SHOCKING!!! Now What?

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phipsi1237

phipsi1237

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Jan 16, 2011
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Tularosa, NM
Background: Left for 60 days on temporary duty with military. Mom was in charge of the pool. Lots of yellow stuff on sides of the pool towards the end of my 60 days. Mom thought it was due to all the little yellow flowers blowing off the neighbors trees. When I got home, pool was pretty clear, but there was no chlorine in it. I noticed a lot of little yellow patches on the sides of the pool.

5/18- 4pm: 74deg/FC 0/CC 0/PH 8.2/TA 100/CH 340/CYA 15 /ADD: 90oz LQ, 49oz MA RAISE FC to 5
5/19- 9pm: 75deg/FC 1/CC 0/PH 8.2/ /ADD: 72oz LQ, 41oz MA RAISE FC to 5
5/20- 2am: 75deg/FC 1/CC.5/PH 7.2/ /NOT SURE WHY I DIDN'T ADD, POSSIBLY OUT
5/20- 6pm: /ADD: 56oz LQ, 182oz Bleach RAISE FC to 9
5/20- 9pm: 76deg/FC 8/CC 1/PH 7.6/CYA 30 /SHOCKING BEGINS /ADD: 182oz Bleach, 48oz LCYA RAISE FC to 14
5/21-12am: 76deg/FC11/CC1/
5/21- 5am: /FC6.5/CC.5/PH7.6/CYA 50 /ADD: 2x182oz Bleach RAISE FC to 18.5
5/21- 9am: /FC15/ /ADD: 182oz Bleach RAISE FC to 21

Since then, it might have dropped below shock levels once, I kept it above 18 for a day or so, then went to the HIGH SHOCK level. Hasn't dropped below about 23 since then. I check it at least every 2 hours from about 5:30am to 10:00pm or later. I usually end up adding another gallon of bleach or chlorine to bring up from 23/24 to 30. Night before last OCLT dropped by 2. So that was a positive finally. It still drops a lot during the day. But I'm hoping that was due to a CYA of 50 with extremely high chlorine levels. I've added at least 23 or so 182oz jugs of bleach.

Now what. Last nights drop was from 29 at 9pm to 25 at 5am. It was extremely windy last night, and there's a lot of debris in the pool this morning. Could that have affected the chlorine as well?

I cleaned the filters about 3 days ago. They were well due for it. I ordered new ones. They came in yesterday, but I didn't want to put the new ones in till the chlorine levels were back down. Should I go ahead and throw them in.

Any help will be much appreciated. BTW, the pool has been crystal clear for several days with CCs no more than .5. Just waiting to pass the OCLT.


14K, Plaster, Attached Spa
 
Now it is time to be patient. The OCLT is a test designed to really get the last vestiges of organics out of your pool and it takes longer than EVERYONE wants it to.

So the "Now what?" is to keep on keepin' on....you're close. :goodjob:
 
So, I should bring the FC back up to 30? I read the article on the mustard algae and was really hoping to not have to pull the lights. Should I go ahead and install the new filters? The house was purchased a few months ago, and I have no idea if the filters have ever been replaced.
 
Trust me. Pull the lights. I think I would have been done by now if I had done that sooner. If you have a removable ladder I would pull that as well and pour some bleach water in the legs.
 
I'll do that today. I'll go ahead and get started on the light in the spa since I can drain it into the pool. Just my luck though with the high winds, the temp dropped 5 degrees last night. I have no ladder. So at least I'm good there.
 
I pulled the lights. I bushed the niches out, they looked fine. The 71 degree water felt amazing on my lobster red sun burned back!!! Not really. So, the filter cartridges need to be changed. I was hoping to wait until I was finished shocking. I didn't want to expose the new cartridges to the FC of 30. Or should I go ahead and do it? Could that help with the shocking? I was thinking that it would.
 
Update: I installed the new cartridges yesterday. The OCLT dropped 1.5 down to 27.5. I had to work today, so I went ahead and added another 182oz jug of bleach at 5:30am. Then, I had my mom blindly add 1 gal of liquid chlorline at 9:15am and another at 1:15pm. Tested the water at 4:30, and it was down to 19. I added another 2 gallons of liquid chlorine.

So...with the drop of only 1.5 on the OCLT, that's the difference in only one drop. I should have tested it twice this morning, but I was running late. And, with that many drops, I would think the error would be greater. Also, would it be possible that it would drop a little more just because the FC is so high to begin with? Also, with the CYA so low, I'm guessing that's why I lost about 28.5 total FC so far today (with all the additions).

The water is clear as ever, and the CC has been .5 or less for sever days. I'm ready to continue through the night again. However, if I get a drop of only 1.5 in the morning, should I let the FC burn down and see what it does? Thanks for all the help.

Bill
 

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3pm: FC 19.5 (yesterday is down to 19 after adding 4 gallons of liquid chlorine and a 182oz of bleach!!!!!) So, appears to have worked!!!

I added some acid knowing it'd be off the charts. What do I need to let the FC get down to before testing everything else?

Thanks for all the help on the shocking. It only took a week and about 30 gallons of bleach!!!
 
So... Everything appears to be back to normal. CYA dropped from 50 before the shock process to 30 after. I think I read that it's normal for you to lose CYA while shocking at high FC levels. Is that correct?

Thanks,

Bill
 
phipsi1237 said:
So... Everything appears to be back to normal. CYA dropped from 50 before the shock process to 30 after. I think I read that it's normal for you to lose CYA while shocking at high FC levels. Is that correct?

Thanks,

Bill
Click to expand...
That's a new one on me. I always chalked it up to testing error or the water being clearer after shocking.
 
You won't lose enough CYA because of the shock process to count. Since you have a cartridge filter you don't backwash, so unless you drained or pump to waste you shouldn't have lost very much CYA at all. If it wasn't water loss I'd chalk it up to a testing error.
 
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