help, the pool store confused me

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R

riverlee

0
Apr 24, 2012
43
northwest PA
hello, i think i need a little help because i thought i had a clue but the lady at the pool store just told me exactly the opposite of what i thought...
i have a 49,000 gallon pool with a swg. it was opened 3 weeks ago and it cleared up nicely but i have been trying to get all the levels right. this is basically where i am at and i am still working on raising the cya, which is about 40. FC is 8, CC is .5 (i know that should be 0 but i don't know how to achieve that exactly), pH is 7.6, TA is 90-100, can't tell for sure(is the test supposed to be red red or dark pink?) i do use the TF-100 to test. by the way i have been running my filter constantly since it opened.
i thought that since the FC was high i needed to lower the percentage on the swg because too much chloringe is being produced. it was set by the pool guy at opening to around 70 i think, but i lowered it to 45 a week or more ago. the pool chemistry lady said i need to shock the pool so i should set the swg to super chlorinate. i am sure i looked dumbfounded, because i thought that didn't make sense so i clearly don't understand something. but i re-read some things on TFP here and i don't get what i am missing...
i would very much appreciate it if someone could tell me if she is correct (or not) and why that is. is it because there is a small amount of CCs?
thank you, lee
 
It doesn't sound like you need to shock your pool. A CC of 0.5 or less is perfectly acceptable and doesn't indicate the need to shock unless your water is cloudy or algae laden. You number actually look good except that your CYA is a little low and you knew that. Better to have it in the 60-80 range since you have a SWCG.

If you do shock your pool, rather than setting the cell to superchlorinate, just shock with bleach. That will save wear and tear on your cell.
 
A CC of .5 doesn't necessarily mean you need to shock. And if you do, you won't be able to shock it properly by using the superchlorinate feature. If your water looks fine and not cloudy, I'd do an overnight chlorine loss test and see if you REALLY need to shock. If so, use plain old bleach.
 
You are right and the pool store person is crazy. A common rule of thumb at pool stores is to shock weekly, which is absolutely not needed. I can't tell if they are trying to cover for people who don't add chlorine other than shocking, or they are just trying to sell you extra chemicals you don't need.

On the TA test, anything in the red pink family is fine, continue adding drops as long as the color continues to change. The final drop that does not change the color further does not count.
 
oh you guys are fast! thank you for the responses. and for the reassurance that i am not the crazy one, in this case at least.
and yes, she did throw in that the pool should be shocked every week- which i did (because they said so)after they finished my pool last summer, but after reading again here when they opened my pool i thought it seemed that if all your numbers are ok and the water looks good, then there is no point. oh, and they also said to use algaecide weekly, but i also recall reading on here that is not good or necessary either. so i was going to do it differently this year unless a problem arises. and my water does appear clear.
thank you all for the information and tips you have provided!
 
harleysilo said:
Please do it differently this year ESPECIALLY if a problem arises, but if you follow the protocol here a problem will not likely arise!
Click to expand...

haha, yes i guess i didn't phrase that exactly how i meant it, but thanks, i will follow tfp protocol and hopefully there will be no issues :-D

one other thing, is it ok to swim with the chlorine as it is now or should i wait til it goes down?
 
Swim away. :mrgreen: (Well, not too far away)

It is fine to swim at any level up to shock value (based on your CYA in the FC/CYA chart in Pool School) so you are just fine.

Welcome to the forum. :lol:
 
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