How much bleach to buy?

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In terms of "just getting started" with the pool your numbers look fine.

FC and Ph numbers from 3 weeks ago are meaningless. These will have moved for sure. While you are getting comfortable with the pool just make sure that FC level stays in that 3 - 7 range (see the CYA/Chlorine Chart) or you'll be fighting off an algae outbreak. Nothing is more upsetting than taking over control of your pool just to have it turn green in the first month.

CYA is surprising low if previous owner was using Pucks. That's a good thing. Either they recently filled the pool or you get a lot of rain.

You're CH is a bit low - you might want to raise it a bit to ensure your pool water isn't dissolving the calcium out of your plaster. This is a long term process - not a crisis.

In terms of buying bleach - I did a survey of all the majors - Costco, Walmart, Target, etc. They all came in around $2.50 - $3 PER 182 OZ 6%. I then found an independent pool supply house that does 12% chlorine quite a bit cheaper once you take into account it's added strength - and they recycle the bottles which I really like.

Once your test kit comes in and you get a feel for how your numbers are moving you'll feel a lot more comfortable with the pool. Read through the Chemistry section at the pool school 5 or 6 times over the course of a few weeks so it sinks in. For now - your pool is pretty well balanced - just make sure you're keeping the chlorine in the pool during this break in period.
 
diverman57 said:
i cannot imagine how you get by on one jug of chlorine a week. according to the pool calculator, that
would be 4.4 ppm of chlorine usage a week. most pool lose 2-3 ppm per day. that kind of usage is
amazing.
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The pool has light use and I keep a blue solar cover on it during the day when not in use. Not sure if this is normal or not, but it works for me!

kal2002 said:
linda1 said:
I have been keeping a log of supplies I've bought since the pool was installed this past May. I've used 12, 182 oz, 6% jugs of bleach in 12 weeks. Not bad, $2.54 a week to keep a sparkly clean pool!
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Where do you buy your bleach?
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Walmart
 
Hello everyone, I got the TF Test kit today and here are the test results:

pH - 7.8 (it' hard to tell if it is really 7.8 or 7.6)
FC - 4
CC - .5
TC - 5
TA - 110
CH - 550
CYA - 35 (between 30 & 40)

Looks like I need to do something with CC being .5? Please advise. Thanks.
 
How's the water look? Anything .5 CC or less is okay. If there is any reason to doubt it (ie, using a lot of chlorine or cloudiness), do an overnight loss test and if you lose less than 1 FC you should be fine.
 
The water looks clear and sparkling. From what I have read on this site so far, looks like the CH is higher than recommended. I just retested the CH with water from a different part of the pool. It tested CH at 500. Should I test it again tomorrow?
 
lightingguy said:
In terms of "just getting started" with the pool your numbers look fine.



CYA is surprising low if previous owner was using Pucks. That's a good thing. Either they recently filled the pool or you get a lot of rain.
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Based on the what I read on this site, the CYA is surprising low given the fact that the previous owner was using pucks and so did the pool service who serviced my pool. Now that I tested it myselt, it is lower than I had expected. We had a lot of rain but that was back in April and May. It rained every week for a day or two - unusually weather for this area. So now I am wondering if something else is going on that is keeping the CYA so low?
 
It also may be that the prior owner was relying on cal-hypo for chlorine far more than on pucks. Were they shocking weekly with powder? Could have been cal-hypo based.

Assuming that you get a lot of rain all winter, it may be that you can use bleach primarily, a few pucks when you go on vacation or if CYA falls below 30 and let the CH fall as you add rainwater. This mixed approach can be managed if you test and know what is going on in the pool. Or you can just manage each item independently, one adjusts slowly, the other all at once.

You may need to test fill water to see what that has as CH as well as TA. If either are really high, you want to be aware. I have very low CH in fill water, but very high TA. So in rainy season CH and TA go down, in dry season as I add fill water, CH goes down and TA goes up taking pH up.

You will want to monitor the SCI value noted at the bottom of the Pool Calculator. If it gets out of range you will need to adjust something, and do test it for various water temperatures if you have a spa in the pool, what is no problem at 80 degrees may be a problem at 105.
 
I tested the water again this morning and it is:

pH - 7.8
FC - 5
CC - .5 (It was 0 and then the water turned slight pink after a few minutes)
TC - 5
TA - 130
CH - 470 (It was 450 until it turned purple from blue so I added 2 more drops)
CYA - 45
water temp - 78 degrees

I put all this info in the pool calculator and the CSI is 0.59.

Sometime in June I had algae. The pool store sold me Phosfree and powder shock. The week before that they told me that the calcium and TA was low so I increased them. Now they are too high. I was there 2 weeks ago and they told me that the TA was too low so I added more baking soda. Maybe I should not have added all this stuff but I did not know. I wonder if I leave it alone now maybe TA and CH levels will go down?

The prevous homeowners left some pool chemicals behind. They were using different things including chlorine tablets, algaecide and liquid chlorine.
 

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