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Re: Test numbers!

Richard320 said:
302harrison said:
Ok. My test kit came, and I'll have to say it felt a little less precise than I was hoping it would. If we did it right, the hubby and I think the CYA level is 75 (pool store data said 95 a few days ago). (Do you wait until you can't see the dot at all? We could still see just a shade of it until around 75.) The FC is 6, cc is 1, TC is 7, TA is 240, CH is 130, and PH is 7.5. Please advise as to how we should proceed now. When I looked at the shock chart, it looks like we need to add almost 500 gallons of bleach to get it to the recommended shock level for our CYA. Can this be right? Seems like an awful lot. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
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No. I suspect a typo. I get 344 oz of 8.25% bleach to raise your FC from 6 to 21. That's just a hair under 3 121 oz jugs. But remember, that's just the initial dose. It will take more. The shock process isn't a one-time thing.
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Couple more questions: Richard320, You mention raising my FC to 21, but the CYA chart shows I need to raise it to 28 based on my CYA level of 75. Just want to make sure I'm doing it right. Is 28 what I should shoot for? I added the 3 bottles of bleach last night, and I'm at 21. Once I get it to shock level, when I recheck, I only add more chlorine if it's below shock level, right? Sorry for all the questions, but I want to get it right. Thanks!!
 
You want to keep you FC above shock level during the entire time your pool does not meet the following criteria:

1) overnight FC loss less than 1 ppm.

2) cc less than .5

3) water clear, NO cloudiness.

This may take several days, and lots of bleach.
 
The chart and the pool cal have slightly different recommended shock targets. Either target is fine. You can search for threads on why they are different.

And yes when you re Check just add enough to get back to shock level.
 
help!

I've been shocking the pool for 4 days now. It looks markedly better. Shallow end is crystal clear, but still a bit hazy in the deep end. I did an overnight test last night, and FC went from 27 to 22. Problem is, we're leaving for vacation. I'll have to put pucks in while we're gone. Will I lose all my gains since I won't be keeping it at shock level? How many pucks should I put in? (We'll be gone 4 days.)
 
This is a hard call, any additional trichlor from pucks will just drive up CYA more, making your long term clearing goal harder to do without substantial water replacement. As it stands now you may be close to completing your shock process, really is hard to tell though, a lot depends on when your leaving. If your going to be there another 12 - 24 hours, I would suggest maintaining shock level with bleach / liquid chlorine up until the last minute, then just maybe leave 1 puck in to help maintain some FC while your gone, and hit it again with bleach / liquid chlorine back to shock level the moment you get home. With luck everything will be dead by then and you will just have dead algae in the water that needs to be cleared, but regardless not having back sliding at this point is going to involve luck.

Ike
 
Well, we're back, and luck was on our side. The pool is absolutely clear--the clearest I've seen it. Guess the shock process was complete before we left for vacation. Now I'm ready to tackle the TA. I thought we were dealing with an inaccurate reading last time because my hubby tested it without wiping the bottle after each drop, but I retested doing that and got almost the same reading--220. From what I've read, this can cause wild swings in the Ph. (Our Ph has stayed between 7.5 and 7.8, so we haven't seen wild swings yet.) Anyway, do I just bring it down to 7.2 and aerate? Is it okay to swim in it with the TA high, or should I get it down before letting kiddos swim? Very excited about my clear pool! Thanks!
 

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Okay, quick catch-up. I was shocking the pool and had to leave for vacation for 5 days. Put in a puck, but was worried I'd lose all my shocking gains. Came back and the water was amazingly crystal clear. Sadly, it hasn't been that clear since that day. It is clear, but dull. Can see the drain in the deep, but it just doesn't have that sparkle the day it did when we returned. Was there something in the puck that did that for it?

Yesterday, I shocked the pool again, and it passed the overnight chlorine test. But the chlorine went from 21 this morning to 16 just now. Seems like a big loss in one day. Should I shock again, or repeat the overnight test first and decide from there? How do I get that crystal clear water back?
Here are my numbers now: FC 16; cc .5; CYA 75 or 80; TA 200; Ph 7.8.

Oh, and I also tried to get my TA to come down by adding acid to get it to 7.3 and then aerating (rain and kids swimming), which brought it back up to 7.8. Could the TA/Ph be causing the dull water?
 
I also think the kids and rain stirred things up.

How often are you brushing the pool? Algae needs to be brushed because it develops a coating that protects itself from the bleach. It could be that you killed and filtered out the "free floating" algae, but a little remained and attached itself to the liner and was able to get create a protective coating while you were gone.

Did the kids bring in any pool toys? The toys could have reintroduced the algae to the pool. If so, I would clean and disinfect the pool toys, too.
 
They did bring in pool toys. I just did another overnight test, and the chlorine loss was 1. But I was swimming last night, and the water doesn't look good. It looks very foggy when you're swimming and has little particles floating in it. When we bought the house, the pool needed relining, and we had a company come out and give us a second quote other than the one the owners had gotten. This guy said if we had any trouble with the pool, it was because our pump is too small--that it's the size for an above ground, and ours is inground. The other company didn't mention anything about this.
Could this be our problem? Also, the CYA is high and we need to do a partial drain. Maybe that's contributing?
 
302harrison said:
They did bring in pool toys. I just did another overnight test, and the chlorine loss was 1. But I was swimming last night, and the water doesn't look good. It looks very foggy when you're swimming and has little particles floating in it. When we bought the house, the pool needed relining, and we had a company come out and give us a second quote other than the one the owners had gotten. This guy said if we had any trouble with the pool, it was because our pump is too small--that it's the size for an above ground, and ours is inground. The other company didn't mention anything about this.
Could this be our problem? Also, the CYA is high and we need to do a partial drain. Maybe that's contributing?
Click to expand...

As long as your FC level is above the minimum for CYA, the CYA is not the problem. You did the OCLT, so there's nothing living in the pool.

How much are you running the pumps during the day? Sand takes a long time to clear. If the water looks clear from above but looks cloudy from down below, run the pumps longer.

Are you using a solar cover?
 
Smykowski said:
302harrison said:
They did bring in pool toys. I just did another overnight test, and the chlorine loss was 1. But I was swimming last night, and the water doesn't look good. It looks very foggy when you're swimming and has little particles floating in it. When we bought the house, the pool needed relining, and we had a company come out and give us a second quote other than the one the owners had gotten. This guy said if we had any trouble with the pool, it was because our pump is too small--that it's the size for an above ground, and ours is inground. The other company didn't mention anything about this.
Could this be our problem? Also, the CYA is high and we need to do a partial drain. Maybe that's contributing?
Click to expand...

As long as your FC level is above the minimum for CYA, the CYA is not the problem. You did the OCLT, so there's nothing living in the pool.

How much are you running the pumps during the day? Sand takes a long time to clear. If the water looks clear from above but looks cloudy from down below, run the pumps longer.

Are you using a solar cover?
Click to expand...

No solar cover. We are running the pump 8 hours during the day. Should we increase that? Also, do you recommend that I add DE to the pump or use a clarifier? I've seen people talking about both of these things to clear the water.
 
Smykowski said:
I'd start with bumping the run time to 9 or 10 hrs a day.
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I'd start by running the pump 24/7, but I'm no expert. That's just my experience from owning a big pool that has a pump & filter combo that might be a wee bit undersized.

Water quality is an issue of both the chemical balance & filtration. Once you've got the algae killed & the water nicely balanced, it takes filtration to clear the tiny debris & keep it clear.

My suggestion would be to run the pump & filter 24/7 until the water is as sparkly as you want it to be, then back off your run time to a number of hours that keeps the pool as sparkly as you want.

I run mine 24/7 all season long. YMMV.

Good luck!
 
CUTiger78 said:
Smykowski said:
I'd start with bumping the run time to 9 or 10 hrs a day.
Click to expand...
I'd start by running the pump 24/7, but I'm no expert. That's just my experience from owning a big pool that has a pump & filter combo that might be a wee bit undersized.

Water quality is an issue of both the chemical balance & filtration. Once you've got the algae killed & the water nicely balanced, it takes filtration to clear the tiny debris & keep it clear.

My suggestion would be to run the pump & filter 24/7 until the water is as sparkly as you want it to be, then back off your run time to a number of hours that keeps the pool as sparkly as you want.

I run mine 24/7 all season long. YMMV.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

okay. Thanks! Oh, and, is it bad for the pump to run 24/7?
 

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