Calcium hardness shot up! What gives?

[CAVJOCK22]

Folks,
My CH was rocking along at 400 then shot up today to 425.
We did get alot of rain early this week. Below are my other readings:
FC 5.5
PH 7.8 added acid
TA 100
CH 425
CYA 49

I am using the dreaded pucks and did shock the pool a bit before the rain.
Any comments welcome?

 

[jblizzle]

What kind of "shock powder" did you use?
What test kit are you using?

The CH test has every drop either 10ppm or 25ppm ... so you are saying it "shot up" by 1 drop which is the accuracy of the test in the first place?

Time to stop using the pucks before your CYA gets any higher.

 

[CAVJOCK22]

Using the Taylor K-2006 complete FAS-DPD and I used the "please don't shoot me" Leslie's power powder plus.

 

[jblizzle]

That is cal-hypo .... it adds calcium to your pool.

Stick with liquid chlorine!! It does not have the side-effects of the solid forms of chlorine which either add stabilizer or calcium.

 

[CAVJOCK22]

So the shock is what raised my CH. I guess I will start using bleach for shock. Anybody want to buy a partial used box of shock?

Is it a good idea to shock before a rain storm?

 

[Smykowski]

I think we need to clear up some terminology. Why do you keep saying you're "adding some shock" to the pool? You should be using bleach/liquid chlorine to "dose" the pool so that it always stays in the maintenance FC range given your CYA level. In your case, your FC should never, ever go below 4.

 

[jblizzle]

We try to avoid the 5 letter S word around here ... means too many different things to different people.

 

[CAVJOCK22]

My CH is still 425PPM. I have only used bleach since my last episode. Below are my readings from the Taylor K-2006 kit:
FC 5.5
PH 7.9
TA 100
CH 425
CYA 73

I have turned off the tri chlor puck feeder to just a 1/4 on and have not used any cal-hypo again. My CYA reading on Monday was 79. I hope I'm on the right track. Unfortunately my CH has not come down any. Am I ok at 425? We have had a lot of rain the last few days and forecast for more tomorrow. Will that help my CH and CYA?

Went by pool store just to compare my test results and they tried to sell me phosphate and more shock saying I was going to eat up my pipes by using bleach. They are just trying to make very cent they can!

 

[jblizzle]

Your CYA is getting pretty high, you should really stop using any tablets. The rain will only help lower the CH and CYA if you end up pumping water out of the pool.

 

[Charlie_R]

CYA and CH will only go down with water replacement. This means that you will have to do one of two things:

A partial drain and refill, or capture as much rainwater as you can.

At 425 CH, you can control by being vigilant with your TA and pH. See posts by Richard320 for advice on this.

 

[danacc]

CH will not go down from evaporation. The water evaporates; the CH stays. To reduce CH, you must remove water - drain, splash-out, overflow from rain. As said above, 425 is manageable. You'll have to keep your pH and TA on the lower side of the range.

Your CYA and continued puck usage is more concerning. CYA doesn't go down with evaporation, either. It will keep building up until you remove water, just like with CH. You're close to having unmanageable CYA for your pool. I recommend turning off that chlorinator and using only liquid chlorine.

 

[Patrick_B]

Went by pool store just to compare my test results and they tried to sell me phosphate and more shock saying I was going to eat up my pipes by using bleach. They are just trying to make very cent they can!

These types of completely erroneous statements are why so many of us loathe the information from pool stores. That is an absolute falsehood.
If it were true, Chlorine from any source would destroy the pipes.

You have no need to compare your results to the PS. One cornerstone of our philosophy here, is to trust your own testing results.

The only way to reduce CH and CYA is to add water to the pool that does not contain either one. This is a classic example of where dilution is the solution.

 

[Richard320]

You need to stop adding CH and CYA via powdered forms of chlorine. To lower them, you need to drain and refill with fresh water. Grab as much rainwater as you can! I have a raingutter downspout diverted into my pool just for that purpose. The first few hours tend to have a lot of dirt, so maybe wait until the roof is clean before you try that.