new to pool life....want to check Im on the right path

[hxZcxY]

Luckily I discovered this forum early into residence of our new home that came with a pool just about the time I was to head off to the pool store for some help. Lucky escape I suspect.

We've had the pool for about 12 weeks now. The first month was a mess with cloudy water / chlorine pucks and all sorts of panic & fear but I think I've got a handle on it now.

I wanted to check the amount of bleach and acid I'm adding is in the right ballpark for a 10,000gallon pool in Maryland at this time of year.

My readings have been stable for about 8 weeks as below taken at around 8am daily.

8/15
PH 7.8
FC 1.5
CC 0.5
TA 120
CH 140
CYA 40


I've been adding about 60oz of 8.25 bleach (initially home depot and more recently clorox) daily to keep the FC at around 4 during the day. Regardless each morning it measures around 1 - 1.5ppm again. I tried adding 120oz daily to see if I could reduce the daily drop off to be less severe but it didn't seem to make any difference and just nudged my pH up towards 8 so Ive returned to 60oz. Over a couple of weeks the pH slowly drifts up to around 7.8 when I add some acid to drop it back to 7.4.

The pool is clear and costs aren't so crazy but just wanted verification this is in the normal range for area/size/etc

thanks in adv

PS Pool is used by two adults daily for 30minutes-ish. No kids / urinating etc.

 

[Agent99]

Well, you list 13,000 gallons in your sig and say 10,000 in your post. So which is it?

Your numbers look good but if you're fighting pH changes, you might focus on bringing the TA down. The way to do that is with acid...which also adjusts your pH.

It takes some patience but if you take your pH down to say 7.2-7.4 with acid and then monitor your pH daily and see how fast it rises to 7.8. If you keep doing this, the pH ought to take longer and longer to rise and soon you may find the 'TA Sweet Spot' for you pool where the pH simply doesn't change anymore or changes very very very slowly. You can speed the increase of your pH with aeration but it isn't necessary.

One other item you may wish to address is to add about 100 ppm to your CH with calcium chloride.

Sounds like you are doing fine with your FC so get that up as you said you were doing. Your CC of 0.5 isn't unusual but if your pool is nice and clear, no worries about this not being 0.

Visit Pool Math to verify your numbers.

 

[Divin Dave]

Hi
Welcome to TFP.

I think you should look into your FC loss a bit closer. The fact that it gets below the minimum for your CYA level would concern me and exposes you to the possibility of algae.
The loss may well be to UV from teh sun, and if so, you should target FC a couple of ppm higher than 4. Loosing as much as 3 ppm of FC daily to UV in summertime is fairly normal, of course depending on how much UV you get ..

To determine if the FC loss is due to the UV, do an overnight chlorine loss test. If you loose more than 1ppm overnight, then you should consider a SLAM to remedy whatever it is consuming the chlorine.

Your CH is also on the low side. You should raise that up to about 250 ish.

Hope this helps,

 

[MarianParoo]

Agree with Dave. Here is a link to info on the overnight test: Pool School - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT)

 

[Isaac-1]

I tend to agree about the OCLT, however you are close to the end of your swim season, and there is a fair chance you can drift through and deal with it at closing time

 

[hxZcxY]

hi guys, thanks very much for your help and advice. My pool is 13k gallons I use 10k in my head for quick arithmetic so sorry for confusing matters

I think you guys are right that something is consuming chlorine. I loaded it up last to at 11pm to 9ppm and this morning at 7am its back at 4ppm so clearly not UV related. (Tested with my k2006 kit) Given the water is clear and pool closing is probably only a few weeks away I'll struggle through and deal with it when it comes time to close the pool for winter.

Its getting too cold for the wife to use right now but I like to manage a few lengths before work each morning and don't feel the cold as much. My lease contract specifies I close the pool at Labor Day but as its still usable by me I'd like to leave it a short while yet, do i assume correctly as long as its not freezing its ok to use as long as my cold blooded self can stomach it?

thanks again for all the great advice, much appreciated.

 

[duraleigh]

do i assume correctly as long as its not freezing its ok to use as long as my cold blooded self can stomach it?

Absolutely. Continued to manage it as if it was 95 degrees outside. You will use a lot less chlorine as it cools but nothing changes as far as testing and dosing goes.