Since all of the chemical levels have a range, do most of you shoot for the upper end of the scale and let it drop to the minimum before adding chemicals? Or do most of you shoot for a target level and try to keep it there. Adding chemicals as needed to keep it at that number?
At what point do you guys add more chemicals?
- Thread starter mlawrence17
- Start date
I have found that if I bring it back to target in the morning, the pool stays beautiful. I was letting it fall and then ended up with an ugly algae bloom and 2 days of shocking. Now I never go a day without adding back up...whatever it needs. I use the Pool Calculator to determine this and it has worked beautifully!
aa62579
0
My pool looses 2-3 ppm FC per day normally. I always dose up to 5 above my minimum so that I have a comfort window if I miss a day dosing, heavy bather load, it rains and brings in debris, etc. When dosing each day and nothing unusual going on, this still end up with me only adding 2-3 ppm FCs per day.
When I lower my pH, I go ahead and dose down to 7.0, but I have a pretty good understanding of how much acid I need to do this and how quickly the pH will come up on its own with my high TA. I would only go down to 7.2 if I did not feel confident in this area.
When I lower my pH, I go ahead and dose down to 7.0, but I have a pretty good understanding of how much acid I need to do this and how quickly the pH will come up on its own with my high TA. I would only go down to 7.2 if I did not feel confident in this area.
There are things that change rapidly like FC and pH and things that change slowly or due to specific events like CYA, TA, and CH. I test FC and pH every other day and the other things once a month or sooner if something is going on.
I will push FC to the top of the range and then I let it fall to the bottom of the range by adding bleach only every other day. Sometimes that bites me back and I have dull water or, yikes, FC of 0 to deal with. I am really tired of bleach splashed clothes so I dread the adding of bleach. Now that there are teens next door I can't just strip to my undies the way I used to when I had to add bleach.
pH is tested every other day and when it gets to 7.9 I drop it to 7.4 (or even 7.2 if TA is getting too high).
I keep CYA and CH and TA in their recommended ranges, trying for whatever end of the middle is most advantageous. That is, for my pool, CH falls due to winter rains and only goes up if I use cal-hypo for chlorine -- so middle of the range is best, when it gets low I use cal-hypo for FC needs to slowly boost it. In my pool, TA goes up a lot when I use fill water and goes down with winter rains or if I am using trichlor tablets during vacations. I keep it at the bottom of the range with some room to spare when I am planning a trip. In my pool, CYA drops over winter either a little (passage of time) or a lot (massive rains) and only goes up when I use trichlor tablets for vacations. Each week out of town will add 10 ppm to CYA so I tend to try to keep it low, inspite of needing it a bit higher for TX sun, just for the vacation effect. (Retired so rather a lot of traveling at this point.)
I will push FC to the top of the range and then I let it fall to the bottom of the range by adding bleach only every other day. Sometimes that bites me back and I have dull water or, yikes, FC of 0 to deal with. I am really tired of bleach splashed clothes so I dread the adding of bleach. Now that there are teens next door I can't just strip to my undies the way I used to when I had to add bleach.
pH is tested every other day and when it gets to 7.9 I drop it to 7.4 (or even 7.2 if TA is getting too high).
I keep CYA and CH and TA in their recommended ranges, trying for whatever end of the middle is most advantageous. That is, for my pool, CH falls due to winter rains and only goes up if I use cal-hypo for chlorine -- so middle of the range is best, when it gets low I use cal-hypo for FC needs to slowly boost it. In my pool, TA goes up a lot when I use fill water and goes down with winter rains or if I am using trichlor tablets during vacations. I keep it at the bottom of the range with some room to spare when I am planning a trip. In my pool, CYA drops over winter either a little (passage of time) or a lot (massive rains) and only goes up when I use trichlor tablets for vacations. Each week out of town will add 10 ppm to CYA so I tend to try to keep it low, inspite of needing it a bit higher for TX sun, just for the vacation effect. (Retired so rather a lot of traveling at this point.)
anon and others have given you great responses.
I thought I would mention not chasing "ideal" levels. ph and TA are at the top of this list. Pools will often find a happy place with their ph (combined with TA level), let the pool be happy. If you pool wants to sit at 7.7, if it's stable let it ride (as long as scaling is not an issue, another reason to not shoot right up to the middle/top of the CH range while one is learning where the levels want to sit). Likewise is if seems happy at 7.2, let it be. Once TA is down (or up in a few cases) to a reasonable level, then don't chase it around, just let it settle where it wants and only consider adjusting it if something else is driving a change, such as ph drift or scaling.
So many answers/nuances to your question. Most important thing is to test regularly and take a long-term view of your trends.
I thought I would mention not chasing "ideal" levels. ph and TA are at the top of this list. Pools will often find a happy place with their ph (combined with TA level), let the pool be happy. If you pool wants to sit at 7.7, if it's stable let it ride (as long as scaling is not an issue, another reason to not shoot right up to the middle/top of the CH range while one is learning where the levels want to sit). Likewise is if seems happy at 7.2, let it be. Once TA is down (or up in a few cases) to a reasonable level, then don't chase it around, just let it settle where it wants and only consider adjusting it if something else is driving a change, such as ph drift or scaling.
So many answers/nuances to your question. Most important thing is to test regularly and take a long-term view of your trends.