How long before we can swim?

[Edn35]

I apologize if this is a repeat post. I don't think my earlier one posted. First of all, you guys Rock. Thanks for all of your help and quick responses. We are pool noobs. This is our first pool and we filled it five days ago. Tonight is night four of the four night dichlor process. Typically, how long do you have to wait to swim after this process? When will we know that it's ok? Also, when I check the chlorine it is a very bright yellow but my tester only goes to 5. How do I know if it's above 5 and if it's safe to swim? Also, I suppose I will run another full test after tonight correct? Thank you!!
I have read pool school over and over and over and I must say that it makes more sense to me know that we are actually active in the process rather than just reading and preparing. YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!

 

[Richard320]

If you know how big the pool is, and how much dichlor you put in, you should be able to come up with a calculated CYA reading. From that, you can determine shock level. As long as FC is below shock level, get in!
From my experience just fooling around, blinding yellow is about 10. School bus yellow is about 12-13. Hunter orange is around 18. I've heard it starts getting brown at higher levels. You can always mix half pool water, half distilled or bottled (or filtered if you have on of those cartridge things under the sink) and use that for the FC test and double your reading for a close estimate.

 

[jblizzle]

Ideally you get the FAS-DPD test and then you know your FC and CC up to 50ppm instead of 5ppm.

Water is fine for swimming if it is clear, the CC is not more than 0.5ppm, the pH is in range, and the FC is greater than the minimum for your CYA and less than the shock value for your CYA.

You should have some idea of what the FC and CYA is based on the dichlor you added using the poolcalculator.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short

 

[JohnN]

If you know how big the pool is, and how much dichlor you put in, you should be able to come up with a calculated CYA reading. From that, you can determine shock level. As long as FC is below shock level, get in!
From my experience just fooling around, blinding yellow is about 10. School bus yellow is about 12-13. Hunter orange is around 18. I've heard it starts getting brown at higher levels. You can always mix half pool water, half distilled or bottled (or filtered if you have on of those cartridge things under the sink) and use that for the FC test and double your reading for a close estimate.

You should see what it looks like if you take it straight out of an automatic chlorinator. It gets all clumpy.

 

[Edn35]

Thank you!!