New Readings... Suggestions?

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brrit

0
Jun 14, 2010
11
Dallas, TX
Alright, I've read everything and to be honest my head is spinning a little from all the information. Excited to see your methods and the simplicity of the program in action in my backyard.

My 13K IG pool has been up and running now for 3 years and started to run into troubles early this swim season. The algae was appearing and chlorine was difficult to maintain. So, this week I drained half the water out and then thankfully found this forum. Perfect timing.

Yesterday, here were my readings:

FC - 0.4
CC - 1.8
PH - 7.6
TA - 110
CH - 330
CYA - 60

I added 1 jug of bleach to get the FC up and see if the water would hold up. And, here are the readings from this morning:

FC - 0.6
CC - 2
PH - 7.6
TA - 110
CH - 330
CYA - 45

So, I'm thinking I need to shock the pool taking it up to 16-18ppm. I am reading the charts correctly?

Thanks for you help!
Bryan
 
Welcome to TFP! There are lots of people here to help.

You need to add enough chlorine to bring your pool to shock level and test as often as once an hour (if you can) and keep adding chlorine until your FC starts to hold, then you can back off to once or twice a day until you lose less than 1 ppm FC overnight and have .5 ppm CC or less. With your CC, you have something organic in your water consuming your chlorine.

Suggest reading How to Shock Your Pool. Also, shocking will be a little more effective if you bring your pH down to about 7.2, but it's in a good range right now if you don't want to mess with that.
 
Bryan, welcome to TFP :wave:

Not sure how you are testing your water, but from the 0.2ppm increments, I'm gathering you are using the Taylor K2006?

Your CC's at 2 is high and yes, you will need to shock. Not sure if your CYA is 45, 60 or somewhere in between. To be certain you reach shock level, let's assume it is 50+, therfore you want to raise your FC up to at least 20ppm and hold it there as suggested in the post above. Once your comfortable with your CYA level, just refer to the CYA/FC chart in pool school.
 
Ok... more questions.

I am starting to shock the pool and have put in 96 ounces more bleach/chlorine than the pool computer recommended. I am assuming that I just keep dumping in bleach until I reach the FC level recommended. How many bottles of bleach do I need for this? I'm already at 5 in the pool. That's a lot of bleach!

Right now after the first 5 jugs of bleach:

FC - 1
CC - 2

Starting to wonder if my test kit is not testing properly or something.
 
No idea how many it will take. Keep using the pool calculator and follow it's recommendations.

What's happening is that your pool water is consuming the FC almost as soon as you add it. The more often you can get to your shock level the better off you will be.

Head out and get 12 large bottles of bleach. If you don't use them in shocking, you'll use them in daily maintenance.

Read How to shock your pool in pool school.

As for the chart reading...if you are using a 50 CYA level (we really need a solid confirmed number on this...) then your shock level is 20 according to the CYA chart.

We're here to help if you need it!
 
With a CC of 2, PG22 is correct. It's consuming the FC as soon as you're pouring it in there. As she stated, the more often you can test and bring it back to shock level the faster it will go. We usually recommend testing and adding every hour when first starting to shock.
 
Alright... Starting to see progress over this direction after 11 jars of bleach. :shock:

FC - 15
CC - 0 :p

Now, we wait until we pass an overnight test, right?

The kids want to know how much longer this is going to take. :evil:

I'm just glad to see the pool getting on the right path. Thanks folks! :cheers:
 
Now, we wait until we pass an overnight test, right?
Click to expand...

You got it! If FC is staying pretty high, you can test less often, just make sure you keep it at shock level. Also, make sure you brush it a bunch while it's a shock level, paying extra attention to anywhere you actually see algae. Unfortunately, I doubt anyone will be able to give you a clear idea of how long it will take. Maybe someone with more experience than me will have some thoughts.
 
brrit said:
Alright... Starting to see progress over this direction after 11 jars of bleach. :shock:

FC - 15
CC - 0 :p

Now, we wait until we pass an overnight test, right?

The kids want to know how much longer this is going to take. :evil:

I'm just glad to see the pool getting on the right path. Thanks folks! :cheers:
Click to expand...

Just to be sure because this is sometimes the most difficult concept to grasp ...you must keep bumping the FC to 15 until you pass the Overnight test, have CCs .5 or lower AND the water is crystal clear.

It isn't just get to shock level and be done.
Just double checking you know how to go from here. :mrgreen:
 
Waiting for the overnight test is testing my kids' patience, but we're in it for the long haul. I'll keep pouring in the bleach to keep the levels high until we get a positive result. Thanks for helping me with the process. It isn't anything I've heard of before in pool care to be honest.

I'm assuming that I need to wait for the FC levels to be under 8ppm after passing the overnight test before swimming, right?

I'll tell the kids to cross their fingers we pass the overnight test.
 

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Last night the levels were:

FC - 15
CC - .5
PH - 7.2
TA - 130
CYA - 40

Surprised by the lower PH and CYA to be honest...

Then this morning, the levels:

FC - 5
CC - 0

Yikes! 10 point drop overnight... Guess that means I'm not done shocking. Bummer.
 
A few suggestions:

While waiting for your pool to clear, clear a bucket of your pool water. It will give you a very general indication as to what the process will look like.

Also, I think I would like to get your ammonia tested. Can pick up a test at an aquarium store.

Your drop of CYA and pH is unusual, and you have a pretty agressive chlorine loss. We could be seeing a CYA -> Ammonia conversion in progress.
 
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