Chlorine balancing frustration

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Sorry for the "blow-by-blow" - let me know if you need less updates!

- Remainder of Muriatic Acid added at about 9:45 this AM.
- pH now 7.2!
- Started SLAM at about 11:00 with 6 gallons of 8.3% bleach.
- Tested @ 14:30 and got:
FC - 11 (22 drops)
CC - 1 (2 drops)
TC - 12

Getting ready to add more bleach. Pool calculator estimates 2.8 more jugs to get to shock of 20.

Stay tuned.........
 
Update:

Didn't measure this AM, was running late for work. Just added 1 gal at 05:30.

Measured tonight at 18:30 after work and get:
pH - 7.4
FC - 14
CC - 1
TA - 120

Plugged in to the calculator and am adding a little over 2 gallons of 8.3% in a few minutes... Backwash was green/brown and took about 5 minutes to clear!

BTW: The water was clear before, but is now getting that "crystal" look that almost hurts your eyes to look at because it's so clean!! :D
 
Can't wait!

Current test at 21:00 after the 2 gallon chlorine add at 18:30:
pH - 7.4
FC - 25 (measured twice, and I'm using 8.3% and plugged that into the calculator... strange...)
CC - 1
TA - 120

Will update again a couple times tomorrow.

BTW: Found 8.3% gallon jugs at Family Dollar for $3 each in house brand. Food Lion runs about $3.50, Clorox at Lowe's was about $4.50. Is it any more effective, or should I just try to find the cheapest 6.3%?
 

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The lowes and Home Depot here both have KemTek 10% for $6.86 and WalMart sells hTH 10% for $6.47, both are for 2gallons, these are my standards. I think they work to to 0.27 and 0.25 per oz. pretty cheap when adding for gas and convenience
 
Awesome! Thx for the calculator and the tips! Seems like the 6.3% for $2 at the dollar store is the best deal at $0.248, but the HTH @ Wally World is a very close second!

This mornings test:
pH - 7.4
FC - 23
CC - .5 (barely had any pink tint after adding the 5 drops of R-0003)
TA - 110-120 (turned a dark pink/light red after 11 drops, 12th drop and it was definitely red)
 
One thing to note is that your pool looks to be less than 30K gallons and more like 25K or so. Not a big difference but enough that if you are experiencing any difference between what you expect to happen with chemical additions and what is really happening, that could be part of the reason. You would be seeing more of a change than you expected if you base additions on 30K gallons.

I calculated it as 18'*36'*5.5' (average depth)*7.5 (gallons per sq. ft.) which gives 26,730. Then adjusting for angled sides and the fact that most liner pools are proportionately not the average of the shallow and deep-ends because the hopper is very angled and the shallow end tends to be flatter than gunite pools with deep-ends, it has to be less than the calculated number by some amount. If you are adding bleach by the gallon and doing the FAS-DPD test before and pretty quickly (within reason) thereafter, you can use the Pool Calculator in reverse to help you zero in on what size your pool is too. So long as your chlorine is not being used up extremely fast. You can then see if that jives with what # of gallons you think the pool is by a stated amount or calculated amount.

Our BJ's (warehouse club) carries liquid shock (bleach) in the 12.5% strength for $13.99/case (4 gallons). You may want to check alternate sources for your bleach at cheaper prices. There is also a thread somewhere discussing only bleach prices.

I enjoyed (maybe not the right word) following your balancing act and hopefully you will be there soon.
 
SickPup.. don't apologize for updates.. they are fantastic for those still learning!! The gurus don't have to reply if they don't want/need to.. and yet, your diligent efforts of testing & posting are fantastic!! Keep up the great work!! These guys got us from "catfish pond" to "DAY-UM, that's clear!!" in about 7 days or so (once I quit listening to the stupid pool store robots!). Haven't been back to a pool store since.. and our backyard resort is everything we could imagine! Well.. maybe minus a bartender at our beck & call. LOL

You're doing great!! I'll be following your thread thru to the end!!

Cathy
 

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