Frustrated

[doloskeeter]

Brand new mini pebble plaster. I left the forum two weeks with going to Home Depot to buy some stabilizer to get the CYA up since I had none with a total refill. I CANNOT seem to get the chlorine up and I’m super frustrated! I use the PoolMatch, add enough bleach and everyday I come home, it’s 1..0 FC, 0-.5 CC. I’m in Texas, it’s starting to get hot and I cannot afford an algae bloom on brand new plaster. Here’s my test results, using the TF-100 today.

FC 1.0 (after pouring 2 quarts of 10.00 bleach in it last night care of Home Depot and the night before -- testing every day!)
CC 0
PH 7.7
TA 91 (and I keep having problems with it lowering as well -- in other words, it got below 80, added baking soda, got it up to about 110, and it slowly creeps downwards)
CH 177
CYA 40

Stonescapes Optimum conditions says the CH should be 200-400 ppm and CYA 50-80 ppm

I’m thinking I’m going to Leslie’s (I know, bad word), buy liquid CYA (hated the powdered stuff) bump it up to maybe 50, put pucks in until I can get the chlorine up to at least 3 ppm. Should I be testing it in the morning to see if it’s at 5 PPM and depleting to 1 PPM during the day? The pool gets sun all day. I read where my target should be 5 ppm with a minimum of 3 ppm but I can’t seem to get there!

Help!

 

[JasonLion]

How new is the plaster? The rules are completely different if you have plaster that is less than a month old. Fresh plaster raises the PH, TA, and CH levels fairly quickly for the first month, and much more slowly for up to a year after the plaster is applied.

Assuming you are past the first month, you need to SLAM the pool.

 

[Isaac-1]

I would also suggest an overnight chlorine loss test, that way you can see if something is trying to grow in there and you are just fighting it to a standstill with the bleach

 

[doloskeeter]

It was plastered March 26

 

[duraleigh]

Pucks would not be the best idea with a CYA of 40 already. I would leave the CYA alone for now.

Chlorine is constantly consumable. The reason you cannot get your chlorine up is you are not putting in enough!

You would be smarter to test it at night (OCLT, as Isaac says) and that will tell you if you have organics consuming your chlorine.

read "SLAM" in the "How To" section up in Pool School if you have not already done so.

 

[Richard320]

Well... you're adding 3.6 FC every day, if the bleach is as strong as it says. That's only a little high. How old and faded looking are the boxes? Maybe you ought to try buying some plain Chlorox 8.25% from someplace that has a rapid turnover, like Walmart or Costco, and see what happens? Or do the overnight loss test.

Those numbers look suspicious... the TF100 measures by TA and CH by 10s. As an aside the TA test can be skewed by static electricity. Try cleaning the tip of the R-009 with a damp paper towel before every drop for a few days.

 

[doloskeeter]

You make a good point, the bottles of bleach at HD did look old. If I went to Walmart right now, and bought new bleach, put it in the pool, when could I test? 30 minutes? Because I’m game for the OCLT test tonight after I add brand new bleach.

 

[Smykowski]

30 min with the pump running would be plenty to mix it up.

 

[doloskeeter]

Performed the OCLT test last night, lost .5 ppm overnight. The pool looks clear so I really don't think I have something eating up the chlorine. I'll continue with fresh bleach from Walmart and see where I go.

 

[tommyd123]

What are you testing with? I agree with Richard, your numbers look very suspicious.


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