Please, help me understand the TFP way and why anyone would want to work on their pool daily?

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2021, 96th day of the year - April 6th. Not too old.

I wonder if some non-chlorine shock was used in the past or something. But if the test is right, you need to add more chlorine and keep adding until you can hold some.
 
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IceShadow said:
2021, 96th day of the year - April 6th. Not too old.

I wonder if some non-chlorine shock was used in the past or something. But if the test is right, you need to add more chlorine and keep adding until you can hold some.
Click to expand...
I did use some of that clorox extra blue shock a few days ago, before I got my bearings on this stuff.

Should I dump the last bottle of liquid chlorine in or wait and finish overnight cl test?
 
That stuff isn’t good for other reasons but I’m pretty sure it’s still chlorine.

I’d add another gallon, let it circulate 15 mins, and test FC and CC again. To recap procedure:

10ml sample
add one heaping scoop of powder, swirl
Add drops of first reagent, swirling the while, counting drops until it is clear - divide by 2 and that’s your FC
Add five drops of second reagent
Add more drops of first reagent, swirling, counting until clear. Divide drops by two - that is your CC

You could also try the 25ml sample with two scoops of powder and divide drops by 5 to see if you get a similar result.
 
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IceShadow said:
That stuff isn’t good for other reasons but I’m pretty sure it’s still chlorine.

I’d add another gallon, let it circulate 15 mins, and test FC and CC again. To recap procedure:

10ml sample
add one heaping scoop of powder, swirl
Add drops of first reagent, swirling the while, counting drops until it is clear - divide by 2 and that’s your FC
Add five drops of second reagent
Add more drops of first reagent, swirling, counting until clear. That is your CC
Click to expand...
Ok, and yes. That is what I did.
 
I dropped in the last gallon I had. So that was 5 gallons of liquid chlorine today. Will retest in the morning.

The only thing I can think of is I used wet and forget on the pool deck and fencing a couple of weeks ago, and my landscaper pressured washed (yesterday) the pool deck and the cover (which has a tear in it - it’s getting replaced and I told him not to pressure wash the cover next time) so maybe any Chems he added from the pressure washer or the wet and forget somehow seeped in due to his PWashing?
 
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Wet and Forget has ammonium chloride in it. Ammonia. Never dawned on me as you have 80 ppm CYA. But you added ammonia. Keep adding chlorine and eventually you will eliminate the ammonia.
 
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We're not gonna worry about copper at this late date before your birthday party on Saturday..... I'm just either imagining it or its there and we'll pretend that's how you like it on Saturday, right?
BUT.... Can you scoop up a big amount of water in to something solid white and see if it is tinted greenish?

Maddie :flower:
 
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It's too bad you don't have an Ocean State Job Lot near you. I pick up 24 gallons at a time and it is usually around $3/gallon. I can go through 2-3 gallons per week during the hot summer months, so you should definitely stock up if you can. Did you try Walmart? Usually they have a seasonal section with pool supplies.
 
@YippeeSkippy

Maddie, I too was thinking it looked pretty green and dark. I wasn’t sure if we were looking at photos taken in the evening or with heavy tree cover.
 
NG, just to add a bit of persoral experience.

I’m a new pool owner starting our second year.

First year I just ran my SWG and added water and salt when the cell told me and added more water. Pool was clear and we swam all year. But I really didn’t understand what was really happening to my pool. I was unaware of reality, that and lots of luck that I didn’t run into water issues, oh yeah, and I had the SWG cranking out enough chlorine that I could have supplied all of the pools in texas.

this year I opened and dedicated to following the TFP method. At first like you I was “ this is way to much work”.

Then, these folks helped me identify and resolve several PB issues: leaks in my lights which had me chasing my tail adding water, salt, CYA, hardness and more water on a way to frequent basis. i thought it was just evaporation but it was leaking several hundred gallons a week and required lots of maintenance to keep the levels right. I to thought what the heck, this is to much work. But folks were patient and helped. In addition I had a suction side leak that again I was able to track down and resolve with the teams guidance.

So this year I’ve adopted TFP, and once I got past the issues and the initial “testing is hard, am I doing it right” phase which took a week or two perhaps, asking for validation from the board along the way.

Even after I had the leak resolved, I tested every day for a month, but that was more to understand how my pool was behaving under weather conditions, swimming, storms, cover on/off, etc.. Now I test every 3-4 days, adjust pH if needed and the SWG as necessary, rest of the time we swim. One other item I learned, make small moves it’s easy to over shoot and get yourself in a difficult situation - example I added way to much cya and had to drain and replace water.. but I learned and now it’s been smooth sailing.

Last thought, I went to local pool store for testing and advice as I was closing in on my issues, they tried to sell me several hundred dollars of chems that I didn’t need, they were adamant that would fix my pool.

TFP!
 
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