Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me too?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
S

Sunny John

LifeTime Supporter
Jun 2, 2007
40
Philadelphia
All,
Apologies if this post sounds a lot like a few others this year, but while the symptoms may be the same, the cause (and the cure?) might be different.

Opened the pool a few weeks ago and after the usual cleanup, the water looked good. First, the CYA was around 20, so I added some stabilizer in a sock in the skimmer, ran the pump 24/7 for about a week, did not backwash. PH was fine during this time, but Chlorine was low. CYA came up only a little, so again I added some (a little less than what the calculator suggested because I use tri-chlor for chlorine). After several days, CYA up to around 45 - good, but FC barely registering, maybe around 1. Was adding 12% bleach (OK, liquid shock, but I don't want to use "shock" as a noun. :wink: Just more convenient than 6% bleach), a gallon every other day.

Ordered and received new reagents for the TF-100 kit.
Today's results:
FC: 1
CC: 1
TC: 2
ph: 7.2
TA: 110
CH: 110
CYA: 45

The pool looks and feels great - very clear! But I cannot seem to get the FC up? And seems like the CC is a little high?

A couple of other observations. The weeks right after opening, we got killed with pollen. The cars looked yellow, patio furniture was a mess,
and there was a fair amount floating on the water. Also I use a solar cover and it was on (and off only for vacuuming) for maybe 10 days
straight. I keep the cover on, even during the day this time of year to get the water up to temp as quickly as I can, and of course it stays on
overnight. So the sun isn't zapping the chlorine.

Is this normal, the chlorine is just being consumed by the pollen and ?? Just keep adding bleach? What else should I (not) be doing?

TIA,
 
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

You need more chlorine. You probably had some ammonia in the water, and the chlorine has been getting used up getting rid of it. Since the FC level isn't going all the way to zero right away, it seems like you are making good progress, but there is still a little ways to go yet. The correct thing to do is to shock the pool, see the instructions in Pool School.
 
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

Thanks for the suggestion of probable cause and also how to treat it. :goodjob: I just checked the site for the TF test kits, and didn't see anything for ammonia but a wider search mentioned test kits available at a pet store? In general is there a recommendation or two for ammonia test kits? :?:
 
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

Butterfly said:
Regardless of the cause, shocking is the cure.

So, I suggest you just save the $ for the kit and start shocking w/bleach/liquid chlorine. :)
Click to expand...

I neglected to mention - I did in fact start shocking the pool last night. Was just trying to be complete. Thanks! :cheers:
 
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

Ammonia tests are available for aquariums. Having a test result will give you an idea of just how much chlorine you are going to need, but is hardly essential. What you need to do is the same if you know the ammonia level or not.
 
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

I stretched a cheap knee-high stocking over my skimmer basket. It catches a lot of that surface cräp like pollen. Then its easy to get rid of it manually. We had a windy day the other day, but I had a fresh nylon in there. I checked the next day, surface was coated, and there was a wad of stuff the size of my fist in the toe. You might consider that. Everything you remove manually means the chlorine doesn't have to work on it.

And yes, you need to keep adding bleach like everyone else.
 
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

Being right up the road from you, I can attest to what you are saying. Conditions are definitely different than last year. We are getting some pollen and veru unseasonal heat.

I have used the nylons, but found the skimmer socks so darn cheap that I just grabbed a couple packs. Both do the job, but I find the nylons tear easier and it's always at the worst time. The socks are more durable and both catch A LOT of junk.

Don't forget, it has been ridiculously hot as well so far. The sun might not be "zapping" your chlorine, but if I'm not mistaken the high 80s, low 90s humid weather we've had this week is tough on FC, especially since bad things really want to grow with that kind of heat and FC has to fight them. I want to try out my new solar cover, but the water this morning was 81 degrees!! If I had the cover on overnight, it probably would have boiled over!!

My FC had been "OK", but then three kids were swimming for a few hours yesterday. I didn't think anything of it, but when I checked my FC at 5PM, it was "0". I was surprised. I added bleach and will check it again today. I also added the large, The Step, wedding cake steps. I should have drilled extra holes in them and even marked them for it. But I thought I was see how the circulation was at first. And it aint great, which means dirt will trap under there. I need to remove them at some point and drill the extra holes. Until then, I might just run a hose in there to "push" the dirt out.
 
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

All good points, and I've had my cover off the last couple days - my water is at 82. And the cover is staying off since
we have a threat of hail - I've had to replace two covers before their time due to hail damage. I'll give the socks a try.

Thanks!


joseywales said:
Being right up the road from you, I can attest to what you are saying. Conditions are definitely different than last year. We are getting some pollen and veru unseasonal heat.

I have used the nylons, but found the skimmer socks so darn cheap that I just grabbed a couple packs. Both do the job, but I find the nylons tear easier and it's always at the worst time. The socks are more durable and both catch A LOT of junk.

Don't forget, it has been ridiculously hot as well so far. The sun might not be "zapping" your chlorine, but if I'm not mistaken the high 80s, low 90s humid weather we've had this week is tough on FC, especially since bad things really want to grow with that kind of heat and FC has to fight them. I want to try out my new solar cover, but the water this morning was 81 degrees!! If I had the cover on overnight, it probably would have boiled over!!

My FC had been "OK", but then three kids were swimming for a few hours yesterday. I didn't think anything of it, but when I checked my FC at 5PM, it was "0". I was surprised. I added bleach and will check it again today. I also added the large, The Step, wedding cake steps. I should have drilled extra holes in them and even marked them for it. But I thought I was see how the circulation was at first. And it aint great, which means dirt will trap under there. I need to remove them at some point and drill the extra holes. Until then, I might just run a hose in there to "push" the dirt out.
Click to expand...
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

On the right track....added approx 200 oz. of 12% liquid chlorine on Tuesday night. Wednesday evening's reading for CC was .5, FC was 2 - after full day exposure to sun. :-D :-D

Thanks for the support and help! :goodjob:
 
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

Wow! Last year I used about 24 jugs for the season. Since May 1, I've used at leasat 5, after my initial "shock" of the pool. CYA was zippo, so I'm dealing with that as well, but I just don't recall it ever being this hard to get er up to snuff.
 
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

Sunny John said:
On the right track....added approx 200 oz. of 12% liquid chlorine on Tuesday night. Wednesday evening's reading for CC was .5, FC was 2 - after full day exposure to sun. :-D :-D

Thanks for the support and help! :goodjob:
Click to expand...

Are you confirming that you are getting up to shock FC levels? If I'm not mistaken you said your CYA is around 45. If so your shock level is around 14-16ppm FC. 200oz of 12% bleach would have only raised your FC by 10ppm. After adding bleach you need to confirm you are at shock level to speed things along and then pass the overnight FC loss test.
 
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

OK. I'm not certain who's a bigger idiot, me or the guy who made the cap to the R-0003 the same yellow color as the R-0600!!!!!!

I just dumped another 160oz of bleach into a pool that was probably already off the charts with chlorine. My daily tester of R-0600 ran out and I opened up, what I thought, was another bottle of R-0600. Turns out, it was R-0003. I didn't realize until just now, when I couldn't find my R-0003. I thought the new wedding cake steps I put in were collected algae or something. i just couldn't understand why there was no chlorine. I tested it when i got home, it was low. Added about 50oz. after an hour, the kids went swimming and Bham! down to almost nill. WTH! I had tools in hand to take out the steps and look for algae. I opted to go for the overnight drop test instead.

I don't even want to think what the level is, as I was going to test for chlorine drop overnight.

I'm headed down stairs for a can of spray paint, to change the color of the lid. They need to make these bottles for folks who are 40+.
 
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

That's a good point, I didn't confirm. I'll visit the calculator and get to the shock level and will go find the article about the overnight FC test.



dmanb2b said:
Sunny John said:
On the right track....added approx 200 oz. of 12% liquid chlorine on Tuesday night. Wednesday evening's reading for CC was .5, FC was 2 - after full day exposure to sun. :-D :-D

Thanks for the support and help! :goodjob:
Click to expand...

Are you confirming that you are getting up to shock FC levels? If I'm not mistaken you said your CYA is around 45. If so your shock level is around 14-16ppm FC. 200oz of 12% bleach would have only raised your FC by 10ppm. After adding bleach you need to confirm you are at shock level to speed things along and then pass the overnight FC loss test.
Click to expand...
 
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

If it's any consolation, I'm not that far from you and have also been adding tons of bleach this year.

I feel like I've been through 3 separate openings -- there was the original one where I got the pool looking good within 24 hours. I backwashed the filter and ended up with a pump problem as well as an electric problem and the pool turned green once again. Got that all cleared up and a few days later, had 2 days of high winds that dumped tons of junk in the pool : leaves, pine needles, pollen, etc. Water wasn't filtering properly after that and got green again, so broke the filter down yesterday and cleaned it (it really wasn't bad at all but very green, no acid needed, just soaked in TSP). Got it running again, and got the water good and clear but there was still aglae and pollen on the sidewalls so dumped in lots of bleach and hope that it will be back to normal before the weather gets hot again. Right now, pump's on until I'm happy with it -- it's clear again after brushing and vacuuming.
 
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

OK, so perhaps a bit of a breakthough, or at least understanding.

I went back and re-read the "shocking" instructions and realized I wasn't really following them. :oops:
While I was using the calculator to determine how much bleach to use, I was not checking
several times a day. I added the calculated amount, and let it go for more than a day - a carryover from the old
days of shocking.

So around 5 PM today I added approximately 300oz. of 12% to get from around 1 FC to around 15 FC. After 90 minutes or so,
I tested FC again, and it was around 7. Added approximately 170 oz. to raise the FC level again, and after 90 minutes, I'm around
FC 15, CC, well, there's still a touch of pink but goes away on the first drop. Won't be able to test again until tomorrow AM.

I will say two things. The water looks a touch cloudier than it did mid-afternoon, though that could be due to brushing. And two, I
do detect a hint of chlorine on the nose (but some will say that this is likely CC, not chlorine).

Getting there! :whoot: :whoot:
 
Re: Seems to be a lot of "keep adding bleach" this year-me t

Hang in there, Shorelover! The last couple weeks has been nasty. More pollen that I've seen before, my car was soooo covered in pollen I was
embarrassed to be seen it it! :oops: :oops: :oops:

At least we have a couple full months to look forward to - and with the forecast for the next few days being in 90's to 100, I know
I'll be looking forward to using the pool!

Shorelover said:
If it's any consolation, I'm not that far from you and have also been adding tons of bleach this year.

I feel like I've been through 3 separate openings -- there was the original one where I got the pool looking good within 24 hours. I backwashed the filter and ended up with a pump problem as well as an electric problem and the pool turned green once again. Got that all cleared up and a few days later, had 2 days of high winds that dumped tons of junk in the pool : leaves, pine needles, pollen, etc. Water wasn't filtering properly after that and got green again, so broke the filter down yesterday and cleaned it (it really wasn't bad at all but very green, no acid needed, just soaked in TSP). Got it running again, and got the water good and clear but there was still aglae and pollen on the sidewalls so dumped in lots of bleach and hope that it will be back to normal before the weather gets hot again. Right now, pump's on until I'm happy with it -- it's clear again after brushing and vacuuming.
Click to expand...
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply