One month of BBB on new pool - any advise??

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partypond

partypond

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LifeTime Supporter
Jul 5, 2008
89
Frisco, Texas
Well, I feel like I have a handle on the chemistry of the pool but please let me know if you have any suggestions. Here are my numbers today -
FC - 4
CC - 1
PH - 7.5
TA - 110
CH - 600
CYA - 40
CSI - .27

I am losing about half my chlorine overnight so adding about 60 oz bleach a day and the ph comes up to about 7.6/7.7 overnight so I am adding acid (6-10oz) everyday to keep that down. Does that sound about right?

I know the CH is really high but that is just the way our water is so refilling is not an option. Is this going to be a problem for me? Any suggestions?

The pool gets sun most of the day and the air temp is averaging about 80 during the day and 50's at night.

THANKS!! This site and all the info has really made the start up of my pool easy and I feel like I can control what is happening.
:party:
 
If CC is really 1.0 then you have a problem. If CC is above 0.5 you should shock until CC comes down to 0.5 or lower. However, it is fairly easy to be off in the CC test by one drop, so worth double checking that result first.

High CH levels can be managed but it takes some care. With your numbers the way they are you need to be very careful not to let the PH get much higher than it already is. I would lower TA a bit so there was a little more headroom on PH.
 
A chlorine loss over night and cc of 1 might be an indication that the pool needs to be shocked. Maybe some others will either confirm or deny this? I fought rising PH as you are until my TA got down to 70/80. CYA of 40 would be to low for my pool I perfer 50/60.
 
CC at 1 would worry me. Assuming you have the FAS-DPD test, I'd run it again using the 25 ml sample, unless you already did. If it's really 1, shock it now, before swim season starts in earnest.

For the CH: rain is your friend. I've had CH as high as 1100. Partial drains to water the lawns and refilling with tap water kept things stable, but rainwater is what really helped. I directed one of my downspouts to the pool to grab as much calcium-free water as possible. I'm now down to 550. And I intend to continue to run my lawn-watering water through the pool again this year. I have some scaling that is visibly dissolving and I want to keep it up. It's a pain to do it this way; so much easier to let the automatic sprinklers do the lawns, but the pool is more important.

Aggressively reducing TA will keep the CSI low. Play around with the pool calculator and see what happens when the water gets warmer, calcium increases, and pH stays in the comfort zone.
 
Today was the first day CC has registered so I will get on that immediately. I will also work on lowering the TA - Is 80 a good goal or is that to low for a plaster pool? What should my goal for PH be?

Richard, great idea on the rain water and the down spout. I have one spout very close to the pool so I might redirect that and see if that will help with the spring rains (hopefully).
 
partypond said:
Today was the first day CC has registered so I will get on that immediately. I will also work on lowering the TA - Is 80 a good goal or is that to low for a plaster pool? What should my goal for PH be?

Richard, great idea on the rain water and the down spout. I have one spout very close to the pool so I might redirect that and see if that will help with the spring rains (hopefully).
Click to expand...
Bookmark this if you haven't already. http://www.poolcalculator.com/
Scroll through and down near the bottom of the page is a section called "Suggested Goal Levels" where you can enter your pool surface and such. Then go to the top and enter volume and test results. It will tell you suggested levels based on what variables you entered. When you're done, it will give you CSI. If it's close to the end of the range, play with the other variables and see what you come up with. I aim for 7.4 on pH. It gives a little breathing room, as my fill water is hard and that can change pretty quick.
 
It is hard to suggest a good level for TA. I found for me a TA level of 90 was good and kept my pH in check for weeks at a time. But again it will be different for everyone. So a perfect TA for one person may be horrible for another. It is just something you have to play with.
 
Thanks for the comments! I have been using the Pool Calculator (love that thing!) but some of my goals where too high so I will get them adjusted. I have added a bunch of bleach and will check levels in a few hours to see what happens. May be on my way to the store to buy more - only one bottle left.

One more question that I could use some advise on... How long (or where can I find some info about it) should I be running the filter and cleaner each day? We just got our landscaping done this weekend so hopefully there will be less dirt in the pool and less for the cleaner to do but I am not sure if I am running the filter enough. Right now I run the cleaner for 3 hours and the filter for 6 hours (3 at high speed & 3 at low speed). Is that enough?
 
partypond said:
Well, I feel like I have a handle on the chemistry of the pool but please let me know if you have any suggestions. Here are my numbers today -
FC - 4
CC - 1
PH - 7.5
TA - 110
CH - 600
CYA - 40
CSI - .27

I am losing about half my chlorine overnight so adding about 60 oz bleach a day and the ph comes up to about 7.6/7.7 overnight so I am adding acid (6-10oz) everyday to keep that down. Does that sound about right?

I know the CH is really high but that is just the way our water is so refilling is not an option. Is this going to be a problem for me? Any suggestions?

The pool gets sun most of the day and the air temp is averaging about 80 during the day and 50's at night.

THANKS!! This site and all the info has really made the start up of my pool easy and I feel like I can control what is happening.
:party:
Click to expand...


Your CCs are still too high...shouldn't be more than .5...If you are losing half chlorine over night you need to shock the pool. Use the pool calculator to find out what your Algae shock level would be...but if you are putting in 60 ounces and are losing half of your levels you have something organic going on. Just based on memory with a CYA of 40...I would take your shock level up to at least 16...but there is also in the pool school section a chlorine CYA chart that shows you your normal level and shock levels based on your CYA reading...You need to keep the shock to that level and then make sure it holds over night. Test your pool in the morning, before the sun gets too high...and then see what your CCs are. If it holds, and your CCs are less than .5 you should be good to go. But right now it seems that you have something going on in the pool that is eating up your free chlorine. Shouldn't be losing Chlorine over night...that is the time when your chlorine is holding firm. If it isn't you got the start of an algae problem or something. Keep up on it...test test test..but keep that shock level where it is supposed to until you see no CCs and it holds over night...with only a 1 or 2 ppm loss overnight.
 

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Ok, FC is at shock level (16), CC is down to .5, ph is dropped to 7.2 and water features are on full blast to lower TA. I will make sure FC stays at 16 until CC gets to 0 and stays overnight. So glad everyone is here to help me through my first algae fight. Learning more everyday and thankful for your patience with all the new folks that are still trying to get to know their pools. I will be rereading Pool School tonight to remind me of everything I have forgotten. Should be required reading every Wednesday for the first 2 months of BBB! Sun shining, hammock ready, pool school on Nook, margaritas make - will be back in a few hours. :lol:
 
partypond said:
Ok, FC is at shock level (16), CC is down to .5, ph is dropped to 7.2 and water features are on full blast to lower TA. I will make sure FC stays at 16 until CC gets to 0 and stays overnight. So glad everyone is here to help me through my first algae fight. Learning more everyday and thankful for your patience with all the new folks that are still trying to get to know their pools. I will be rereading Pool School tonight to remind me of everything I have forgotten. Should be required reading every Wednesday for the first 2 months of BBB! Sun shining, hammock ready, pool school on Nook, margaritas make - will be back in a few hours. :lol:
Click to expand...

You realize that when FC drops that pH will come back up a tad right...Don't adjust it until the FC is back down to normal levels...then if it needs to be adjusted go ahead
 
cubbybeave08 said:
partypond said:
Ok, FC is at shock level (16), CC is down to .5, ph is dropped to 7.2 and water features are on full blast to lower TA. I will make sure FC stays at 16 until CC gets to 0 and stays overnight. So glad everyone is here to help me through my first algae fight. Learning more everyday and thankful for your patience with all the new folks that are still trying to get to know their pools. I will be rereading Pool School tonight to remind me of everything I have forgotten. Should be required reading every Wednesday for the first 2 months of BBB! Sun shining, hammock ready, pool school on Nook, margaritas make - will be back in a few hours. :lol:
Click to expand...

You realize that when FC drops that pH will come back up a tad right...Don't adjust it until the FC is back down to normal levels...then if it needs to be adjusted go ahead
Click to expand...


Actually high FC (FC over 10ppm) tends to give a false high PH reading. Once the FC falls below 10ppm, you'll likely find that 7.2 PH reading may be closer to 7.0.
 
dmanb2b said:
cubbybeave08 said:
partypond said:
Ok, FC is at shock level (16), CC is down to .5, ph is dropped to 7.2 and water features are on full blast to lower TA. I will make sure FC stays at 16 until CC gets to 0 and stays overnight. So glad everyone is here to help me through my first algae fight. Learning more everyday and thankful for your patience with all the new folks that are still trying to get to know their pools. I will be rereading Pool School tonight to remind me of everything I have forgotten. Should be required reading every Wednesday for the first 2 months of BBB! Sun shining, hammock ready, pool school on Nook, margaritas make - will be back in a few hours. :lol:
Click to expand...

You realize that when FC drops that pH will come back up a tad right...Don't adjust it until the FC is back down to normal levels...then if it needs to be adjusted go ahead
Click to expand...


Actually high FC (FC over 10ppm) tends to give a false high PH reading. Once the FC falls below 10ppm, you'll likely find that 7.2 PH reading may be closer to 7.0.
Click to expand...

After I wrote it...I realized i was probably wrong...I began searching for the right answer...Thanks for the correction.
 
Since you have a variable speed pump, you should consider running longer at lower speed instead of less time at higher speed. I would probably run at about 30 to 35 gpm so that the chlorinator and heater will have enough flow to work.

You want to run the pump continuously any time you need to shock.

I see that you list an automatic chlorinator. Is that a tab feeder or a salt water chlorine generator?
 
James, It is a tab feeder but I am using bleach instead. Figuring out the run times seems to be all trial and error but I have been slowing the pump down after the cleaner is on so now I need to figure out how long to run it and doa good job.
 
I am still shocking today so we will see if chlorine holds overnight. Should I stop at some point and clean the filter? The pool has only been functioning for about a month but I am not sure if I should clean it to make sure moting is hanging out in there.
 
partypond said:
I am still shocking today so we will see if chlorine holds overnight. Should I stop at some point and clean the filter? The pool has only been functioning for about a month but I am not sure if I should clean it to make sure moting is hanging out in there.
Click to expand...


It's a cartridge filter right? I wouldn't worry too much about that until it is all done cleaning the algae out, and you are sure you have an Shock level that holds...Once it holds I usually let it run for a day or so, and then I will check the filter and clean if necessary. I don't know that there is a right or wrong on this...but that is how I handle my pool.
 

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