Pool is eating chlorine

[MBoymer]

Hi all,
As previously posted I have recently had a new pool built, I have been using this site for years with an AGP, however, I am getting frustrated with my numbers trying to wait for the "sweet spot". I live in Central Florida (man its been hot AND RAINY) The pool seems to be eating chlorine with a SWG. I will be preforming a OFCLT tonight and tomorrow morning and will post results. I do not think that this is organic. My signature has my details, but I just wanted to make sure I'm not crazy here. Test results below

Date 8/1
FC 6.6
CC 0.2
PH7.5
TA 90
CH 280
CYA 45
Salt 3100 (per chlorinator)
Temp 87
CSI -0.21

Date 8/3
FC 2.0
CC 0.2
PH 7.5
TA 90
CH 280
CYA 45
Salt 2960 (two test strips confirmed)
Temp 86
CSI -0.15

Is this low CYA and Low salt? I had the CYA to 90 and all seemed to be holding well before the rain. SWG is producing Chlorine for sure, but at 30 % 24/7 I'm still losing quite a bit of CL. Pool math says that my CL should be going up by 3.9ppm, minus sunlight and bathing load of course. Just the wifey and I mostly. I guess if OFCLT goes well then I have my answer no? Thanks in advance all!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Are you remembering that even with the 50ppm of CYA you are running the sun *will* still take it's tax and you can assume that to be 2-4ppm per day. Why don't you up the % on the SWG and see if that works.

Adding another 10ppm of CYA wouldn't hurt either. You *are* in sunny FL, y'know

Maddie

 

[MBoymer]

Are you remembering that even with the 50ppm of CYA you are running the sun *will* still take it's tax and you can assume that to be 2-4ppm per day. Why don't you up the % on the SWG and see if that works.

Adding another 10ppm of CYA wouldn't hurt either. You *are* in sunny FL, y'know

Maddie

That's what I kinda figured. Seems like when your CYA is high, you have to put a million gallons in to reduce it but when you want it to stay up a drizzle will knock it down too far to keep chlorine in the pool!

 

[Mdragger88]

Let the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test show u the answer!
if u pass w/ flying colors then re-up that cya to about 70
- if U don’t pass start the SLAM Process
@ 50 cya then up it after you’re done slamming.

 

[MBoymer]

Let the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test show u the answer!
if u pass w/ flying colors then re-up that cya to about 70
- if U don’t pass start the SLAM Process
@ 50 cya then up it after you’re done slamming.

Thank you. Kinda figured this 'was the way' just frustrating at times (I think I'm a patient person)

 

[Mdragger88]

It’s easy to hear hoof beats & think zebras but then u gotta remember your knowledge , keep it simple, & stick with the basics 1st. You know the plan!

 

[cowboycasey]

I always try to keep my CYA around 80, that is the sweet spot for SWG's and as much rain as your getting it looks like your CYA has been going down.. I would like to recommend you get the Taylor salt test kit as your SWG and test strips suck at guessing the salt content

 

[MBoymer]

OK guys, failed the OFCLT. FC dropped from 5.8 to 3.6 last night. Pool water looks great, but can't believe it's organic! Pool is being shocked as we speak. Will start brushing and looking for the culprit. Also CYA is on order for after I get this fixed! I have a waterfall and a light, so I'll start looking there.

 

[cowboycasey]

I bet that light is infected and there may be some on the waterfall... You can use a pressure sprayer filled with 10% or 12% chlorine to spray those features after they get scrubbed, works great for places you just can not get too

 

[MBoymer]

So Tuesday I pulled the light and cleaned, nothing significant noted. Scrubbed the waterfall and think I saw one small green spot. Raised FC to SLAM levels and have been there since Tuesday with multiple brushings throughout Tuesday and today. Was seeing the white "dust" that turned my water milky. Guess I was on the verge of an algae bloom and happened to catch it. Noticing significantly less "dust" even after thorough brushing. Pool is back to sparkling (even after brushing). OFCLT again tomorrow will update. Just got another 15 lbs of CYA to raise level if I pass ( Cheaper to by online, wont be using all 15 lbs lol)

 

[MBoymer]

Pool only dropped 2ppm in 8 hours during the day. Keeping my fingers crossed. CYA not added yet.

 

[MBoymer]

Failed OCLT again. Dropped 3ppm overnight. Filter cleaning today.

 

[cowboycasey]

Your getting there but still killing something.. keep it up and you will be done soon

 

[MBoymer]

Your getting there but still killing something.. keep it up and you will be done soon

A little backstory here. I'm starting to realize that this may have been a bigger thing than I realized. My chlorinator is rather over-sized which is one of the reasons I was trying to figure out the chlorine issue. I have attempted to upload my logs from pool math, but haven't figured that out yet. My numbers have been a little crazy for awhile now and I suspect this is my fault for not brushing more often. Since I wasn't brushing often enough I'm going to assume that the pool looked great because the chlorinator "held it down" so to speak. Now that I am brushing twice and three times a day, I am still 'just' getting some cloudy water, hence failing the OCLT. I had assumed this was not dead algae but sediment. Going from a vinyl AGP to a Pebble Tec IGP means lots of little nooks and crannies for algae to hide, therefore no more getting away with not sweeping for a month at a time. For what its worth I have been diligent about corners and crevices for the last four days. At the end of the day this pretty much boils down to my fault for not cleaning often enough despite looking great.

 

[Mdragger88]

In poolmath settings scroll to the bottom & toggle sharing on

 

[MBoymer]

In poolmath settings scroll to the bottom & toggle sharing on
View attachment 157079

Tysm! Headed over now!

 

[MBoymer]

Pool has been slammed for 5 days. Uploaded my numbers. Pool looks gorgeous. Wife wants to swim! We will see what the OCLT says. If I pass tonight I'm done!

 

[mknauss]

Wife wants to swim!

SLAM does not stop one from swimming.
You can safely swim in a pool as long as the FC is above the minimum and at or below SLAM level based on your CYA. You must also be able to see the bottom of the pool in the deep end of the pool.

 

[MBoymer]

SLAM does not stop one from swimming.
You can safely swim in a pool as long as the FC is above the minimum and at or below SLAM level based on your CYA. You must also be able to see the bottom of the pool in the deep end of the pool.

My SLAM is a little high. Should be 18 (current CYA) I'm at 23.5 now (down from 27.5 earlier today.) so no swimming just yet? I told the wife no today. Think she'd be fine but erred on the side of caution

 

[mknauss]

Your CYA is 50 (round up). SLAM level FC is 20 ppm. Does no good to go above that. Only raise it to 20 ppm when you test.