seems like I'm using a lot of bleach.

[mlawrence17]

I just finished building our inground shotcrete pool. Plaster went in last Saturday and I've been testing and brushing non-stop. The SWG will be turned on in about 3 weeks but in the meantime, I've been adding 6% bleach from Lowes. But I'm going thru about 1 1/2 gallons a day. I'm in South Carolina so it's hot and the pool gets about 9 hours of every day. Maybe this is normal (I've never owned a pool before), but I was trying to keep the level around 4ppm but every morning when I check it, it's down to around .5 so I add another bottle. The water has been crystal clear since we filled it. Here are my test results from this morning

FCL - .54
TCL- .77
PH - 7.5
TA - 86
CH - 260
CYA - 48

 

[Richard320]

That's about 4.5-5 ppm/day. I'd call that high.

Your test results appear to be from the pool store. Something about accuracy to 2 decimal places... In which case, they're highly suspect. If your CYA isn't as high as you think it is, you'll lose a lot of FC to sunlight. If it's higher than you think it is, you haven't been maintaining enough FC, and you may have algae trying to get started, which will consume a lot of your FC.

The real test if something's growing in the water is an overnight loss test. To do that properly, one needs the right test kit.

 

[mlawrence17]

Richard, They're not pool store results. I've been testing with my colorQ Pro7. I know it has some limitations but I'm colorblind and I figured that would suffice. My CYA had been in the mid 30 range but I added some more stabelizer last night so maybe that will make a difference. Can I use the ColorQ to do an overnight loss test?

 

[Richard320]

Richard, They're not pool store results. I've been testing with my colorQ Pro7. I know it has some limitations but I'm colorblind and I figured that would suffice. My CYA had been in the mid 30 range but I added some more stabelizer last night so maybe that will make a difference. Can I use the ColorQ to do an overnight loss test?

I don't know, I've never even seen one of those testers in person.

Although colorblind shouldn't affect your ability to do the Taylor CYA test nor the FAS-DPD test. The CYA test is black-and-white, and the FC test goes from colored to clear. It shouldn't matter if you see pink or grey, just that you see it go clear as water.