First time pool owner

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True, cya can take a week to show up in test, though that is not the norm. How much do you think you should have?

So for your cya it is safe to swim if the FC is below 14 ppm (per poolcalculator)... and water clear enough for safety.

Generally, we recommend waiting until the shock process is done before swimming, but you can make your own call on that.
 
Hello, I'm back. Still in shock process but water is very clear. Tests this morning: FC 9.0 and CC was 1. FC usually stays at shock level till the evening. CC has consistently been at 1 for the past 4 days. Still haven't passed the 3 criteria and still truckin' along with the process. At this point, should I be checking on other readings now since it has been over a week. I know certain tests don't register when shocking. Water is beautiful and crystal clear.
What else can I do while still shocking?
 
Success :party: Finally passed OCLT. Water is crystal clear. Lost only .5 ppm overnight with CC of .5. This website has been a great teacher. You all rock :cheers: I'll try to post pics soon.

At this point, do you just wait for FC to go down to target level and check for pH and adjust if necessary? Also can I give the pump a little rest too :sleep: It's been going non stop with shock process. And if I do, what would be a good schedule for it? I know you have to have pump running when adding chemicals. Is it alright to keep it off while kids are swimming? I plan to do adjusting in the evenings and keep pump going overnight and keep it off during the day. What say you to this plan? :)
 
Yes and yes.

Let your FC drift down to maintenance level and then retest pH, just as you say.

I'd start the pump on about 12 hours daily and see how it goes. Many members get by on as little as 6-8 hours but I would not suggest lower than that.

Excellent work on clearing your pool! :goodjob: :goodjob:
 
Just took readings and these are my results:

FC- 12
CC - .5
pH- 7.8
CYA- 40
TA- 160
CH- 80

The TA looks high. Pool School says not to lower TA just to reach a target number. You have to have certain criteria (calcium scaling, ph rising). How fast should ph rise for it to be a TA problem? Should I lower TA?
 
Nice work clearing your pool! :goodjob:

Each time the pH reaches 7.8, use muriatic acid and lower it to 7.2. Over time this will lower the TA for you.

If/when you get annoyed with how often you need to add muriatic acid to lower the pH, that might a good time to follow the article in Pool School and lower the TA.
 
Thank you. Also when I add chlorine, should I dose on the high end of my normal target level to last till the next dosage (if needed).I plan to do this in the evenings. I'm trying to plan out a good working schedule.
 
Alright, did test this morning and showed CC of 1.0 with 0 loss on FC. Should I go back to shocking to get CC down to .5 or less? Passed OCLT yesterday after double checking past 2 nights. Does CC have to be .5 or less from here on in after OCLT?
 

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It's been a week now since the shock process. So far so good, everything seems to be in line. Thank you for everything and everyone that has led me throughout the whole process. BBB rocks :goodjob:! It sort of becomes second nature when testing the pool. So much so that I tend to get OCD about it.
Yesterday, my kids friends were over and were in and out of the pool the whole day. I tested that evening and FC loss was 2.5 ppm. That's alright, isn't it? I did OCLT and this morning it showed a loss of 1.5. Should I shock or just bring it up to higher end of target level?
The only bad thing about BBB is that you tend to over analyze the pool readings :)
 


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This is my pool now. Thank you to all of you. :goodjob:

Readings as of this morning:

FC- 5
CC- .5
pH- 7.6
CYA- 40

One little question tho, I bumped up my level to 7 last night and it was 5 this morning. I've only been losing chlorine 1-2 ppm during the day. How come I lost 2 overnight? Should I bring it up to 7 this morning. I'm trying to do all my maintenance in the evenings and trying to keep it on the higher end of the normal levels. Should I just leave it till this evening. Trying to establish a schedule as to how my pool behaves.
 
anton said:
It's been a week now since the shock process. So far so good, everything seems to be in line. Thank you for everything and everyone that has led me throughout the whole process. BBB rocks :goodjob:! It sort of becomes second nature when testing the pool. So much so that I tend to get OCD about it.
Yesterday, my kids friends were over and were in and out of the pool the whole day. I tested that evening and FC loss was 2.5 ppm. That's alright, isn't it? I did OCLT and this morning it showed a loss of 1.5. Should I shock or just bring it up to higher end of target level?
The only bad thing about BBB is that you tend to over analyze the pool readings :)
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Losing more than 1 ppm overnight, you should do the shock process. Catching it quickly should make for a fast recovery back to maintenance.

I also just noticed that you lost 2 ppm last night. Def back to the shock process. Be sure to check all the nooks and crannies for algae hiding places.
 
The FAS-DPD test is +- 0.5 on each test. So a difference of 1 ppm is within the error range of the test and can be ignored. It isn't that difficult for there to be 1 ppm of chlorine lost to pollen or leaves falling in the pool. Both of those together could account for a difference of 2 ppm. Still, if watching FC overnight to decide when to stop shocking I would still go an extra day if the difference was more than 1 ppm. It is better to be sure you have gotten all the algae.

I saw this on your archives posted by JasonLion. What do you think? I will still shock the pool just to be safe. What's ya'lls opinion on the margin of error? And I can still let the kids swim, right?:)
 
Alright, I'm getting confused now. I took four tests for FC this morning. Last night I took test for FC and it was 16.5 and this morning these are the results:

FC- 13.5 10ml
22.2 25ml (2 scoops)
12.5 10ml
19.4 25ml
12.5 10ml (2 scoops)

Why the difference? I checked and double checked the test instructions and I seem to be doing everything right. As you can see from above posts, I have passed OCLT already but FC went up 2ppm one night that's why I'm doing this again. The 10ml sample seems to be more consistent but why such a big difference with 25ml sample. The pool is crystal clear and CC's have been less than .5 consistently. Do you think the previous tests have been inaccurate too? I've read other posts here about people having differences in their tests too.

Thank you for any advice you can give me.
I also want to give my pump a rest. It's been going for 2 months now.
 

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