1st Time Poster - Day 8 . SHOCKED + CRITTER!

[linen]

Re: First Time Poster - Could Use Help - Day 5 tests. PICS U

Can you use calcium hypochlorite as your sanitizer as well?

Not in your case, since you CH is already high enough and calhypo adds calcium.

 

[Sean Riley]

Re: First Time Poster - Could Use Help - Day 5 tests. PICS U

Can you use calcium hypochlorite as your sanitizer as well?

Not in your case, since you CH is already high enough and calhypo adds calcium.

I see, I am the type who really wants to know how "it" ("it" meaning anything) works.

Thanks again for the good advice.

BTW, pressue gage is in and reading 18. The filters are clean only a few days, so when I do it again, I'll make sure to take another reading.

 

[Swampwoman]

Re: First Time Poster - Could Use Help - Day 5 tests. PICS U

You will drive up your calcium by using that -- and you have a gunite pool, so no, I wouldn't use cal hypo.

Bleach from some place like Aldi is cheaper, and I used to buy 20 bottles at a time. But I hated wasting that much plastic, even though I recycled it. So I started using a "refill" service of bleach at a local pool store -- and it's 12.5% and always pretty fresh as they go through a lot of it too. It costs more, but I really like the refill system, and refilling is still cheaper than buying and wasting new bottles all the time.

While the variables are indeed wide in range, I would expect you to use at least 6-8 bottle of "regular" bleach (now 8%) to get up to shock level depending on your CYA, and then have a need to maintain that daily by at least half as much again for at least 3 days -- just a guess.
So I would expect to start out with a min. of 20 gallons to be safe. Clearing a foreclosure swamp, I used 55 gallons -- but I got of EASY because it was COLD at the time. Once you're fighting "warm weather" multiplying algae, it's a bit of a trick to stay ahead of it.

Also, just so you know...sunlight and warmer temps cause free chlorine to reduce by anywhere from 30 - 50% daily -- and the trick with successful shocking is to dose the pool so that it STAYS above shock level at all times...which means overdosing it a little OR being on hand to add more frequently.

In terms of ongoing, post-shock maintenance, with my particular CYA levels in a very debris-prone pool (bounded by a terrace and many trees...so tons of stuff gets into said pool daily) and 22k I generally expect a consumption on the higher end -- eg. 3.5 - 4 ppm or about 1/2 - 2/3 a bottle of 12% -- daily. However, cloudy days with light debris load might mean only a 2 ppm drop or less. Hope that helps give you a very very ROUGH idea for your planning purposes.

 

[linen]

Re: First Time Poster - Could Use Help - Day 5 tests. PICS U

I see, I am the type who really wants to know how "it" ("it" meaning anything) works.

Take a look at this poolschool article then: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/calcium_scaling

 

[Sean Riley]

Re: First Time Poster - Could Use Help - Day 5 tests. PICS U

You will drive up your calcium by using that -- and you have a gunite pool, so no, I wouldn't use cal hypo.

Bleach from some place like Aldi is cheaper, and I used to buy 20 bottles at a time. But I hated wasting that much plastic, even though I recycled it. So I started using a "refill" service of bleach at a local pool store -- and it's 12.5% and always pretty fresh as they go through a lot of it too. It costs more, but I really like the refill system, and refilling is still cheaper than buying and wasting new bottles all the time.

While the variables are indeed wide in range, I would expect you to use at least 6-8 bottle of "regular" bleach (now 8%) to get up to shock level depending on your CYA, and then have a need to maintain that daily by at least half as much again for at least 3 days -- just a guess.
So I would expect to start out with a min. of 20 gallons to be safe. Clearing a foreclosure swamp, I used 55 gallons -- but I got of EASY because it was COLD at the time. Once you're fighting "warm weather" multiplying algae, it's a bit of a trick to stay ahead of it.

Also, just so you know...sunlight and warmer temps cause free chlorine to reduce by anywhere from 30 - 50% daily -- and the trick with successful shocking is to dose the pool so that it STAYS above shock level at all times...which means overdosing it a little OR being on hand to add more frequently.

In terms of ongoing, post-shock maintenance, with my particular CYA levels in a very debris-prone pool (bounded by a terrace and many trees...so tons of stuff gets into said pool daily) and 22k I generally expect a consumption on the higher end -- eg. 3.5 - 4 ppm or about 1/2 - 2/3 a bottle of 12% -- daily. However, cloudy days with light debris load might mean only a 2 ppm drop or less. Hope that helps give you a very very ROUGH idea for your planning purposes.

Excellent. This definitely helps. I'm going to look for the "refill" option here. I like the idea of getting a better concentrate, just for lugging around purposes.

I would like to keep shopping to less than one trip a month if possible. On the other hand, I was thinking 50 gallons, and where and how to store it.... I know that I probably can get away with less once I get through the shock procedure.

 

[Sean Riley]

Re: 1st Time Poster - Day 8 . SHOCKED + CRITTER!

Hello forum members. So far so good, and again, thanks for the help. I have questions at the bottom.

My last full test results from day 6 (two days ago) were:

OTO - 0
pH - 7.4
FC - 0
CC - 1
TC - 1
TA - 60
CH - 340
CYA - 55
TEMP - 74

Other items. Pressure gage replaced. I had to clean the filters again, just to know what the baseline for clean was, and it is 11 PSI.

I decide to shock starting yesterday so I vaccum to waste again, fill, (we have had a lot of rain in the last 24 hours), clean the filters, and brush everything. I see no yellow.
I start shock process in the afternoon at 2:20 PM. I start with 6 gallons of 8.25. This raises FC to 15, not enough,
I put in 4 more at 4PM, test at 5PM and I'm up to 28. Good to go.
Test at 7:15, FC is 19, and I'm guessing I'm about 2.8 to 3.0 ppm per gallon. So two more.
Test at 9:30, FC is 20.5 and I do my first CC which is still 1, So I do three more.
Test at 11:45, FC is 25, CC is 1, FC is exactly what I predict it should be!
Test at 1:45, FC is 23.5, CC is 1. Add 1.

Test in morning for overnight test. Find small POSSUM IN THE SKIMMER, alive!!! Talk about organic material...

Fish him out by letting him cling to my vacuum hose, set him down, it promptly jumps back into the pool and starts swimming. So my first swimmer is a possum. I fish him out and he's let go into the tree line.

Test at 7:00, FC is 21.5, CC -1 . So a loss of 2ppm over 5 hours. Getting better, Add 1. Filter pressure is at 16. Water is VERY, VERY clear. That's over 25% on the filters...
Test at 11:45, FC is 20.5, CC - 1. Add 1.
Test at 3:15, FC is 21, CC is .5! Add 1.

So I'm going to backwash the filters, fish out some stuff I can clearly see on the bottom. Now, according to the guide, I keep shocking until I get an overnight drop of less then 1ppm. Correct?

It is safe swim at <10 ppm. Correct?

How much time usually passes between shock time and swim time?

When is it safe to test for other values? pH, TA, etc.

Thanks so much!

 

[linen]

Re: First Time Poster - Could Use Help - Day 5 tests. PICS U

Find small POSSUM IN THE SKIMMER, alive!!! Talk about organic material...

It is safe swim at <10 ppm. Correct?

It is safe to swim at FC levels up to the shocking level for you cya.

When is it safe to test for other values? pH, TA, etc.

cya, TA, CH, FC, CC anytime.

ph when FC is below 10 ppm.

 

[Smykowski]

Re: 1st Time Poster - Day 8 . SHOCKED + CRITTER!

Now, according to the guide, I keep shocking until I get an overnight drop of less then 1ppm. Correct?

You need to pass all three:
1. CC is 0.5 or lower;
2. An overnight FC loss test shows a loss of 1.0 ppm or less;
3. And the water is clear.

I know you said your water is clear, I just point this out for the benefit of others reading your story, and to make sure the CC you have stays below 1.

Just to expand on linen's answer about other tests, don't bother testing anything other than FC or CC until you're done shocking. It's a waste of reagents because nothing is going to change fast enough to worry about.

 

[Sean Riley]

Day 8 pics.

[attachment=1:1740ubn5]Day 8 - Pic 1.JPG[/attachment:1740ubn5]

[attachment=0:1740ubn5]Day 8 - Pic 2.JPG[/attachment:1740ubn5]