I'm currently keeping my FC at 8 ppm, since my cya is 70. I understand it is higher than others because my cya is on the higher side. Is this level safe for us though? I have young kids 18 months and 4 years and I just want to be sure this isn't going to be too harsh for their skin. I'm using 6% bleach and have stopped using pucks as of about three weeks ago. Am I better off replacing water and bringing cya level down so that I can maintain a lower FC level or are things fine the way they are?
question about FC level
- Thread starter melissab
- Start date
I just asked this same question only my CYA is 100+ and my FC was over 20 ... was told it was not a problem and we swam and had no issues with a 2 and 4 yo.
What I typically have been seeing in the forums is that it is safe to swim up to the shock level ... which according to poolcalculator.com for a CYA of 70 is a FC of 20.
Actually, the calculator says that your target should be between FC 5 and 10 ... so 8 seems to be good.
I am sure others will weigh in and hopefully confirm my understanding
EDIT: oops I had the target levels wrong ... now corrected.
What I typically have been seeing in the forums is that it is safe to swim up to the shock level ... which according to poolcalculator.com for a CYA of 70 is a FC of 20.
Actually, the calculator says that your target should be between FC 5 and 10 ... so 8 seems to be good.
I am sure others will weigh in and hopefully confirm my understanding
EDIT: oops I had the target levels wrong ... now corrected.
As long as your CYA is 70, and CC is 0.5ppm or below, PH around 7.4-7.6, you will be just fine. I run my pool between 6-8ppm all summer, and all my kids limbs are in tact, eyes are never red...etc. Neighbors love my salt pool instead of their chlorine pool 
- May 4, 2011
- 634
My fiance told me her friend's brother switched to a "salt water" pool so their baby wouldn't be in chlorine!dmanb2b said:Neighbors love my salt pool instead of their chlorine pool
BLAST! I need to request a smilie. Same as Mr Green only spinning
on a note related to this thread, my CYA is around 90-100, was at 100 probably closer to 90-95 by now. And I was planning to target my FC around 10-12, I'm still going strong from a shock, but probably need to bring it back up since my last test had CC @ 0.75-1ppm (believe I have it written down at home).
Things are fine the way they are. You wouldn't want to swim in 8 ppm FC if you had no CYA. But they way it works chemically, you're really only at the equivalent of about .5 FC with no CYA. That's less than most municipal tap water has.
70 is a little high, but certainly manageable. You won't be able to use the color matching tester to check FC, that's all. You must use the FAS-DPD test. I survived all last summer with CYA between 2 and 3 times as high as yours! Just don't let FC drop too low and get an algae bloom, shock level is astronomical then.
Assuming you don't add any more stabilizer, even snuck in via tablets, expect CYA to go down with splashout. Might take til end of summer to show up on the tester, but it will gradually dilute.
70 is a little high, but certainly manageable. You won't be able to use the color matching tester to check FC, that's all. You must use the FAS-DPD test. I survived all last summer with CYA between 2 and 3 times as high as yours! Just don't let FC drop too low and get an algae bloom, shock level is astronomical then.
Assuming you don't add any more stabilizer, even snuck in via tablets, expect CYA to go down with splashout. Might take til end of summer to show up on the tester, but it will gradually dilute.