Effect of dog swimming in the pool

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C

clarker

0
Bronze Supporter
Dec 20, 2016
17
Venice, Florida
2 month old pool that we are maintaining ourselves. All has been going well, brushing a couple of times per week, adding acid every other day to keep the PH in line due to, I'm assuming to the Pebbletech curing.
Testing PH and chlorine daily, full tests once a week.

Results from this past Saturday were:
PH=7.8
FC=3.0
CC=.5
CH=400
TA=80
CYA=70
Salt=3400

I added 14oz of acid and raised the SWG from 20% to 30%

We have a large black Labrador who loves the water and we have trouble keeping him out.
My daughter and I swam with him on Sunday for a couple of hours. On Monday the PH was back at 7.8 and chlorine dropped to 2PPM. I added 12oz of acid and raised the SWG to 45%.

Tuesday PH was good at 7.5, but the chlorine dropped to 1PPM, raised the SWG to 50%

Today, Wednesday, PH creeped back to 7.8, chlorine at 0, I checked CYA which was 45. I added 12 oz of acid, added a gallon of bleach, currently running the SWG on "boost" for 6 hours. I also added 32oz of stabilizer in a sock in the skimmer to get CYA up to 70-80.

Questions:
Although we have been using the spa a couple of times, I would characterize our usage or load (from humans) as rather light. What effect does the dog have on the bather load?, he was the primary user on Monday, probably in fo 3-5 hours.

Second question, what would cause the CYA to drop off, I had to add stabilizer 2 weeks ago because it was on the low side?

thanks for any help or input!
 
The dog is like having your funny uncle Harold around as a bather. You don't know what he does but you suspect its no good.

Really a dog is just another bather and at your loads has really no effect.

Your ph is going up from the new plaster and your CYA is going down (probably) because of rainfall dilution of the pool.
 
C,

Welcome to TFP... A Great place to be... :lovetfp:

I noticed that you seem to view a pH of 7.8 as "bad"... while it is on the high end it is fine. I have found that my pool likes to stay at 7.8. It will often stay there for 6 weeks or so before moving up to 7.9 and I'm forced to add acid. If I try to maintain a pH of 7.5, I'd have to add acid every week at least.

I also suspect you are trying to keep your FC too low. At 3 you are at the absolute minimum.. With a CYA of 70 and a SWG pool you should be trying to maintain about 5 or 6 ppm. See this chart... https://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock

Before doing a SLAM, I'd do an OCLT... See this.. https://www.troublefreepool.com/content/136-perform-the-overnight-fc-chlorine-loss-test-oclt Basically, if your pool looses any chlorine overnight it is because something is in your pool water eating your chlorine...

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.
 
The primary problem with letting an animal swim in the pool is the possibility of it urinating in the water. The animal itself and it's fur/hair is not really a big deal, no worse than having your hairy (and suspect) "Uncle Harold" in the pool (good one gwegan!!). Urine, however, is a whole other ball game. One cup of human urine is roughly the equivalent of 6 person-hours worth of bather load interns of FC demand (I suspect a cup of dog urine is no better). This is why pools so often "suffer" after your 9 year old has a pool party with all of his school friends - everyone swam for hours and hours but no one ever used the bathroom in the house :suspect: :pukel:
 
Thanks, I may have to SLAM if something is going on, as Jimrahbe suggested, I'll probably do an OCLT.

- - - Updated - - -

thanks -
The PH issue I'm sure is due to the new plaster, it will jump "off the chart" if I don't add acid every 2-3 days. I want to get the FC to 5 and have been steadily increasing the SWG, thus my reason for dumping a gallon of chlorine in today. I'm anxious to see what the morning brings.

- - - Updated - - -

The urine comment is a valid one, the dog drinks a lot of water and pee's a lot outside of the pool for several hours after swimming. I'm wondering if I'll have to make a practice of either dumping chlorine in or running the SWG on boost overnight after he uses the pool.
 
C,

What size SWCG do you have? And, how long is it running? I see you have increased the SWCG's percentage, but I see nothing about run time??

I'm not a fan of running in the "boost" mode. It generally means something is wrong and you're having to try and make up for it.

If me, and my dog, I'd be running my FC at 7 just to make sure...

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Jim -
The SWCG is a Pentair IC-40 which according to the doc is good for a 40k pool and produces 1.4lbs of chlorine per 24 hours. I run it for a minimum of 9 hours during the day, 8am-5pm. I'm fairly sure the FC level will be way up in the morning, after it comes down to 6-7, I'll do a OCLT.

Jimrahbe said:
C,

What size SWCG do you have? And, how long is it running? I see you have increased the SWCG's percentage, but I see nothing about run time??

I'm not a fan of running in the "boost" mode. It generally means something is wrong and you're having to try and make up for it.

If me, and my dog, I'd be running my FC at 7 just to make sure...

Thanks,

Jim R.
Click to expand...
 
Did a OCLT -
yesterday at 5:00pm:
FC 9.0
CC .5

this morning at 7:00am:
FC 4.5
CC .5

seems like something is consuming FC, but shouldn't the CC have risen?
should I re-test tonight? Or start thinking about SLAMing the pool?
Are there any concerns with SLAMing a new pool that has been running a month and the finish is still curing?
thanks,
Joe
 

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The effect of my male lab mix swimming is one of humor. He "can" swim, comes right up to edge like he's going to jump in, but I need to carry him in to swim. He swims right out and runs around like crazy. Got him a little sister (just about 4 months old now) and hope once spring comes that she will be a swimmer and convince him to come in.
 
clarker said:
Did a OCLT -
yesterday at 5:00pm:
FC 9.0
CC .5

this morning at 7:00am:
FC 4.5
CC .5

seems like something is consuming FC, but shouldn't the CC have risen?
should I re-test tonight? Or start thinking about SLAMing the pool?
Are there any concerns with SLAMing a new pool that has been running a month and the finish is still curing?
thanks,
Joe
Click to expand...

Joe,

Was it dark at 5 pm? The test needs to be run after sunset and (sorry) before sunrise. That said, a loss of 4.5 ppm is pretty high. If you think you did the OCLT wrong, doing it again can't hurt. Otherwise, I'd start a SLAM.

Keep in mind the SLAM is not just dumping in a bunch of chlorine and waiting a couple of days. You have to continually keep checking the FC level and maintain it at the shock level or higher.

See this ..... https://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl

Jim R.
 
It sounds like the situation I had when I first started my pool. You will need to SLAM the pool. Your pool has some kind of biological agent that exists perfectly well in mid range chlorine levels but eats CYA. Do not add more CYA. Raise your Chlorine levels to about 20 ppm. Brush daily and run your filter 24/7. Back flush the spa jets. On my pool I removed the nozzles and replaced them with pip plugs. I ran a hose of the air inlet back to the pool. I then ran the filter is spa mode for several hours (at SLAM chlorine levels). You will also need to run water through any water features you might have. Remove the pool light (if you have one) from its housing in the pool, and flush/vacuum inside the housing. Do this for several days and then perform an overnight chlorine test. This biological agent is extremely hard to get rid of. Usage of a poly quant algaecide is also helpful.

It took me over six months off and on to eliminate my issue. I also suggest that after the SLAM you maintain at least 5 ppm free chlorine. I have found that if my Cl levels goes below 5 I start to have issues. I know what I have expressed in this post is controversial, but it is my experience with my pool, also located in west central Florida.
 
How long will SLAM take?

Based on OCLT test results showing a drop of 4ppm, I started the slam process:
added a little water to get the level right
rinsed the filter cartridge
added 10oz of acid to bring PH to 7.5
shut down the SWG
based on CYA of 70, added enough liquid chlorine to bring to 28ppm based on PoolMath

Been testing a few times a day and adding chlorine as needed to get back to 28ppm.
The cloudiness of the pool improved quickly, probably a day and a half. Still dropping 3-4 ppm every 5-6 hours. CC has remained at .5 throughout.

My questions are:
How long can I expect the SLAM process take? I'm entering the third day
I turned the heater down from 85 to 70, (no one is using the pool and we're getting 5 days of cool weather in FLA) Does heating the pool have any effect?
I've run the spa a couple of times for an hour or so, should I run it longer/more frequently?
Is there anything else I should be doing?
Thanks,
Joe
 
Can you share a picture of the water/pool? That will help us see what you are dealing with.

There is really no way to tell how long the SLAM will last I am sorry to say. 3 days is not a lot of time for a SLAM. There have been some that only take a week or so and a few that take a few weeks. It depends on the pool and the owner. How bad was the pool to start with and how often is the owner testing and adding?

I am very happy you have the test kit! Just think if you did not! You would not know you had a problem until the pool got REAL bad.

:hug: We will get your pool right again!

Kim:kim:
 
IMG_2565.jpg

Kim -
The pool "looks fine" now. The original problem was that the FC bottomed out to 0 twice. First time the CYA was low, got that to the correct level but the FC kept dropping day to day. Tried increasing the SWG, but didn't seem to catch up. After a heavy day of use, the FC bottomed out again and the CYA was low again. (Still don't understand CYA dropping twice in a month) After the second drop, the water started to get cloudy, that's when I ran the OCLT and started to SLAM.
So based on your comments, going into 3 days is not unheard of, I guess I'll just keep the FC at SLAM levels until the OCLT comes back clean.
thanks,
Joe
 
Lets take this one thing at a time:

-CYA drop-have you had as much rain as we have up here in T-town? Do you have an auto fill and drain?

-SWG-most do not work in lower water temps. Some 55 some 60. It is always a good idea to keep chlorine on hand to help your SWG out.

-SLAM-yeah you are on the right track. Keep it up until your OCLT comes back good.

That is a VERY pretty pool and area!

Kim:kim:
 
Thanks Kim, answers below:

kimkats said:
Lets take this one thing at a time:

-CYA drop-have you had as much rain as we have up here in T-town? Do you have an auto fill and drain?
No rain here for months, no auto-fill. Only water added was due to evaporation, probably adding an inch or so once a week.

-SWG-most do not work in lower water temps. Some 55 some 60. It is always a good idea to keep chlorine on hand to help your SWG out.
When this all started the SWG was operating in 80+ degree temps. We haven't dipped below 70 until last night.

-SLAM-yeah you are on the right track. Keep it up until your OCLT comes back good.
thanks!

That is a VERY pretty pool and area!
Thanks, we're loving it!

One more question:
although we haven't used the pool or spa since we started the SLAM, and it's going to be cool here until mid week, can the pool or spa be used while SLAMMING or just keep it off-limits?

Kim:kim:
Click to expand...
 

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