Trouble Maintaining Chlorine Levels With Bleach

[JoeH20]

This morning I tested and I figure I lost 1 ppm over night (from 5 to 4 - I deliberately didn't add any yesterday so the test results would be in the range of my test kit - If I shock again so high that I have to test for losses on the high range I'll wait until I have the titration). I then added 4.5 gallons and 4 oz of Poly 60 (maintenance dose). I came back tonight and it's clear and what I would define as sparkling - I can finally see the bottom and our polaris crystal clear from many feet away. Though there were was still some of the algae "dust" along the floor and concentrated in certain areas. I think it is congregating in the areas that get shade. Tonight I vacuumed by hand and it's nearly all gone. I hesitant to say it's all gone since there was the congregation but we'll see what results are tomorrow. My test results now: CYA 20 or so (results of dilution - see prior post - I added some more tonight to try to boost it to 40ish range), PH 7.4, FC 5, TA 80, CH 200 (CH tested last week).

Here's are pictures I took tonight before vacuuming or brushing:

[attachment=1:39q4l8g9]pool-clear.jpg[/attachment:39q4l8g9]

[attachment=0:39q4l8g9]P7024195-pool overview.jpg[/attachment:39q4l8g9]

Both the above was before the vacuuming tonight - You can see how most of the floor is dark and there's some white streaks. There was some of the (assuming dead) algae dust, but most of the color is a yellowish stain which I've been assuming is an organic stain from the MA. I"m hoping it will fade over time if I keep the bleach up.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Looks beautiful. Organic Stains WILL fade overtime with proper FC levels. The dust is probably just dust.

 

[Sallie]

Joe, you sure have a lot of banana trees! What do you do with them over the winter? How do you care for them? BTW, the pool looks great.

 

[JoeH20]

Thanks for all the help. Everything even better today after vacuuming last night.

The bananas are like weeds - practically no care at all other than putting some fertilizer spikes in about 2x a season. Last winter was our first - we did nothing and they turned all brown and dead looking. In the spring we cut them down w/a machete mostly though should have done that in the fall/winter. New ones grew up like weeds again. Apparently you can cut them to the ground and they'll still grow back.

 

[Sallie]

Yes, I have had a banana tree before. I don't know where you are, but they turn brown here in the winter. So you can cut them off a few inches from the ground before frost. Then wait until they dry up some before you try to move the limbs because they will be heavy. Then the next year, new shoots come up. Other than that, I didn't know what to do with them. Someone just gave us a Japanese Fiber Banana tree. I'm going to have to look up how to take care of it.