Hello...newbie here, and first time pool owner, came with house and has unknown history, the the previous owners left a tub of 1 inch chlorine tablets, which I continued to use in the floater.
The good - the pool doesn't smell bad in any way, water is clear and no algae,
I'm not sure if I'm having trouble or not, I've been using Aquacheck Select 7-Way Test Strips, and I got very very high CYA readings, more or less of the scale, so I read a bit about that, and then drained off around half of the pool water, tested over several days and the CYA has gone down, but still isn't great. The problem is that when I add chlorine (using the 1" tabs) the FC and TC seem to go up together in step, is this normal?
I have shocked, double shocked, (I'm aware this now adds to the CYA), and it still happens, and the strips is seem to indicate that my pH was getting lower, so (see 7/11/12 below) so I added about a box of 20 mules and this has raised the pH a little and the TA, and my TC/FC and at the high end now, but still within the "OK" on the test strips.
I now want to work towards using household bleach, liquid chlorine approach which many of you recommend on here, how balanced do I have to get my current chemistry before making the switch? Do I have to drain the pool?
Pool temp is usually between 81-83F.
Date Hardness TC FC pH Total Alkalinity Cyanuric Acid
Before 50% pool drain 300-500 0.5 0.5 7.2 80 300
7/1/2013 300-500 0.5 0.5 7.2 80 100-150
7/2/2013 300-500 0.5 0.5 7.2 80 100-150
shock 7/3/2013 300-500 2 1 7.3 80 100-150
7/4/2013 300-500 1 1 7.2-7.8 80 100-150
7/5/2013 (added more tablets) 300-500 1 3 7.2-7.8 80 100-150
7/6/2013 (added more tablets) 300-500 1 3 7.2-7.8 80 100-150
7/7/2013 300-500 3 3 6.8 80 100-150
7/8/2013 shocked 300-500 5 5 6.8 80 100-150
7/9/2013 300-500 5 5 6.8 80 100-150
7/10/2013 300-500 5 5 6.8 80 100-150
7/11/2013 after double shocked 300-500 5 5 7 100 100-150 (also added 3/4box of 20 mules)
The good - the pool doesn't smell bad in any way, water is clear and no algae,
I'm not sure if I'm having trouble or not, I've been using Aquacheck Select 7-Way Test Strips, and I got very very high CYA readings, more or less of the scale, so I read a bit about that, and then drained off around half of the pool water, tested over several days and the CYA has gone down, but still isn't great. The problem is that when I add chlorine (using the 1" tabs) the FC and TC seem to go up together in step, is this normal?
I have shocked, double shocked, (I'm aware this now adds to the CYA), and it still happens, and the strips is seem to indicate that my pH was getting lower, so (see 7/11/12 below) so I added about a box of 20 mules and this has raised the pH a little and the TA, and my TC/FC and at the high end now, but still within the "OK" on the test strips.
I now want to work towards using household bleach, liquid chlorine approach which many of you recommend on here, how balanced do I have to get my current chemistry before making the switch? Do I have to drain the pool?
Pool temp is usually between 81-83F.
Date Hardness TC FC pH Total Alkalinity Cyanuric Acid
Before 50% pool drain 300-500 0.5 0.5 7.2 80 300
7/1/2013 300-500 0.5 0.5 7.2 80 100-150
7/2/2013 300-500 0.5 0.5 7.2 80 100-150
shock 7/3/2013 300-500 2 1 7.3 80 100-150
7/4/2013 300-500 1 1 7.2-7.8 80 100-150
7/5/2013 (added more tablets) 300-500 1 3 7.2-7.8 80 100-150
7/6/2013 (added more tablets) 300-500 1 3 7.2-7.8 80 100-150
7/7/2013 300-500 3 3 6.8 80 100-150
7/8/2013 shocked 300-500 5 5 6.8 80 100-150
7/9/2013 300-500 5 5 6.8 80 100-150
7/10/2013 300-500 5 5 6.8 80 100-150
7/11/2013 after double shocked 300-500 5 5 7 100 100-150 (also added 3/4box of 20 mules)