New to board - high FC consumption - just discovered ammonia

[hlf1998]

Good morning! I'm new to the board, and this is my first BBB season. We have the TF100 test kit.
I've read (and re-read) Pool School, and have been following the shock process as instructed but the pool is still consuming huge amounts of FC.

At the end of the season last year I noticed we were having trouble keeping FC in the pool, but as it was close to closing time, we just kept minimal chlorine in until the pool closed. At that time we were still having the pool company close and open the pool. It was also our first winter with the new auto-cover. Opened the pool this spring (3-4 weeks ago) to cloudy water & after a week discovered a lot of white-ish algae behind the light and around the stairs. (Bye-bye pool people - hello BBB!) We spent over 2 weeks scrubbing and following the shock process. Even sent the hubby in very cold water to remove the light (twice!) to scrub behind it. We pretty much had no measurable CYA when we opened the pool & thanks to this board we discovered an ammonia problem last night! I'm starting to feel like we will never get the FC to hold.

Here are the latest test results from 7 am today:

FC 5 (last night @ 8 pm was 19!)
CC (.5 - last night was 1.5)
PH 7.8
TA 190 (I know - it's high)
CYA 45
Ammonia .25
Temp 87

I also know we have to get 10 times the ammonia amount to clear it.

Any thoughts or where to go from here would be greatly appreciated! The recycling guy is going to stop taking all the bleach bottles at the rate we've been burning through them and I am getting frustrated! (I also have 7 or 8 days of shock readings if anyone is interested - maybe I'm not hitting the target?)

 

[hlf1998]

Re: New to board - high FC consumption - just discovered amm

Oh, I should add that the water is crystal clear - it's never looked better!

 

[march2012]

Re: New to board - high FC consumption - just discovered amm

Im new to this but it seems like you are close. Just keep at shock levels or above all the time. you probably will have to add bleach multiple times during the day. Add more than what you need for shock so that it never goes below the shock level.

Jason lion can do exactly calculations ...

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: New to board - high FC consumption - just discovered amm

If you're holding any FC overnight it's not ammonia, unless you've just gotten the last of it and you're on the way to being done. Keep the FC at 18 ppm as often as you can until you pass the OCLT. You've already said your water was clear, that's one step. You also have .5 CC or less, that's step two. So all you have to do is keep at it till you lose 1 ppm or less FC overnight. Just don't be surprised if your CC's jump back up temporarily.

 

[hlf1998]

Re: New to board - high FC consumption - just discovered amm

Thanks! Should I leave the cover on or off during the day? What about at night? During the week we test & add bleach as needed first thing in the morning and as much as we can after work. On the weekends we have been trying to test & add bleach to keep the FC levels at or above shock every hour when possible. For such clear water, it seems like it's taking a long time and a lot of bleach.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: New to board - high FC consumption - just discovered amm

You should leave it off during shocking.
I know it seems like a lot, but given that you have a life to live, its going to take longer than it might if you could hit it several times a day. Stay the course and you'll be done soon.