Adding Maintenance Chlorine daily

[ecl]

Hi! I have learned a lot from this board and am hoping to care for my pool properly with your help.

I have a question about the minimum chlorine level and the target level. I am passing the overnight chlorine test, the pool is clear and in balance. I add liquid bleach to bring it to 8ppm at night (cya/fc chart)

But I have some daily loss due to sun that reduces it down to 5-4 ppm by evening time (Oklahoma full sun).

Do I just adjust every night to bring it back to 8ppm over the night, or should I add even more chlorine so that by the end of the next day of sun it is still at 8ppm?

 

[Richard320]

It all depends on the CYA level. If the target is 8 and the minimum is 5, and you're dropping to 4 before you replenish, then you need to bump it up a little higher.

The key is to never let the FC drop below minimum.

 

[ecl]

Great. And, I also have a spa waterfall into the pool that I usually let circulate to cool the water overnight. Does that contribute to chlorine loss? and if so, what should I do about it?

 

[frogabog]

Bumping your CYA level up might also help. It shouldn't raise the amount of chlorine you have to add every day, your target (high) and minimum will just jump to the next number up and it should reduce the loss a ppm or two.

To answer your question though, yes. Every day you add chlorine to reach your target (high) in preparation for the next day's use/chlorine loss.

If you perform an overnight test you'll know if the waterfall is contributing to the loss but I doubt it (no sunlight plus no algae/CC = little or no chlorine loss). Do one night without the waterfall running, and the next with. Compare.

The waterfall may contribute to PH rise however, so if that is ever an issue look to the waterfall when troubleshooting.

 

[duraleigh]

Two things and ONLY two things consume chlorine. Sunlight and organics in your pool. The waterfall is irrelevant to your chlorine loss.

 

[dmanb2b]

Two things and ONLY two things consume chlorine. Sunlight and organics in your pool. The waterfall is irrelevant to your chlorine loss.

Yup.

To OP....A full set of test results would really help us help you ...especially your CYA level If you are passing the OFCLT and you are losing more than 3ppm per day, your CYA is likely too low, but before you go adjust it, please let us know what your current CYA level is and how you measured it