Noobie chemistry question

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sam03v

sam03v

0
Mar 6, 2013
52
north florida
This past week I started testing my pool with a TF100 kit. I previously was making trips on the weekends to the pool store so it's fun doing this at home. I've read thru many posts and can't find a simple answer to my situation so here goes...


FC:4
CC:0
TC: 4
PH: 7.5
CYA:60

According to the chart my minimum FC is 5 at that cya level. So is it better to drain water or add chlorine? The pool math , if I'm doing it right shows I'll need to drain 1/3 of the pool or add the chlorine. I've been using the 3" tablets in my inline chlorinator and liquid chlorine for shocking the past two seasons, also relying on the pool store for directions. So, I guess I don't mind draining if that gets me back to a good starting point testing myself .

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
You can maintain the pool with no problem at 60 CYA as long as you keep the FC above the minimum of 5.

The problem is, it won't stay at 60 if you keep feeding it pucks. For every 10 FC you add to the pool via pucks, you're also adding 6.1 CYA. At a typical low loss of 2 ppm/day, that's 14 FC and 8.5 CYA every single week. When CYA goes up to 70 next week, FC will need to be higher. And upwards it climbs.

One solution is to drain a bunch of water every week. A simpler one is to ditch the pucks and use bleach to chlorinate daily. If you keep up with the daily maintenance, you'll never need to shock the pool again. After a couple weeks, you'll know your pool's appetite pretty good and can just dose it every day and test every other. But that only comes when you reach the point of guessing correctly what you'll see before you run the tests.

Have you been reading the articles in pool school?
To start, I'd recommend http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/142-how-to-chlorinate-your-pool
 
Those numbers are similar to mine. I found it was just as cost effective to add a little more bleach each day (I goal for a FC of 9 and never allow it to fall below 5) than to drain and fill at this time. That being said, Ohio is much different than northern Florida.
 
How are you going to be chlorinating now? 60 is manageable as long you are no longer using tablets.

Is your water clear?

If your water is cloudy or green I would drain / refill prior to slamming. If your water is clear I would leave it, but only use bleach to sanitize (no tabs or granular shock).


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Thanks so much for the quick reply! I have read most of the articles in pool school, and was planning on stopping the puck poison :D. Funny how the pool store never mentions the cya side affect of pucks. I don't mind using the jugs to keep the water balanced. The p.s. is only a few miles away so I can get the concentrated bleach at a reasonable price. As you said it'll just take some experience.

Does a higher cya and higher fc level irritate skin and eyes? Or will it be okay as long as I keep it below shock level ratio? I ask because on the print out I get from the p.s. it says 2-4 ppm FC is ideal...

Thanks again

- - - Updated - - -

svenpup said:
How are you going to be chlorinating now? 60 is manageable as long you are no longer using tablets.

Is your water clear?

If your water is cloudy or green I would drain / refill prior to slamming. If your water is clear I would leave it, but only use bleach to sanitize (no tabs or granular shock).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Water is clear, but is getting a little of the green stuff on the walls, it brushes off easily...I'm going to start using liquid chlorine for chlorination.

Thanks!
 
Pool stores generally don't take the CYA into account. Your minimum of 5 FC should be considered a hard limit.

Since you are saying you have green on the walls, I would suggest drain and refill to a CYA of 30, and SLAM your pool. If you don't, the algae will remain, and be a constant problem for you.
 
Richard320 said:
Nope, not irritating at all. I inherited 220+ CYA and swam in 24 FC water the first summer no problem.

Green algae on the walls is not a good sign. If you need to SLAM, then you'll probably want to lower the CYA level by draining.
Click to expand...

The green stuff comes and goes. This is my second season of owning the pool and the alge usually starts at the corner of the pool with the palm tree and after brushing and shocking goes away. Last weekend I had pump problems that caused at least one day of no filtering maybe two, before it was remedied. So I'm hesitant to start draining. Any comments are greatly appreciated...
 
It is up to you. Just know this-------------

-higher cya means more bleach

-you need at least 30 cya if not 40 for Florida. I try to keep mine at 40 (note I am in Tallahassee, FL)

-Green stuff=algea=need to SLAM It never really goes away. You just do not see it until it "settles" back down. It is in the water just waiting to take over. SLAM and get it GONE.

You are doing a great job! You have the test kit AND you are asking questions. You will LOVE how easy and cheap your pool is using the TFP way!

Kim
 

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kimkats said:
It is up to you. Just know this-------------

-higher cya means more bleach

-you need at least 30 cya if not 40 for Florida. I try to keep mine at 40 (note I am in Tallahassee, FL)

-Green stuff=algea=need to SLAM It never really goes away. You just do not see it until it "settles" back down. It is in the water just waiting to take over. SLAM and get it GONE.

You are doing a great job! You have the test kit AND you are asking questions. You will LOVE how easy and cheap your pool is using the TFP way!

Kim
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comment. My cya is at 60, the numbers are in the first post. I'm also in Tallahassee, nice and cool today huh?:crazy:

I'm going to do the OCLT test tonight/tomorrow a.m. My cc is zero and the water is clear so that's two out of the three SLAM passing requisites. I'll post the results...

Thanks again
 
If you look at our radar we have quite a bit more rain to come. You know the saying here-----don't like the weather? Wait 15 mins or drive 15 miles LOL

It is RAINING hard here. The pond and grass are loving it! Dogs not so much due to the thunder :(

Good luck with the over night!

Kim
 
Ok. Thanks.

I added 1 gallon of pool store chlorine after the big down pour stopped and bumped up my pump to high speed for two hours, after which it was programmed to shut off. Right now the rain has slowed to a sprinkle so I'm going to test the fc and test again in the morning. Rain chance is low now. Mosquito chance very high! Benefit of living in FL...
 
Confused now..according to the pool math, one gallon of 10.5% chlorine should have bumped me up to 5 ppm. I added the gallon and waited at least two hours with the pump running on high speed. The drop test showed 11 ppm. Do need to wait more than one hour after adding chlorine to test?
 

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