New Owner - Initial Test Kit Results

Jump to latest Follow Reply
delirium330

delirium330

0
Dec 16, 2013
113
Sacramento, CA
Hi All, here are my results. I did my best to estimate pool volume at 14,324 gallons. The water is pretty crystal clear at the moment and I stuck 4-5 pucks in the chlorinator about 2 weeks ago (water was clear before I did that) and have been running the pump about 3 hours a day. Not currently swimming in it (too cold in CA for now). I try to brush it once a week and notice just a bit of brown spots on the walls form if I don't brush for 2+ weeks.

Looks like the site won't let me upload my Excel screenshot chart via JPEG (only 100kb!), so here is what I've got:

FC (Free Chlorine) - 0
PH (Acidity/Aklalinity) - 7.5
TA (Total Alkalinity) - 90
CH (Calcium Hardness) - 340
CYA (Cyanuric Acid) - 45
CC (Combined Chlorine) - 0
Bromine - 0

Based on the PoolMath calculator and a 14,324 gallon pool, I need a FC shock level of 18 which is about 389oz of 8.25% of liquid chlorine. My questions are:

1. I assume I should pull the pucks out of the chlorinator when I SLAM?
2. Does the above approach look correct re: FC shock level and amount of chlorine?
3. To avoid multiple trips to the store, about how much chlorine should I buy beyond the initial 432oz (assuming 8.25%)?

Thanks!
 
You should stop using pucks altogether, because at 45 you are already at the high end of where you should be for CYA.

It is hard to estimate how much bleach you will need, because it is impossible to determine how long it will take to kill the organics in the pool. If you caught it early, it may go quickly. It's not uncommon to take 2-3 weeks though, for some pools.

You can ignore the bromine reading. You don't have a bromine pool.
 
I put in 389oz of chlorine last night to shock the pool from 0 to 18 FC. Well when I checked this morning (12 hours later) I am getting FC of 19 and CC of barely .05 or a bit less. So, obviously my measurments were a bit off, probably pool volume as the pool is very irregular in shape and took an hour or so to get an estimated measurement.

The water was clear before the shock and still is. What now? Do I put the pumps back to normal operation and wait for FC levels to drop gradually? Do I keep them running 24/7? Do I need to lower the FC somehow to ideal ppm?
 
One more question for you, I see it is 38 degrees F where you are this morning, when you did your CYA test, did you let the water sample warm to room / swim temperature first, and did you test under the proper lighting conditions (outdoors with the sun to your back, tube held at waist level)? Both lighting and water temperature can have large effects on the CYA test, personally I think this is part of the reason pool stores get it wrong so often as they try to perform the test under common artificial light, not outdoors or under an expensive sunlight simulator.

Ike
 
Isaac-1 said:
One more question for you, I see it is 38 degrees F where you are this morning, when you did your CYA test, did you let the water sample warm to room / swim temperature first, and did you test under the proper lighting conditions (outdoors with the sun to your back, tube held at waist level)? Both lighting and water temperature can have large effects on the CYA test, personally I think this is part of the reason pool stores get it wrong so often as they try to perform the test under common artificial light, not outdoors or under an expensive sunlight simulator.

Ike
Click to expand...

Yep I did let the water sit inside for about 2 hours before I did my baseline test. I technically did the test indoors, but was standing next to a large sliding door with plenty of sunlight. It was a bit subjective, but hopefully got somewhere pretty close.
 
I suspect you test numbers will read higher on CYA if you do the test outdoors in full sunlight to your back, unless the room you were in was flooded by sunlight. It does also take a bit to get the hang of the CYA test, remember you can pour the solution back and forth for several minutes until you are sure of your readings. I have done that test before in brief times while the sun was trying to peak out from behind clouds and even that much change in lighting effects the results.

Ike
 
Why SLAM at all? The water was clear and the CC was zero. And it sounds like you didn't lose any overnight. You probably could have just gotten away with raising FC to normal and leave it at that. Anyway, now you just get to wait and wait and wait for FC to drop to normal and maintain it there. It's time to stop with the pucks. Your CYA level is already close to ideal, and you want to leave a little breathing room so you can use them if you leave town later on in the year.

2nopucksforyou.jpg
 
Richard320 said:
Why SLAM at all? The water was clear and the CC was zero. And it sounds like you didn't lose any overnight. You probably could have just gotten away with raising FC to normal and leave it at that. Anyway, now you just get to wait and wait and wait for FC to drop to normal and maintain it there. It's time to stop with the pucks. Your CYA level is already close to ideal, and you want to leave a little breathing room so you can use them if you leave town later on in the year.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. I took the pucks out and will leave them out! The SLAM instructions said to SLAM if FC was 0... and some other threads said that even if the water is clear, if FC is 0, then there may be stuff lurking that I just can't see.

What's the best protocol while waiting for FC to come down? Keep pumps running, or go back to winter operation of about 3-4 hours a day?
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
delirium330 said:
Will do... any thoughts on time to come into normal levels? 1 week or are we talking one month?
Click to expand...

Your water temp will affect how fast your FC levels will taper off. Colder water temps tend to hold FC levels longer. Also if you have it covered FC levels will hold longer.

You can still swim with FC levels up to slam level if your water temp is warm enough.
 
Richard320 said:
If your chlorine consumption is anything like mine is this time of year, I'd put it at 3 weeks to a month. Unless there was some nastiness growing, in which case, much faster.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. That helps me figure out how often I went to re-test. Optimally, for my own learning purposes, I'd like to see a new measurement every day, but don't want to spend the time or amount of FAS/DPD chemicals to do so. Maybe I'll do every 6-7 days for now to see how quickly it gets consumed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply