Should my FC REALLY still be this high?

[Hiesman84]

Opened the pool on Friday evening (typing this 4 days later, now Tuesday evening). Had a nice new cover on it all winter, opened before the water hit 60*, and people here say I did good in my closing, so I opened to perfect looking water.

Test results AT opening:

FC = 12.5
CC = <.5
pH = 7.3
TA & CH were fine
CYA = 70-75 or so, tested with brightest indoor light I had.

Even though it had FC in it and looked clear, I went ahead and put it up to shock level using bleach (33 based on my CYA level, though I think I missed a little high and went to 35).

Pool has been UNCOVERED ever since, filter running on high "most" of the time since, and it was pretty cool and cloudy Saturday/Sunday, had some sun Monday and lots of Sun today. This evening, my FC is still around 22.5 (with outside light, CYA looked more like 65). Should it really be this slow to come back down? Is it just a product of my high CYA and the limited sun we've had these last 4 days?

This is NOT the first time I've felt this way - It seemed I had issues even in the middle of last summer with the pool being VERY slow to come down from shock level, so I want to try and understand exactly what is/isn't going on here, and what to expect going forward.

Thanks

 

[duraleigh]

Chlorine is consumed by two things. Sunlight and organics in your pool. You have quite high CYA (to protect from the sun) and you opened to a clear pool (very little organics) Hence, the lack of chlorine consumption. Pat yourself on the back for closing correctly! :lol:

There was probably no need to shock but it didn't hurt anything.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Yes, its possible, I've seen it often. If you haven't had a lot of sun and your CYA is high and there are no organic debris or bathers the FC can last awhile. Do you have a tablet feeder or floater going?

 

[woodyp]

Lack of sun..........AND........still cool water temps I presume? but mostly what duraleigh said.

 

[Hiesman84]

Yes, its possible, I've seen it often. If you haven't had a lot of sun and your CYA is high and there are no organic debris or bathers the FC can last awhile. Do you have a tablet feeder or floater going?

Nothing going right now. Not going to use pucks in the Chlorinator (other than vacation times) b/c of the CYA build-up. And no need to be dumping in bleach right now with it still sitting at such high FC.

Not sure what I'm going to do for adding FC/bleach regularly though, other than just pouring in a little bleach around mid-day each day. Open to inexpesive suggestions...
- do they make slow-release floaters to put bleach in?
- doesn't Walmart have HTH brand UNstabilized tabs?

 

[duraleigh]

Not sure what I'm going to do for adding FC/bleach regularly though

I don't understand that. Are you saying you think you still have to add bleach daily, even with the high FC?

 

[Hiesman84]

Not sure what I'm going to do for adding FC/bleach regularly though

I don't understand that. Are you saying you think you still have to add bleach daily, even with the high FC?

Well, once it comes down from shock level, I'll need a way to add bleach each day to keep within the target FC range, right?. The previous owners used Trichlor tabs, but with my CYA already as high as it is, I figured it would be wise for me to stop using those and switch to bleach.

Yeah, I can just walk out and toss in a cup or so once or twice a day (what ever it takes...I have no idea since I haven't maintained FC with bleach before) if that is the best way to do it, but I didn't know if there was another way to do it, like a bleach floater or something.

 

[BoDarville]

Yeah, I can just walk out and toss in a cup or so once or twice a day (what ever it takes...I have no idea since I haven't maintained FC with bleach before) if that is the best way to do it, but I didn't know if there was another way to do it, like a bleach floater or something.

Use the Pool Calculator (see link in my sig) to determine how much bleach you need to add to maintain the proper FC level for your pool.

You could also look into the Liquidator as a means to add bleach to maintain FC. Here is the TFP forum that goes into more detail on this: http://www.troublefreepool.com/chemical-automation-and-the-liquidator-f81.html

 

[Hiesman84]

Yeah, I can just walk out and toss in a cup or so once or twice a day (what ever it takes...I have no idea since I haven't maintained FC with bleach before) if that is the best way to do it, but I didn't know if there was another way to do it, like a bleach floater or something.

Use the Pool Calculator (see link in my sig) to determine how much bleach you need to add to maintain the proper FC level for your pool.

You could also look into the Liquidator as a means to add bleach to maintain FC. Here is the TFP forum that goes into more detail on this: http://www.troublefreepool.com/chemical-automation-and-the-liquidator-f81.html

1 - LOVE the name!
2 - Yup, know all about the pool calculator
3 - Until I'm more experienced with owning a pool, I would rather not sink a bunch of money into a new system/equip until I'm sure it is the direction I want to go. I'm familiar with "The Liquidator", but it looks to be about $200, and I'm not ready to sink that much cash into something that I'm not really comfortable with.

 

[duraleigh]

Yeah, I can just walk out and toss in a cup or so once or twice a day (what ever it takes...I have no idea since I haven't maintained FC with bleach before) if that is the best way to do it, but I didn't know if there was another way to do it, like a bleach floater or something.

Yeah, I understand now. Once daily will be fine and if your consumption stays low, you will be able to do every other day and stay in normal range.