Running out of 870 during shock

[ouachita]

I am on the tail end of shocking and am about to run out of 870 drops. I just ordered some but they probably won't be here until Monday at the soonest. What should I do? I probably have enough for 2 or 3 tests based on shaking the bottle.

Should I use pool store tests and save my drops for Sunday? Can I dilute the water and use the standard chlorine test somehow? I am shocking at 19 so it takes quite a few drops to check it. I have been adding around 2 gallons of bleach per day for the last 3 days of the process.

 

[ouachita]

Sorry I meant 871. Not the 870 powder

 

[jblizzle]

Out of curiosity, did you get the K2006 or the TF100?

The pool store test likely only goes up to 5ppm, so that will not help.

You can try using 25% pool water and 75% distilled water in the OTO or DPD test and just make sure the color is on the high end. Obviously this is not very accurate, but might get you by.

 

[Bama Rambler]

You are using the 10ml sample aren't you?
If so then go to a 5ml sample and each drop counts 1 ppm instead of .5 ppm. It's not nearly as accurate, but maybe it'll get you through the weekend.

 

[ouachita]

Yes, TF100. And yes I am using 10 ml. I'll switch to 5ml. I'm kicking myself because I knew I would eventually need some and should have placed an order earlier. I just thought I had enough to shock.

What could happen if my chlorine goes over the mustard shock level?

 

[Richard320]

Yes, TF100. And yes I am using 10 ml. I'll switch to 5ml. I'm kicking myself because I knew I would eventually need some and should have placed an order earlier. I just thought I had enough to shock.

What could happen if my chlorine goes over the mustard shock level?

You run the risk of bleaching the liner.

 

[jblizzle]

Likely not much since it would only be that high briefly.

But, you should not over shoot that much.
With a FC shock level of 19ppm, the mustard level is 37ppm according to the pool calculator for a CYA of 65
According to the chart in Pool School, the shock level for CYA of 65 is a FC of 26ppm.

So you would be safe maintaining 26 if you wanted ... assuming your CYA is actually 65ppm and I did not guess incorrectly.

 

[ouachita]

My cya is right at 30. I've been running a mustard shock level of 19. I'm going to back that down to standard shock level until I get more drops. The bad thing is I was to the point that my water is crystal clear. I ran an oclt the other evening and it showed 1 ppm loss but it rained 1/2" so I ditched those results because the water was still a little cloudy in the deep end. My cc's were at .5 this morning

 

[jblizzle]

There is no reason to be running your shock FC level so high ... keep it down around 13ppm.

 

[ouachita]

ouachita wrote:
Could someone please clarify the following. To shock for ma you maintain the pool at shock level until you pass the oclt and have .5 or less cc. Then you raise it to ma shock level for 24 hours. Correct? It is not necessary to stay at ma shock levels for the whole process.

If you have ONLY yellow/mustard algae, then I'd go straight to the higher level and keep it there until the algae is gone, but what is most important is to get behind light niches, under removable ladders, clean poles and nets and other equipment, wash swimsuits in soapy water, etc. You have to kill this algae everywhere so that it does not come back. Having it at the higher shock level for more than 24 hours is OK to do and more conservative. The only reason we don't say to always do that is if you've got general cloudy or green water so have multiple types of algae, you want to get rid of the easy stuff first so that you don't expose your pool to the higher shock levels for as long.


The reply above from a thread last year is why I was at mustard shock level. I have backed it down though.