Quick question on fc test dilution

[MNPoolDreamer]

I'm going to shock my pool for MA, but I don't want to use up all my reagent and count up to 48 drops twice a day.

I know I saw it somewhere, but can I dilute the 10ml sample with distilled h20 and count drops as 1 instead of 0.5? I just need a ballpark for this cause I dont really care if it's 22 or 20, I'd raise it if it is below 24 and I don't care about cc at this point.

Im so sick of water boatmen in my pool. The pool store tells me I only have 7ppm fc and I tested 17 with the same water. They use some fancy machine and I questioned them on it. They re-tested and got the same number. I can't get rid of the bugs in my pool. I have no visible algae and I brush the walls almost daily...I'm so sick of brushing.

Sorry but I feel like maybe some people just aren't cut out for the work in pool ownership.

My cya is 40
Fc was 17 - before "shocking" added 4lbs lithium (had on hand) brought fc to 31 no cc.
TA 175
Ch 325

Thanks!

 

[JasonLion]

Shocking the pool probably won't get rid of water boatmen.

Yes, as long as the dilution water is chlorine free you can mix equal amounts of pool water and chlorine free water, do the test on that, and count each drop of reagent as 1.0 ppm of chlorine.

 

[MNPoolDreamer]

But it will get rid of the source of food (algae) if there is some right? Or is this just a part of pool ownership? And why my sister doesn't get them I don't know. She lets her fc drop to zero has very heavy bather load and uses a puck every day! Her cya should be out of this world...no bugs, no algae in 12 years of ownership. She doesn't even own a pool brush!

 

[MNPoolDreamer]

No waterboatmen in the pool this morning...chlorine held over night and no cc.

Questions:
If I'm still over shock value I'm ok not adding anything even if it would drop, right? Meaning if I over shoot the MA shock value I can let it sit until it comes down to 24 and then hit it again right? I'm thinking it doesn't serve any purpose to overshoot a shock level other than I can let it sit and kill stuff in the pool while I'm at work.

 

[MNPoolDreamer]

Just in case anyone ever searches this forum looking for WaterBoatmen information...
Knock on wood, the "shocking" process has moved them out of my pool. We'll see what happens as the temp goes up and the chlorine comes down. I held overnight and 0 cc. Water is sparkly clear - expcept for all the dust on the bottom...since it's not algea, we're just going to have to live with it. Maybe it was better when I couldn't see the bottom - NOT!