First Test Results...And Some Questions.

[Beens]

Hello All,

I have been here reading for months and finally ordered and received my TF-100. My inital test results are from Wednesday.

FC 5
CC .5
PH 7.2
TA 70
CYA 30

I did the chlorine test in the evening 7:30pm so I decided to rush in the A.M before work to see if I passed the OCLT

At 5:55am Thursday..

FC 4
CC .5

I decided to put bleach in to raise it to 8. Used 40oz according to the calculator.
After work Thursday 11:10 AM..

FC 7.5
CC .5

Tested again at 2:40pm

FC 6
CC .5

I added 20oz bleach to bring it back up to 8. (Didn't test after, just added what the calculator said)

Tested at 8:30pm..

FC 7.5
CC 1 <----weird, that one changed. not sure if I messed up the test.

Today is my day off and I dragged myself out of bed at 6am to check for OCLT again..

FC 7
CC .5

Now my concerns. I seem to be passing the OCLT. I was doing all this testing because it's the first time I've been able to actually tell how much chlorine I've been losing through the day. I've been suspicious that my CYA was low because I felt like in the crazy sun we've been having that I have been losing a lot of chlorine during the day. Yesterday was a little more overcast than it's been for the past few weeks and I see that I didn't lose very much during the day.

I don't trust my CYA test. I guess it's 30 but I tried it again yesterday and maybe I couldn't see the dot closer to 40. The reflections are messing with me. I'm staring at that stupid tube straining to see a dot. Is it the dot? Or is it the reflection of my head over the tube? Everything reflecting, glaring. I don't know. I'm waiting to try and show someone else but my mother wasn't interested yesterday and my husband is never home before dark. Today it's pretty overcast and no "standing in the bright sun with the sun to your back" is going to happen..at least not right now.

I have this "stuff" settling in a couple places on the bottom of the pool. Personally I think it coule be the beginning of algae. I tried to take a pic but I'm not sure how easy you'll be able to see it. It settles in the little divots in the floor and comes right off if u barely touch it.

I'm guessing you're going to just suggest that I SLAM and I'm afraid to try it because I'm in and out and don't know if I'm going to be able to maintain the level properly. Is there any chance that this would "clear up" now that I can test and know that I'm keeping my chlorine level above the minimum? My water is clear and I pass the OCLT....so since it's only been 2 days of "real" knowledgeable maintenance and it's not getting worse, might it get better?

Sorry for the long post! I've been waiting months to ask these questions!

I don't know how to post a pic here. I see a file upload down there, but my pics are 1.5mb and it says 256k limit....

 

[woodyp]

If you're passing the OCLT.......it just may be dead algae that hasn't quite filtered out yet. Run yoiur FC a bit higher for a couple of days and see if it helps any with extra time.

 

[Beens]

I added 40 oz which should raise it to 10 and I'm going to try to keep it up over 7 and see.

Tomorrow I'm going to vacuum again. My neighbors behind me have a stupid bradford pear tree which is hanging over my pool. Every year I cut more off but it's pretty big so the branches higher up are still over the pool. Today it's windy and the stupid thing is dropping little ball/pear things in the pool. So annoying. I make sure to get everything out with the skimmer at least once a day. If it's not windy it's usually less than 5 of the things. Might be time to attack that tree with my pole pruner again... it's also almost crepe myrtle time. Lovely pink flowers flying in from the other neighbor...

Hopefully the filter can get the small stuff. I have a couple of those skimmer sock things and I was thinking of trying to get one over my return somehow to maybe help filtering smaller stuff on that end....would love some kind of automatic vacuum that was just doing it all for me! Don't know if my pump can handle that sort of thing though. Time for more research!