Chlorine consumption, shocking, testing (maybe not insects)

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versstef1

0
Oct 27, 2011
65
Orlando, FL
Hey guys, here's a question I haven't seen anything on. I recently noticed pretty big Cl consumption to the tune of 4 parts/24 hrs. In the hottest parts of last summer, I used 2, so this made me do the OCLT ... I lost 1ppm. This was Saturday to Sunday, from about 8 to 7 ppm. So, while my water is crystal clear and I have 0 CC, and even though 1 is supposed to b e OK, I decided I'll just go through the shocking process, just in case. I had let it drop below the minimum number about 2 or 3 times this year, so I thought it made sense that something would grow. So what the hey, I thought let's shock it and it'll be done in 24 hours. Nope...

For the record, here is my full set of results before the shocking.
FC - trying to keep it between 5-9
CC - 0
pH - 7.8 (added some acid before shocking, not much).
TA - 70
CH - 350
CYA - 40-50 (really hard to read as you know)
Temp 88-90F

So then I started to shock yesterday early... put a little too much and ended up at FC 27. So then this happened:

Sunday, 11am - FC 27
Sunday, 9pm - FC 21
Monday, 6am - FC 16

This is much bigger consumption than I would have anticpated. It wasn't even sunny out yesterday. It did rain about a half inch each during the day and then again overnight. What confuses me is that the overnight loss is so huge. How did I go from losing 1 the night before to losing 5?

So today, I brought it all back up to shock levels and kept it there all day. In the afternoon, I finally had time to get to the baskets and the filter. I noticed a pretty big amount of ants on the pool surface, and also in the filter. I've seen those before after rains. Not sure if they get washed in off the screen or what... they are NOT on the patio, so I've always been confused by them. Can they have anything to do with Cl consumption?

Also, I noticed what looked like worms or maggots in my filter. Never had those before. Never seen them in the pool.

Where could these insects be coming from? Can they live in the pipes or behind the tiles or whatever (to ask a really dumb question, I'm sure)?

Can these insects have anything to do my consumption? I somehow don't think I have algae but who knows.

Thanks for any thoughts. This is stumping me.

One more question - do I have to use more powder when testing with large FC numbers? Or anything else that could lead to bad results maybe?
 
Re: Chlorine consumption, shocking and ... Insects???

Ok so I may be subject to bad testing. Last night FC 22, this morning 25. Huh???!!

I'm using the speed stir, TF100 kit, pump is running 24/7, I rinse everything with pool water first and I even use a syringe to have an exact amount. And I read results indoors in the same light. What gives? I can't shock without exact results!
 
Re: Chlorine consumption, shocking, testing (maybe not insec

Does anyone know what I could be doing wrong with testing or whether these insects could have something to do with this?

Today, I went down from 25 PPM to 12.5 PPM and still w/ some CC, .5 basically.

Should I keep shocking or try to figure out what I'm doing wrong w/ the test, perhaps?

I had a great season but all of the sudden I feel very unsure of what I'm doing... Thanks.
 
Re: Chlorine consumption, shocking, testing (maybe not insec

You're going to lose a lot during the day at shock level. loss is not linear. The higher the FC to CYA ration the greater the loss will be due to sun.

The insects might have a little affect on the OCLT but probably not enough to invalidate it unless there are buckets full of them.

How much R-0870 are you using?
How fast are you dropping the R-0871 into the sample?
Are you sure the sample is turning completely clear on the last drop?
How soon after adding FC are you testing?
How long is the pump running before you test?
 
Re: Chlorine consumption, shocking, testing (maybe not insec

Bama Rambler said:
You're going to lose a lot during the day at shock level. loss is not linear. The higher the FC to CYA ration the greater the loss will be due to sun.

The insects might have a little affect on the OCLT but probably not enough to invalidate it unless there are buckets full of them.

How much R-0870 are you using? two heaping scoops, but it's pretty crusty, so net it's probably two regular scoops
How fast are you dropping the R-0871 into the sample? trying for about 1 per second but not using a clock
Are you sure the sample is turning completely clear on the last drop? yes, doing it all indoors, in the same lighting conditions
How soon after adding FC are you testing?this go-round several hours each time
How long is the pump running before you test?
Click to expand...
until last night, had it running 24/7. this morning 1 hour
 
Re: Chlorine consumption, shocking, testing (maybe not insec

Bama Rambler said:
The higher the FC to CYA ration the greater the loss will be due to sun.
Click to expand...

And it's also worth noting that there's a weird quirk of physics that can actually lead to higher UV rays on cloudy days if you have the right kinds of clouds in the sky. So "not sunny" definitely doesn't mean that no UV is hitting your pool.. which means that loss to UV light is still happening, and if you get the right conditions, it could be more than in full sun.
 
Re: Chlorine consumption, shocking, testing (maybe not insec

Bama Rambler said:
It doesn't look like there's anything wrong with your testing technique.

What times in the evening and the morning are you tesing?
Click to expand...

Right, that's what's got me stumped. I thought I knew what I was doing by now. My results have always been so predictable, no CCs in months, add 25 oz, go up by 2 PPM, and so on.

So for the times, it was after 9pm each night - that's past even astronomical twilight. Yea, I looked it up, no chance for any sun.... And around 6am in the morning, there might have been a tiny ray of sun there, but nothing too bad.

Last night I kind of decided to take a break (also had to work all night) and so the pump turned off and so the last drop from 25 to 12.5 FC, that's from yesterday 6am to today noon.

Thanks for your help. Not sure what I'm doing wrong but when I went UP from night to morning, that's pretty definite that it's testing error, right??
 
Re: Chlorine consumption, shocking, testing (maybe not insec

Yeah, it can't actually go up without adding anything so that has to be some error introduced. Either testing or not waiting long enough after the last addition for it to completely intermingle.
 

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Re: Chlorine consumption, shocking, testing (maybe not insec

Any idea what I should do? If I can't trust my testing...

I had ruled this out as "impossible" , but I just opened a new R-0870 literally the day before. It looks really fresh. Could that have anything do with this?
 
Re: Chlorine consumption, shocking, testing (maybe not insec

Well i just didn't know, something could be growing in them, but if you are circulating high chlorine water through them during the day then they should be clean too. Just trying to think of everything for you. Have you removed lights from niches to inspect for algae there?

You could always video yourself taking the test and post them, we caught one guy not counting the first drop that way LOL. Recently some other guy had started doing the testing (instead of his wife) and i think he was using a 25 ml sample, but counting the drops as .5, so he was getting really low readings but in actuality was shocking the heck out of his pool.
 
Re: Chlorine consumption, shocking, testing (maybe not insec

whatever it is, it boils down to this: 9pm - FC 22. 6am next day, FC 25. So I can't trust any numbers.

I'm doing everything else right w/ the test that I know of... I'm going to go ahead and clean the scoop and the measuring cup and open another package of powder and maybe even reagent.

After that, I'm calling Pinch-A-Penny! Ha, no way, just psyching you guys out.
 
Re: Chlorine consumption, shocking, testing (maybe not insec

Sorry, guys, for the fact that I keep bumping my own thread. But I'm having a real problem here. Please give me any ideas you have!!!

So, I went ahead and did more testing, using two sets of chemicals. One that was relatively news (well, about a year old, just opened), along with my old "chlorine only" container, not cleaned or anything. I'll call that the old set.

For the other set, I used a brand new container (the one that came with the speed stir), plus brandnew, just received power and titrant. I'll call that the new set.

The spoon was the same for both. The water samples were from the same place, in a fully circulated pool. Some of the tests even used the same exact water which I had gotten in my usual cup. I tried to use the same amount of powder and drop about a second apart. Oh, I also only have one magnet thing, but I rinsed it each time with pool water.

So here is the problem:

Test 1, new set FC 8, CC 0
Test 2, old set FC 10.5, CC .5
Test 3, new set FC 10, CC 0
Test 4, old set FC 11, CC .5

A little while later:
Test 5, new set FC 8 CC 0
Test 6, old set FC 10, CC 0.5
Test 7, new set FC 9, CC less than .5, but a hint of color
Test 8, new set FC 8.5, CC less than .5, but a hint of color

How in the world did I manage to unlearn how to take this simple test? I'm losing my freaking mind. :hammer: :hammer: :hammer:

Thanks for your time.
 

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