Am I doing alright???

[tschutz1]

New pool this summer. 24 ft round.

I just got my TF-100 test kit and was eager to see where my levels were. I've so far been flying pretty blind other than testing chlorine and pH with my wal-mart test kit I got for $6.

I think I'm a bit light on FC, and I'm a little worried about CC. Any recommendations?

Test as of today:

FC 2.5
CC 0.5 as I measured.....doing the TF-100 test, the water barely even changed colors at all, and as soon as I added one drop it was crystal clear again, so I'm not sure if I did that right or not
TA 110
pH 7.5
CYA between 40 and 50

 

[woodyp]

Welcome. You might wanna keep that minimum FC to 4 per your cya level. Add another 3 ppm for daily burn off and see how it keeps. CC is moot at .5

 

[pwrstrk]

Welcome to TFP !

Yep, with your CYA between 45-50 don't let your FC fall below 4.

Like woody said add 3 ppm for burn off, so make your target when you dose 7-8 Keep it like that and you'll be good.

Nice job !

 

[gatorbrit]

It won't hurt anything to keep your FC a bit higher - and it will buy you a margin of error. Your swimmers won't notice.

 

[Smykowski]

All the brand new BBBers are leery of running FC levels higher than 5 because that's the last bit of pool store info they just can't let go of. My CYA is at 60, and I rarely let my FC get below 7. When I add bleach, I shoot for 10. My point is, a little higher is much better than a little lower.

 

[tschutz1]

Thanks, guys.

I'm a little surprised at how much bleach I've been going through. At least a half a jug (96 oz from Aldi) a day it seems, though it has been pretty hot and sunny here lately. The little OTO reader I had only shows 5ppm on the FC, so I've been figuring that if it is around that level that I should be OK. The 2.5 reading I got was towards the end of the day and I hadn't added any bleach to the pool since the day before in the morning. So it makes sense why it was a bit low. I dumped an entire bottle of 6% bleach into the pool last night to get the FC up a bit. I'll test again when I get home from work today.

Should my CYA levels be any higher? Is the 40-50 level OK?

For what it's worth, when I was done cleaning the pool over the weekend on Sunday, the water was crystal clear. I've been very pleased with all the advice I've been reading here on TFP.com. It's really made it easier to know what I'm doing.

 

[gatorbrit]

Your chlorine usage is similar to mine. I am using 8.25% bleach from Walmart, and I put in about half a bottle a day. You could always do an OCLT (see pool school) to make sure you don't have anything eating up your chlorine.

 

[DorsalSpine]

Thanks, guys.

I'm a little surprised at how much bleach I've been going through. At least a half a jug (96 oz from Aldi) a day it seems, though it has been pretty hot and sunny here lately. The little OTO reader I had only shows 5ppm on the FC, so I've been figuring that if it is around that level that I should be OK. The 2.5 reading I got was towards the end of the day and I hadn't added any bleach to the pool since the day before in the morning. So it makes sense why it was a bit low. I dumped an entire bottle of 6% bleach into the pool last night to get the FC up a bit. I'll test again when I get home from work today.

Should my CYA levels be any higher? Is the 40-50 level OK?

For what it's worth, when I was done cleaning the pool over the weekend on Sunday, the water was crystal clear. I've been very pleased with all the advice I've been reading here on TFP.com. It's really made it easier to know what I'm doing.

Your CYA is fine, you don't want it any higher. I go through about half a gallon of 12% every day depending on if I have the solar cover on or not.

 

[tschutz1]

Thanks, guys.

I'm a little surprised at how much bleach I've been going through. At least a half a jug (96 oz from Aldi) a day it seems, though it has been pretty hot and sunny here lately. The little OTO reader I had only shows 5ppm on the FC, so I've been figuring that if it is around that level that I should be OK. The 2.5 reading I got was towards the end of the day and I hadn't added any bleach to the pool since the day before in the morning. So it makes sense why it was a bit low. I dumped an entire bottle of 6% bleach into the pool last night to get the FC up a bit. I'll test again when I get home from work today.

Should my CYA levels be any higher? Is the 40-50 level OK?

For what it's worth, when I was done cleaning the pool over the weekend on Sunday, the water was crystal clear. I've been very pleased with all the advice I've been reading here on TFP.com. It's really made it easier to know what I'm doing.

Your CYA is fine, you don't want it any higher. I go through about half a gallon of 12% every day depending on if I have the solar cover on or not.

Does the solar cover slow the amount of Chlorine usage or increase it? We've been keeping it on all the time when the pool is not in use, more to keep debris out. Also, we're in September in Chicagoland, so trying to keep from losing too much temp at night. The one night we left it off a couple weeks ago, the pool dropped 5 degrees overnight, and it wasn't even that cold out. Supposed to be 89 degrees this Saturday, so hoping to get one more good weekend out of it before I think about having to close it up.

 

[DorsalSpine]

Does the solar cover slow the amount of Chlorine usage or increase it? We've been keeping it on all the time when the pool is not in use, more to keep debris out. Also, we're in September in Chicagoland, so trying to keep from losing too much temp at night. The one night we left it off a couple weeks ago, the pool dropped 5 degrees overnight, and it wasn't even that cold out. Supposed to be 89 degrees this Saturday, so hoping to get one more good weekend out of it before I think about having to close it up.

The solar cover seems to slow the chlorine usage. It probably blocks some of the UV from the sun. I keep mine on as much as possible this time of the year to extend the season.

 

[Smykowski]

Does the solar cover slow the amount of Chlorine usage or increase it?

Slows it drastically. I lose less than 1ppm per day if I have the cover on.

 

[RobbieH]

Thanks, guys.

I'm a little surprised at how much bleach I've been going through. At least a half a jug (96 oz from Aldi) a day it seems, though it has been pretty hot and sunny here lately.

When I'm not on the salt water chlorine generator, I go through a FULL 121 oz bottle of the 8.25% per day. Half a 96 isn't bad!

 

[tschutz1]

Thanks, guys.

I'm a little surprised at how much bleach I've been going through. At least a half a jug (96 oz from Aldi) a day it seems, though it has been pretty hot and sunny here lately.

When I'm not on the salt water chlorine generator, I go through a FULL 121 oz bottle of the 8.25% per day. Half a 96 isn't bad!

Yeah, but your pool is 3.5 times the size of mine!

So I've been experimenting a little bit. Finally last night I dumpe in about 40 oz of 12.5% liquid pool shock. When I checked this AM, I was at a FC of 6. So I think I got this thing figured out now. All my other measurements look pretty well in line.

From reading on here, it sounds like the pH should drift up over time a little bit? I seem to see the opposite. Definitely when I started out with the trichlor. Using straight bleach instead has kept the pH much more stable. But if anything, I still see a slight drop in pH over time. I'm trying to keep it around 7.5. Does that sonud right?

 

[duraleigh]

Yeah, your pH will likely drift up from here on.....the trichlor was causing it to go down.