Here are a couple of links to a product I found this year at Walmart:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Pool-Essentials-Shock-5pk/19795892
http://www.kellysolutions.com/erene...ool_Essentials_Shock_9_22_2011_9_41_44_AM.pdf
They're selling it for just under $11 for 5 lbs.
I can also get 4 gallons of 12.5% NaOCl for $16 at my local pool store.
So, a couple questions (please forgive me if all this has been answered; I searched the forums fairly extensively, but I'm still unclear):
1. Which of the above is a better deal (or do you know of an even better deal online or elsewhere)?
2. Do ALL products containing Trichloro-s-triazinetrione release CYA, or just ones that have added it intentionally during manufacturing?
3. Do I refer to this product as "Trichlor", or is that just for the ones that have additives like CYA?
4. If CYA levels are low, does this product save even more money over bleach by avoiding the added cost of purchasing CYA?
5. It dropped my pH a bit; is it my best bet to make one of those nifty aerators, or is there a better way?
I opened my pool (18x36 vinyl, 10 ft in the deep end, so around 32k gallons) a few days ago and found a swamp. The water started out very clear (I'm in Ohio, so the water temp was still quite low - sorry, no thermometer, but it numbed the fingers), but the bottom was dark green and black with a thick layer of algae. I vacuumed pretty thoroughly several times over a couple days. Shortly into the first vacuuming the water clouded dark green up from the residue and has remained in varying degrees of cloudiness, so I've been vacuuming blindly.
Then 2 evenings ago I added 6 pounds of the Trichloro-s-triazinetrione. Next morning the water had gone from dark green to a beautiful aqua color, and was somewhat less cloudy. I was impressed - last Spring, using just NaOCl took a lot longer to get to this point. The day after that (today) I took a water sample to the pool store and got these numbers:
FC 0.98
PH 7.61
ALK 98
CYA 7
The girl didn't want to test the CYA, but did after I pressed, then she said I shouldn't worry about it until I got rid of the algae. She also really wanted to sell me some algicide. Thanks to this forum, I passed on the algicide, and just bought 4 gallons of NaOCl and some test strips (I was prepared to buy a decent fas-dpd test kit from them, but oddly they don't carry anything but strips. I suppose anyone who wants them doesn't go to pool stores?) I also bought 4lbs of HTH CYA at Walmart for $16.
At home, I dipped a stick. The color purple for the FC indicated a level of 3, which makes me wonder if she lowered her number to 0.98 so she could sell more chlorine. The CYA was very light tan. Then I added 4 more pounds of the Trichlor and the 4 pounds of CYA, both well diluted and into the skimmer. After 4 hours with the filter running, the strip indicates:
PH 6.2 to 6.8
FC >10 (very dark purple)
TA ~120
CYA ??? (I've always had a hard time with the color on this one - the light brown/tan color really doesn't fit anywhere on their scale. But I'm guessing it's 0-20 range)
I'd like to stick with this cheaper Walmart Trichlor granules as long as possible - seems like a great deal. I'd like to stock up on it before they raise the price or discontinue. Thoughts?
(and thanks in advance - you all rock!)
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Pool-Essentials-Shock-5pk/19795892
http://www.kellysolutions.com/erene...ool_Essentials_Shock_9_22_2011_9_41_44_AM.pdf
They're selling it for just under $11 for 5 lbs.
I can also get 4 gallons of 12.5% NaOCl for $16 at my local pool store.
So, a couple questions (please forgive me if all this has been answered; I searched the forums fairly extensively, but I'm still unclear):
1. Which of the above is a better deal (or do you know of an even better deal online or elsewhere)?
2. Do ALL products containing Trichloro-s-triazinetrione release CYA, or just ones that have added it intentionally during manufacturing?
3. Do I refer to this product as "Trichlor", or is that just for the ones that have additives like CYA?
4. If CYA levels are low, does this product save even more money over bleach by avoiding the added cost of purchasing CYA?
5. It dropped my pH a bit; is it my best bet to make one of those nifty aerators, or is there a better way?
I opened my pool (18x36 vinyl, 10 ft in the deep end, so around 32k gallons) a few days ago and found a swamp. The water started out very clear (I'm in Ohio, so the water temp was still quite low - sorry, no thermometer, but it numbed the fingers), but the bottom was dark green and black with a thick layer of algae. I vacuumed pretty thoroughly several times over a couple days. Shortly into the first vacuuming the water clouded dark green up from the residue and has remained in varying degrees of cloudiness, so I've been vacuuming blindly.
Then 2 evenings ago I added 6 pounds of the Trichloro-s-triazinetrione. Next morning the water had gone from dark green to a beautiful aqua color, and was somewhat less cloudy. I was impressed - last Spring, using just NaOCl took a lot longer to get to this point. The day after that (today) I took a water sample to the pool store and got these numbers:
FC 0.98
PH 7.61
ALK 98
CYA 7
The girl didn't want to test the CYA, but did after I pressed, then she said I shouldn't worry about it until I got rid of the algae. She also really wanted to sell me some algicide. Thanks to this forum, I passed on the algicide, and just bought 4 gallons of NaOCl and some test strips (I was prepared to buy a decent fas-dpd test kit from them, but oddly they don't carry anything but strips. I suppose anyone who wants them doesn't go to pool stores?) I also bought 4lbs of HTH CYA at Walmart for $16.
At home, I dipped a stick. The color purple for the FC indicated a level of 3, which makes me wonder if she lowered her number to 0.98 so she could sell more chlorine. The CYA was very light tan. Then I added 4 more pounds of the Trichlor and the 4 pounds of CYA, both well diluted and into the skimmer. After 4 hours with the filter running, the strip indicates:
PH 6.2 to 6.8
FC >10 (very dark purple)
TA ~120
CYA ??? (I've always had a hard time with the color on this one - the light brown/tan color really doesn't fit anywhere on their scale. But I'm guessing it's 0-20 range)
I'd like to stick with this cheaper Walmart Trichlor granules as long as possible - seems like a great deal. I'd like to stock up on it before they raise the price or discontinue. Thoughts?
(and thanks in advance - you all rock!)