Just opened... here's my numbers... Thoughts?

[kodiak1120]

Hi everyone,

I opened about a week ago. The pool was pretty clear and just a little green on the steps. I added five gallons of 12% chlorine and got the pump running. Not much debris thanks to the safety cover... mostly dead worms. I ran the Polaris and that took care of most of the stuff on the bottom.

A week later, my pool is clear and blue. The water looks great. I took a sample and here's my numbers:

FC - 1.0 ppm
CC - 0.0 ppm
Ph - 7.4
TA - 60
CYA - 0

For some reason, my CYA is always 0 when I open (or non-detect, which I think means it can be up to 20 ppm). Anyway, I have left over pucks left from the prior owner. Should I just use those until my CYA comes up? Is there a danger in doing that? I know my FC is low, but with my CYA so low, I think it's sufficient.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Kevin

 

[jblizzle]

Did you blindly add 5 gallons of chlorine? That is not very TFP-like. You should have followed the ShockLevelAndMAINTAIN Process and still may need to.

CYA should not drop like that over the winter. I would add 10ppm of FC and test the FC and CC in 30+ minutes to make sure you are not going to have an ammonia problem.

 

[kodiak1120]

Yes, it was un-TFP of me to just dump five gallons in, but I was in the middle of a bunch of different things and figured it would be easier to just let chlorine circulate for a day and then test it. Unfortunately, I didn't get to test if for a week, but I've been keeping my eye on it and everything has been looking good.

I've read that CYA can disappear over winter... what is the ammonia problem you are talking about. I've never heard of that.

 

[jonboy688]

hopefully yours doesn't have a ammonia problem as that is what seems to be going on with mine, I can add the rec amount of bleach and test a hr later to have no increase on fc, so far I am up to 25 ish gallons of bleach and still only getting 1-2 fc after a hour test

 

[kodiak1120]

Shouldn't my CC be higher if there is an ammonia problem?

 

[jblizzle]

The CC would only show up after you add more FC. That I why I made the recommendation I did above.

 

[kodiak1120]

So if I take it up to 10 ppm FC (adding about 2.5 gallons of 12% to my 30k gallon pool), retest in 30 minutes, and the FC is still at 10 ppm-ish and the CC is still at 0.0 ppm, that would confirm I don't have an ammonia problem, right?

 

[jblizzle]

correct. And then you should get some CYA in the water and raise the FC level.

 

[Richard320]

So if I take it up to 10 ppm FC (adding about 2.5 gallons of 12% to my 30k gallon pool), retest in 30 minutes, and the FC is still at 10 ppm-ish and the CC is still at 0.0 ppm, that would confirm I don't have an ammonia problem, right?

Pretty much. With no CYA, I would expect to see a substantial FC loss. But you will see a steep increase in CC, which should tip you off.

Regarding your use of pucks... they will add CYA, certainly. But they are also very acidic and your TA reading is low. You'll end up driving pH and TA way down, which will then require other chemicals to fix. Plug your numbers into poolmath and then scroll down to "Effects of Adding Chemicals" near the bottom. Most pucks are 8 oz. see what a couple will do to your pH. How much of a savings is it if you need to go buy baking soda and borax?

 

[kodiak1120]

Thanks... could my CYA be reading low because of the temp of the water? It's been in the high 60's all week. Should I warm the sample up and re-sample just to be sure?

 

[Azgirl71]

CYA test water should be at least 70 degrees.

 

[kodiak1120]

I did the test over the weekend and I think I'm okay. I added 2.5 gallons of 12% liquid chlorine, waited 30 minutes and tested. My numbers were: FC: 18 ppm, CC: 0 ppm. I think that means I don't have an ammonia problem.

 

[jblizzle]

Yup, no ammonia for you

 

[kodiak1120]

Thanks... it's weird that my CYA is always near zero when I open though.