Pool off limits to kids?

[gmickey2001]

I went to pool school and am trying to follow the Beginners Guide for Seasonal Pools on the startup chems.

pH of 6.8 and FC of 0 on fill water
Added 32 oz of 10% Chlorine (4 ppm target - I chickened out on 6 ppm because of the 3 ppm max highlighted on the packaging for safe swimming) circulated for 1 hour then let my kids swim.
I then added 8 oz of 100% Sodium Carbonate (pH up) and 12 oz of Trichlor (53.5%) Shock, they didn't have dichlor at the store.

pH of 7.2 and FC of 3 ppm this morning

I will hit it with some more NaCO3 tonight. Should I continue adding the 12 oz of Trichlor the next three nights to get the CYA up or do I need to go find some Dichlor for the remainder?

I am worried about continuing to add and let the kids swim. Will it be safe or will the FC get too high? Do they need to stay out until the process of getting the CYA to 30 ppm and then the FC drops back down over time?

Since I have had to deviate from the procedure outlined in the pool school I am unsure. Thanks, I don't want my kids getting hurt!

 

[woodyp]

Go ahead and add enough CYA to take it to your target level of 30. This has NO effect on swimming. Your FC level is safe to swim in at up to your SHOCK level value of FC. See the CYA/Chlorine chart in pool school. Let'um swim!

 

[Isaac-1]

One more thing that 3 ppm safety warning on the package, is likely based on the reactivity of Chlorine in water with no CYA, and was placed on the packaging by lawyers many years ago when there was no understanding of the CYA / Chlorine relationship (there is still not a lot of acceptance of it in the pool industry, but it is getting better, attitudes are just very slow to change)

 

[gmickey2001]

OK. The test kit I have doesn't measure CYA, so I will just assume that using the Trichlor for the 4 days in a row will put me near the desired target. So just to be clear, using Trichlor versus Dichlor is no big deal?

 

[Isaac-1]

Trichlor will add about 1 parts CYA for every 2 parts of Chlorine, Dichlor will add about 1 part CYA for every 1 part Chlorine