Test Results

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jigneshsoni said:
Is use of Algaecide recommended? If FC can take care of Algae what is the purpose of Algaecide?
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Algaecides are not recommended for an algae problem as they don’t kill algae. Chlorine is the answer.
They can be used as a preventative used at closing - basically a little insurance incase fc falls too low- the only one recommended here for that is polyquat 60.
If u close late & open early with adequate amounts of free chlorine there’s not really a need for algeacides. Most cheap ones contain copper, u don’t want copper in your pool.
 
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I read at a lot many places that when the CYA levels are lower than 20....no matter how much chlorine you use it will get burnt by sun UV rays. This make me wonder of many many things. Can someone throw some light on the following questions:

1) If my CYA is at 20 and my FC is at 0. What happens when I add 1 Gallon of chlorine 12.5%. Same question with 2,3,4,5 Gallons.
2) What is the best way to balance chemicals at this point assuming readings are accurate and all other chemicals are balanced?
3) The chlorine getting burnt by UV rays in absence of CYA....does this even apply on a cloudy day with almost no sun? What about at night?
 
Another question:

How much FC is too much?
How much FC starts to get bad for skin? What if there is no intention of swimming but to ensure that there is enough FC while you are away from an open pool for extended period of time (2-6 weeks)
 
Detailed answers to all of your questions and more can be found here: Pool School

But in a nutshell, most residential pools can lose 2 to 4 ppm per day of FC due to UV burnoff. By maintaining an already low level of FC (under 4 ppm) you risk having zero FC at some point throughtout, which is an open invitation to algae. Burnoff is lessened on cloudy days and absent overnight, which is the basis for our Overnight Chlorine Loss Test.

Stabilizer, aka CYA, buffers the harsh effects of chlorine and allows FC to be maintained at higher levels without the risk of damage to equipment or skin. It also provides protection from UV burnoff. Due to this buffering effect, FC can be as high as 40% of CYA with no ill effects. Our targets are 7.5% of CYA at the MINIMUM and 40% for shock level. I prefer to keep my FC at 10% of my CYA for a little added cushion.

PoolMath can be used to calculate the effects of adding chemicals to your pool.

For your manually chlorinated pool, use PoolMath to calculate how much CYA is needed to reach 30 ppm and get that in a sock suspended in front of a return. It will take a couple of days to fully dissolve and register on the test, so wait to test. Add more if needed to achieve 30 ppm. After that, check maybe once per month and add as needed.

Then add enough liquid chlorine to bring your FC to 5. Do this every day. I'm aiming a little high for you because you'll need to monitor for a few weeks to determine how much FC your pool uses per day. Once you are comfortable with the daily requirement, you could maintain as low as 3 ppm. But personally I would stay at 5. I don't like to cut it that close. As stated, it's safe up to 40% of CYA, which would be 12 ppm.

Add muriatic acid as needed to maintain pH between 7.2 and 7.8. You only need to check this weekly.

That's all there is to it -- Trouble Free!
 
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I am still waiting for my test kit. Hopefully it arrives soon. I still have been throwing some chlorine since my FC kept showing 0.1 in my pool last few days. I also put some CYA yesterday night to take care of low reading.
My intention is that until I get my own test kit, I still can't ignore my water chemistry and rely a bit on my test strips and readings from the pool store. My pool looks gorgeous. There was very little Algae in some spots that I was quickly able to brush it off. It looks crystal clear. I have no leaves or any debris.

So I just returned from my pool store and I get the following readings:

FC - 0.14
TC - 0.48
CC - 0.34
pH - 7.2
Hardness- 171
Alk - 93
CYA- 46
Copper - 0.1
Iron - 0
Phosphate - 0


So it seems like my CYA has been taken care of. Last reading was like 19. I have used around 5lbs of CYA in last 2-3 days.

But I have now been told I have a little Chlorine lock. I was told not to put any more chlorine and let it burn for 2-3 days.

I have several questions now:

1) Why did I get into this Chlorine lock situation? What did I do wrong? Anyway I could have avoided this?
2) What do I do now? Pool store says no more chlorine. But I have almost zero FC. Don't I need to raise the FC?
3) Is my pool safe to swim right now with zero FC?
 
But I have now been told I have a little Chlorine lock. I was told not to put any more chlorine and let it burn for 2-3 days.
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That's bad advice. Chlorine lock is a myth. You need to be putting in about 1 gal of chlorine every day until you get your kit and can get test results we can rely on. You can listen to folks here on TFP or you can listen to the pool store but you can't listen to both.

When and from where did you order a kit?

3) Is my pool safe to swim right now with zero FC?
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Not really. Chlorine is there as a sanitation device......no chlorine = no sanitation.
 
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Chlorine lock is a farse-
Don’t add anything else to the pool except 5ppm worth of liquid chlorine daily until your test kit arrives & you can make accurate adjustments.
 
"Chlorine lock" is a term made up by pool stores to sell you snake oil. Typically it means that your CYA level is too high, requiring more chlorine to be added to the pool than is practical or affordable.

Halting the addition of chlorine is exactly the opposite of what you would want to do in this case.

So step number one for you is to stay as far away from this pool store as possible.

Step number two is to add 1 gallon of liquid chlorine to your pool each day until your test kit comes in. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT add anything else to your pool until you get a good set of test results posted. Blindly adding stuff to your pool, aka "dump and pray" could only be making a bad situation worse. We do not add anything to our pools without proper testing to indicate that it is needed.

No, it is not safe to swim in your pool with zero FC. So keep adding a gallon per day and as long as you can see the bottom of the pool it is safe to swim. I'm assuming that the pool store is test for pH is correct -- that one is rather hard to mess up. You can double check it yourself if you wish by picking up one of the cheap two-way OTO drop tests available from Walmart or most any home improvement store.
 

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duraleigh said:
That's bad advice. Chlorine lock is a myth. You need to be putting in about 1 gal of chlorine every day until you get your kit and can get test results we can rely on. You can listen to folks here on TFP or you can listen to the pool store but you can't listen to both.

When and from where did you order a kit?
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Thank you sir for your quick reply. I have been putting 1 gal of Chlorine since I joined here. I guess that has helped with keep my pool so gorgeous and crystal clear.
I ordered my kit from TFP Kits. I ordered it on Jun 22.
 
jeffchap said:
"Chlorine lock" is a term made up by pool stores to sell you snake oil. Typically it means that your CYA level is too high, requiring more chlorine to be added to the pool than is practical or affordable.

Halting the addition of chlorine is exactly the opposite of what you would want to do in this case.

So step number one for you is to stay as far away from this pool store as possible.

Step number two is to add 1 gallon of liquid chlorine to your pool each day until your test kit comes in. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT add anything else to your pool until you get a good set of test results posted. Blindly adding stuff to your pool, aka "dump and pray" could only be making a bad situation worse. We do not add anything to our pools without proper testing to indicate that it is needed.

No, it is not safe to swim in your pool with zero FC. So keep adding a gallon per day and as long as you can see the bottom of the pool it is safe to swim. I'm assuming that the pool store is test for pH is correct -- that one is rather hard to mess up. You can double check it yourself if you wish by picking up one of the cheap two-way OTO drop tests available from Walmart or most any home improvement store.
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I can right now see the bottom of my pool. My apologies if I am not providing adequate information.
 
Just do each test, one at a time, following the instructions on the card. Record each result.
We’re here if u have ?s
 
As your getting a grip on HOW to do these tests, start to understand WHY you are doing them. You have learned the consequences of running out of chlorine Soon, the other parameters will start to sink in. Tonight - re-read that ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry in Pool School. Everything will start to come together for you.
 
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Just did CYA test. Based on my test, I would see my CYA is like 32. But I wanted to share this. I was not able to see the Black dot when I was at like 35. But when I looked with more focus, I could still see it quite dull. So I poured more, I was almost like little below 30. Now the black dot was even more dull. But I could still see very faintly. What would you say my CYA is?

Going to now check the FA, CC and pH shortly
 

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