Weekly maintenance

[Canucklehead]

Moved from here.

Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule

FC should be tested daily and chlorine added DAILY.

See the link above.

Responding to this 13 month old thread, in search of clarification on the question of adding chlorine.

I'm still doing things (what seems from Pool School and some messages to be) the wrong way, with chlorine pucks and occasional shock.

The pucks are in the skimmer basket, 1 or 2 at a time. My current FC and TC are both 5ppm, according to my interpretation of the test strips (which are not always easy to read and are apparently also a no-no). I will let the chlorine readings drop a little, over the next few days. Does this qualify at "chlorine added daily"? I certainly don't test daily.

As for the chlorine shock, I generally don't use it unless I see that my FC has dropped quite low (<1, oops!) or that there's some green matter in the pool (double oops!) Someone on this forum supported that, saying "there's no reason to shock if the FC is adequate".

Maybe I'm doing things all wrong, but the pool water is beautiful at the moment. Comments, please.

 

[Canucklehead]

Merged threads.
In search of clarification on the question of adding chlorine... a June 2018 thread suggested that we should test FC and add Cl daily.

I'm still doing things (what seems from Pool School and some messages to be) the wrong way, with chlorine pucks and occasional shock.

The pucks are in the skimmer basket, 1 or 2 at a time. My current FC and TC are both 5ppm, according to my interpretation of the test strips (which are not always easy to read and are apparently also a no-no). I will let the chlorine readings drop a little, over the next few days. Does this qualify at "chlorine added daily"? I certainly don't test FC daily.

As for the chlorine shock, I generally don't use it unless I see that my FC has dropped quite low (<1, oops!) or that there's some green matter in the pool (double oops!) Someone on this forum supported that, saying "there's no reason to shock if the FC is adequate".

Maybe I'm doing things all wrong, but the pool water is beautiful at the moment. Comments, please.

 

[mknauss]

Without a proper test kit, you have no idea what the chemistry of your pool water is. It may be clear, but unsanitary. Your choice.

Never put chemicals directly in the skimmer. The trichlor is very acidic and your plastic parts in the skimmer will fail over time due to your practice.

 

[TFP-Guy]

Hey Canucklehead!

A fellow BC'er here chiming in.

I think you kind of already know from your post that the recommended way is a lot different than what you are doing. The biggest improvement you'll notice is if you do the following:

1. Buy a titration test kit. I bought the Taylor series, and it makes it so easy to determine the FC to within 0.5ppm. Simply, you keep dropping in the drops until it goes clear. There's no need for colour matching, or anything like that. I had a lot of troubles differentiating the colour scales when using test strips.
2. Buy liquid bleach. You can get it for $5 routinely at any Canadian Tire or Walmart (those are my go to's). Once you know your TC, FC, and CC levels, you can SLAM accordingly with the liquid bleach.

That's about it! Stop using the pucks as they are adding CYA to your pool which may make it harder to keep your chlorine levels in the proper sanitation range. If you still have shock, you can probably use up what you have, but as mknauss stated, you shouldn't be adding those chemicals to the skimmer as they are very harsh and don't get a chance to be diluted before going through your pool's filter, pump, and piping.

 

[Oly]

Check these out.....short and to the point.

 

[Canucklehead]

Thanks all. I apologize if I gave the impression that I use Shock in the skimmer. Pucks only, with rare exceptions, and never Shock.

The "professionals" at the pool shop say that my CYA is 39, so I don't think that's currently a problem.

I will look for the Taylor K 2006-C test kit, since I've read on this forum that it's difficult to get the TFP kit shipped to Canada.

This is all so new, and a steep learning curve! I wish I had started the TFP system 34 years ago.

 

[Pperc]

hanks all. I apologize if I gave the impression that I use Shock in the skimmer. Pucks only, with rare exceptions, and never Shock.

Pucks in the skimmer are also bad.

 

[Canucklehead]

Pucks in the skimmer are also bad.

I've been putting "Pucks in the skimmer" for 34 years, so I guess a lot of damage has been done already. I'll try not to lose sleep over it.

 

[willy17]

Thanks all. I apologize if I gave the impression that I use Shock in the skimmer. Pucks only, with rare exceptions, and never Shock.

The "professionals" at the pool shop say that my CYA is 39, so I don't think that's currently a problem.

I will look for the Taylor K 2006-C test kit, since I've read on this forum that it's difficult to get the TFP kit shipped to Canada.

This is all so new, and a steep learning curve! I wish I had started the TFP system 34 years ago.

I haven’t used the service yet, I was able to get a test kit delivered, but try crossborderpickups.ca (thanks to Smach for recommending).