How often to test for FC and CC?

[SJ781]

Hello,
New to the forum. I've been looking around the site for a while. Just finished reworking an AG pool that was sunk in the ground. Took us three years to get the vegetation and wildlife out. The liner was gone when we moved in and frogs were living amongst the cat tails. Pool is now full and the water is clear. We filled it from the well which has lots of iron. The last backwash was pretty clear so I just started adding CYA. Added half yesterday and the other half today so my CYA numbers are still low. The TA is still high but coming down. How often do you guys check the FC and CC? Do you check every day and adjust or every couple of days, once a week? The following are my numbers. Any advice will be well appreciated. Using liquid chlorine and muriatic acid.

FC 3.8, CC .2, PH 7.4, TA 130, CH 130, and CYA <30

 

[Jimrahbe]

sj,

Welcome to TFP..

In my mind the key is getting to know your pool. So initially you need to test every day for a few days and see how much chlorine your pool uses. Based upon that you only need to test it often enough to make sure your FC never gets lower than the minimum for your CYA. See this chart... Chlorine CYA Chart.

In my case, I have a SWG and often go a week or more without testing.

Jim R.

 

[Captain 776]

I usually test all parameters weekly with the Taylor test kit. We are in Rainy season here in Thailand and we have been getting a lot of rain. I didn't test for 3 weeks and expected my numbers to all be low, but it wasn't bad, I just need to add
4 oz Muriatic
240 oz Baking Soda
90 oz Cyanuric Acid
and I should be back to fully balanced chemistry.
I fully agree above, it is getting to know your pool and how the weather conditions effect your chemistry. If you are just doing the basic testing of PH and Chlorine by color comparator, then once a week should keep you in the ballpark.
If you are doing full parameter testing, you may not want to do once a week because you will quickly run out of reagents.
That has been a problem for me because I can't find them in Thailand and they can not be shipped here, so when I was in America last July, I got 3 complete sets of 2 oz reagent refills and 2 8 oz bottles of reagent for CYA testing.

 

[MarianParoo]

Until I got to know my pool under varying weather conditions, I always tested daily. You don't have a SWG, so I would recommend that practice. Better to over-test than have to fix a problem.....

During hot temps and high bather-load, I test more than once a day. During cool temps, not so much.

I use the 10ml sample for FC/CC and multiple the drop count by 0.5 or divide by two.

 

[MarianParoo]

The directions for the 10ml test are on the inner lid of your kit. Use 1 heaping scoop of powder, not 2 scoops.