Now everyone can see what an ugly pool and yard I have. The pool is about 6 feet deep in the middle. The max width dimension is about 17 or 20 feet. Lengthwise, it must be around 30 to 35 feet. The wide section up to the island portion is probably about 25 feet long and the island adds another 8 feet. The water around the island is shallow. That is where you're supposed to step into the pool and then it gradually becomes deeper as you walk towards the center.

The spa portion is about 5 feet by 8 feet.

You're gonna need to drag out a tape measure to get more accurate dimensions. Accurate to within 2 inches, not 5 feet!

And stop apologizing for the look - this is the BEFORE picture! :-D

 

[Chaika]

Thanks everyone. My tape measure died trying to measure that pool. Refused to retract after I did a couple of measurements. Might have been because I got some water in it a few weeks ago trying to measure the diameter of some pvc pipe in the pool. Yes, the pool water does look a little cloudy in the photo. I may have dialed the pump far too back. It was also a rare cloudy day here when I took the photo. It actually rained.