Chlorine levels dropping

[sandycreek91]

This morning's numbers (from a TF100):
pH: 7.4-ish
FC: 1.5
CYA: 50-60
TA: 80-90

When I opened the pool three weeks ago, it was the first time in two years (new owner of the house). The pool cover was very old and had plenty of holes, so there was a LOT of gunk in the pool. I've gotten the water cleared up, and am down to just a bit of dirt that settles on the bottom every day. I'm still running my pump 24/7.

My FC is still dropping every day. I'm having to add a gallon or so of bleach a day. I'm thinking I need to just slowly keep upping my CYA with stabilizer to the 70-80 range.

Questions:
1) Is that the right strategy?
2) Since I'm running my pump 24/7, does it really take a week to get the full adjustment from adding stabilizer?
3) Over the last week, I've noticed an increasing amount of bubbles in the return. Is this a concern?
4) How do I know when it's okay to drop my filtering to just a few hours a day?

 

[JasonLion]

You should do an overnight FC loss test to see if there is something organic in the water using up chlorine.

CYA can take up to a week to dissolve. Often it dissolves more quickly than that, but you can't count on it.

Bubbles in the return are either an SWG or a suction side air leak. Check the seal on the pump strainer basket lid and make sure there isn't a vortex in the skimmer drawing in air.

 

[Butterfly]

Welcome

Stop adding CYA until you get your pool cleared.

Your FC is too low for your CYA level. See the CYA/Chlorine chart in Pool School.

What is the CC test result?

How does the water look?

 

[duraleigh]

, and am down to just a bit of dirt that settles on the bottom every day

I would suspect that to be dead algae. AS BF and Jason indicated, get your FC level up....quickly. Then, keep it up there until you can pass the overnight FC loss test.

Do not increase your CYA.....you have enough. :lol:

 

[sandycreek91]

I should have stated my CC is at .5 consistently. Sorry for forgetting that. I've not re-checked FC overnight, but it was stable for three days before I adjusted TA and CYA. I've just been adding bleach every morning to get it back up to 6.

I'll check it again tonight and compare it tomorrow.

 

[sandycreek91]

Okay, just checked twice and got two results. FC/CC for test 1 was 1.5/.5?, test two was 2/1. So, should I go to shock mode tonight, or wait and check in the morning to see if I lost chlorine overnight? If I wait, do I bring chlorine up to 6 (target according to CYA chart) tonight? If so, do I wait a half-hour and check it again?

 

[frogabog]

They would have told you to shock.

Both test results tell you to shock, anything over .5ppm CC means shock.

Maintain shock level. Shock till the overnight test is 0. Then you do "target".

I'd also shock at the highest CYA level you think it could possibly be and add some error (overdoing CYA is easy). Missing shock level slows everything down. Test CYA again in a couple days to be sure.

 

[sandycreek91]

I'm really confused. I've kept FC at shock level (16+) for three days. The overnight drop is minimal (1-2ppm), but I can't seem to get CC to drop below 0.5. The water is crystal clear. ph is holding steady at 7.5. CYA is 50.

Do I need to keep shocking at this point? It would seem that since I started this second round of shock with clear water, it shouldn't be such a hassle to get CC to drop to 0.

Am I missing something?

 

[Bama Rambler]

If you're losing 1-2 ppm overnight then yes, you should keep shocking. Once you kill whatever is causing the overnight loss your CC will probably go down.

 

[Butterfly]

Yes, keep shocking.

I agree w/frogabog about shooting for the highest CYA shock level.
With CYA of 60, shock level is about 24.

Retest CYA again in a couple days.

You are done shocking when you meet three criteria: See Red line in my sig.

 

[sandycreek91]

and, sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm working on the assumption that the kids should NOT swim while shocking.

Correct?

 

[RobbieH]

Correct.