High FC

[Mtuccolo]

We purchased a 15' x 48" Intex Ultra Frame pool and setup on 6/16/16 using a garden hose that has city water. I have never owned a pool before and am only going off the research I've done on this site. I've been running the pump about eight hours a day. I have some questions listed after my testing numbers. And any advice you could give me would be appreciated.

I'm using Tropiclear chemicals from my local pool store.

Pre-chemicals -
pH 7.6
TA 130
CH 200

I added 1/2 bag shock, 3 oz algaecide, 1 1/2lb conditioner. I pre-mixed shock in 5 gal bucket and added the conditioner to a sock hanging in front of the return.

6/17/17 -
FC 1-2
CC 0
pH 7.6
TA 170
CH 180
CYA could still see dot at 30

I added another 4 oz shock (enough to raise to 4 ppm) and a little more conditioner to the sock which was empty. I added #6 3" disks to the floating chlorinater and threw that in.

I re-tested that night -
FC 2-4
CYA 50

6/20/16 -
FC 7.5-15
pH 7.4
TA 120
CH 180
CYA 45

I'm thinking about bringing a water sample into my local pool store to be tested tomorrow. They also suggested I do this a week or so after set up so they could make sure there was no metals in the water.

Questions
1. When you're testing the total alkalinity and the calcium hardness am I writing down the number of drops as soon as it turns the pale blue color or the pale red color or as soon as it stabilizes at the darkest it will get? That confusion is why my numbers for those are kind of all over the place.

2. Are my current numbers OK? With the FC being in that range? It's such a huge range. Should I adjust the pH at this point? I took the floating chlorine basket with the 3 inch disks out of the pool tonight after I tested. I'm guessing that maybe why FC has skyrocketed?

3. Is the pool currently safe to swim in?

 

[Swampwoman]

Hi Mtu and welcome.
You sound like you're testing with on of the recommended TFP kits (Taylor k2006 or tft100) but you're also using stabilized products.

First, on your testing question, you add drops until the color changes no further, then subtract the last drop that made no change.

Secondly, if your cya is still 45, your water is clear, and your FC still above the minimum ratio (see chart referenced below) but just below Slam level, then yes, you're safe to swim

Lastly, if you have one of the kits I named, I guarantee your testing will be more accurate than the pool store. Pool store testing is usually quite notoriously inaccurate, and as helpful as they may seem, pool store water care advice is quite different than TFP, so you will need to pick your method going forward to avoid confusion.

For example, the TFP method most frequently assumes that you will add your stabilizer to the target CYA, and then ONLY use unstabilized chlorine (liquid, or bleach). That's because the key to trouble free water is the [fc/cya][/FC/cya] chart.

If your cya is a moving target and constantly increasing from pucks or shock/dichlor powder, then you're no longer in the drivers seat in terms of maintaining the ratio and simplifying care by targeting basically the same FC every day in your dosing.

A good primer if you haven't read it is ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Hope that hels get you up and running.

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

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[Mtuccolo]

FC too high?

We just setup our pool on the 16th (this is our first pool) and our FC is 7.5-15 according to my k-2005 kit. I brought in a sample of my water to the pool store today which I know isn't completely reliable but he told me their machine read the test strip as 8.6. Do I need to do anything to lower the chlorine? I turned down my floating chlorinator that's full of #6 3 inch chlorine tablets down to halfway from open.

I had originally opened the pool and added half a bag of shock. The next day my FC was only 1 to 2. So I added another 4 ounces of shock to raise to 4. We've been in the pool every day.

Also my pH started pre-chemicals at 7.6. My pH is now reading at 7.4. The pool store told me my pH was 8 so I had bought some acid to add but since my test kit is not giving me that reading I'm not going to add it. Is that OK? My calcium hardness, CYA and TA are all in normal according to this site.

Thanks!

 

[Trick]

Re: FC too high?

Whats this 'normal' cya number you speak of?

 

[Mtuccolo]

Thanks! Yes the water is crystal clear. I didn't realize not to use pucks because they add CYA. I will still plan to use them because I have a whole bucket so I will have to keep a close eye on things! I use a k-2006 test kit. Ok thanks for answering my testing question!

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30-50 CYA

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I thought I added my info to my signature...