Unfortunate water loss

[algaspar]

Hello,

My thanks to everyone that has helped me out so far.

I had an unfortunate water loss last night. I had backwashed my filter and then put it back to run. Unbeknownst to me, the lever didn't quite settle in the notch to run. When I got up this morning, I was down at least a third.

I am refilling now. I have bought salt and Instant Conditioner to replace the loss. Since the SWG will be playing catchup, do I need to add chlorine to help it along? I have tablets left over from when I used those that I believe are still good, or would I be better off adding liquid chlorine bleach? I am going to test as soon as the pool is back up to where it should be (and that's when I planned to add the salt and Instant Conditioner) . Is there anything else that I ought to do?

Thanks for any advice.

--Al

 

[jblizzle]

Been there done that ... at least twice
In fact, I now keep the union I added on my backwash line open so I can see if water is leaking (my pipe goes into the ground).

Definitely supplement the chlorine until the SWG is functional again. The bleach will add the FC quickly, but you could use some of the pucks floating as well to help maintain the FC and add some of the CYA that will be needed.

 

[algaspar]

Thank you very much . Presuming that I lost about 10K gallons (I eyeballed it at about a third), how much liquid bleach should I add for a start? I bought two gallons of Instant Conditioner figuring that I'll need at least one; so I'll put one in. If I use some pucks as well should I throw maybe five in each of my two skimmer baskets?

--Al

 

[woodyp]

To lose that much water, I assume you were pulling off the main drain as well? Might help to avoid that in the future by switching to just the skimmer(s) when you do that.

 

[jblizzle]

Time to learn to use poolcalculator.com ... it will tell you how much each puck will add (Effects of adding chemicals section at the bottom) and tell you how much of the liquid stabilizer you will need to add.

It is always best to test first and then calculate what you need to add.

 

[algaspar]

Quick question. I used the Pool Calculator. It said that I could add 9oz of Trichlor to reach an FC of 4 (it measures 2 now FAS/DPD). I have a bucket of 3 inch Trichlor tablets that weigh 8.25 oz each. Am I correct that dropping two of those in would put it a little high, but not by much? I wasn't sure whether weighing the pucks was all I needed to do. Sorry for the many questions, but I don't want to mess up any more than I already have...

Thanks--

Al

 

[duraleigh]

The problem is that will release that much chlorine over a period of days....during which your chlorine will continually be depleted.

Raise your chlorine instantly by using liquid chlorine.

On a side note, are you using pucks as your primary chlorination? What is your CYA?

 

[algaspar]

No. I'm using my SWG as my primary chlorinator, but with my water loss I am low on salt (which I am going to be adding as well; 477lbs is recommended...). It was my understanding that I needed to raise my chlorine now while I waited for the SWG to produce. I guess I should follow the Pool Calculator's recommendation of 193 oz of 6% bleach and forget the pucks.

My CYA was at 70 before my water loss. Unfortunately it is quite cloudy out; so I'm not sure that I can get an accurate CYA reading. I know that I had to be down to at least 60; so I added a gallon of Instant Conditioner (it has been quite consistent in bringing me up 10 for every gallon).

Thanks--

Al