When is it best to chlorinate after Stabilizer?

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tommypenngotti

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Mar 10, 2015
67
Lafayette/CA
Always open the season by stabilizing....Is there a wait period before it's best to chlorinate?
I just added (2) separate 2.5llbs granular stabilizer doses to my 20k pool over 5 hrs ago. Does it matter if I wait to chlorinate? I have a bag of power powder plus /cal hypo and a few gallons of liquid chlorine and I'm ready to roll ! Thanks !

:confused:
 
Ah ok, good deal. :goodjob:

Did you just fill the pool? It is very unusual for the CYA to be zero ... especially in a location where the pool is not winterized.

There is no need to wait to start chlorinating. In fact you should get at least 2ppm in the pool ASAP and increase it as the CYA dissolves over the next week.
 
as far as I can remember my CYA is always at 0 come spring time and I always add stabilizer ....am I missing something > I don't even touch the pool from October - March , just cover it (so rain isn't diluting)

I've added about 192 ounces of liquid chlorine and a bag of Super Power Powder Shock - filter running ....last year I had trouble keeping CYA level in pool . Seems something was eating it . We'll see!
thanks
 
It is much more cost effective to use liquid chlorine.

It is also extremely rare for the CYA to drop to 0 every year over the winter unless the pool goes to a swamp.

Do you have an auto-fill on your pool?
 
The pool does get kinda swampy during winter - always a touch of green , but I can still see bottom ? No Auto fill , I don't crank any water in until April or so .....something is eating the CYA . I run the pump only about 4 / 5 hrs during winter daily . Generally I just ignore pool until spring , that could be it . Thanks
 
tommypenngotti said:
The pool does get kinda swampy during winter - always a touch of green , but I can still see bottom ? No Auto fill , I don't crank any water in until April or so .....something is eating the CYA . I run the pump only about 4 / 5 hrs during winter daily . Generally I just ignore pool until spring , that could be it . Thanks
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This might explain your Cya loss year in/out then. Bilogical consumption of Cya for loss over winter is typically the accepted reason.
 
See Degradation of Cyanuric Acid and It Can Happen to Anyone - Zero Chlorine, CYA-->Ammonia. It may be bacteria that convert CYA into either ammonia (if you're unlucky) or nitrogen gas (if you're lucky). If you were to maintain a chlorine level in the pool, then presumably the bacteria could not grow and the CYA would not degrade very quickly.

Chlorine slowly oxidizes CYA, but this is a slow process unless the pH is elevated a lot and the chlorine level is high.

If people are measuring their CYA level upon opening and have not fully circulated their pool water, then they may be measuring their most recent rainwater instead of the diluted actual CYA amount in the pool.
 

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here we go again! I haven't tested the CYA yet (guessing it's still not all there , only been 2 days) checked today - 0 chlorine level after pouring in 192 ounces liquid bleach and 1 power powder granular shock ! The pool has been covered , no sun to even eat the chlorine near it -

There is something eating chlorine level ...leaves (being swept up now) turning into ammonia? Happened last year too :(

So am I supposed to just keep shocking until something shows up , seems like I'm just dumping in endless chlorine and it gets eaten....thanks
 
tommypenngotti said:
Yes , I'm on the slam routine as of today - I'll post results . Had water tested - mild Phosphates 500PPM . Guess I'll be keeping a closer eye on winter pool upkeep ;)
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Like Jason said, ignore phosphates.

May I ask why you had the water tested? You have one of Ben's test kits so there should be no need to take water to the pool store - unless you just like fooling around with them.

When you post, please post your results - not the pool store. If you have read around here much (or even Ben's site) you have probably seen that not much credence is given to pool store testing. While you would think that a "professional" would be the best, unfortunately in most cases it is quite the opposite. Between employees who blindly trust the word of chemical sales representatives and high school kids working in the pool store for the summer you end up with poor results from their testing.
 
Duly noted....I was out of CYA regent , so I took it in for a quick look . This isn't your garden variety "Leslie's pool kid place. Been around forever and they have brought my pool back before I had Ben's kit....I didn't buy anything other than liquid Chlorine . Thanks
 
tommypenngotti said:
Duly noted....I was out of CYA regent , so I took it in for a quick look . This isn't your garden variety "Leslie's pool kid place. Been around forever and they have brought my pool back before I had Ben's kit....I didn't buy anything other than liquid Chlorine . Thanks
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Hey, nothing be noted.... A lot gets lost in the web because things sound stronger than they really are.

When I'm bored I like to take a sample to the pool store to see what the recommend:confused:

There are a few pool stores out there that do testing right.
 

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