FC raising by itself?

[Mr Horsepower]

Over the last several days my FC levels have steadily increasing even though I've been putting less bleach in the pool. I usually dump in between 3/4 gal. and 1 gal. in the skimmer every evening and this keeps the FC level around 4.5 ppm. But over the last few days I've only put in 1/2 gal. or less per day and FC level has gone up by about .5 ppm per day. Sunlight has been the same and there have been no swimmers. Water is sparkling clear. Last nights numbers are listed below. I did not put any bleach in the pool last night, so I'll check again tonight to see if the FC level dropped.

Is there something I'm missing? Am I being paranoid? Or is my brand new K-2006 test kit wrong?

FC: 6.0
CC: 0
PH: 7.5
TA: 80
CH: 180
CYA: 40

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Are you testing before you add each night, or are you assuming "normal" loss and adding bleach regardless? I would guess with no swimmers the usage goes down, requiring less to get to your target. So if you haven't been testing, and adding the "usual" amount, your FC will be higher than you thought. Does that make sense?

Disregard this notion if you have been testing.

The other option is have you changed chlorine brands to a stronger strength or more reliable brand?

 

[duraleigh]

Cl does not occur naturally....it can only get in your pool if you put it there.

It is not at all uncommon to have a little invisible algae in your pool that consumes a little extra chlorine each day......you may have had that and are just now getting rid of it.

Something has changed in your pool that is requiring less chlorine and the solution is to simply use less chlorine.

 

[Rangeball]

We should all have such "problems"

 

[Mr Horsepower]

Are you testing before you add each night, or are you assuming "normal" loss and adding bleach regardless? I would guess with no swimmers the usage goes down, requiring less to get to your target. So if you haven't been testing, and adding the "usual" amount, your FC will be higher than you thought. Does that make sense?

Disregard this notion if you have been testing.

The other option is have you changed chlorine brands to a stronger strength or more reliable brand?

I'm testing before adding. I test every evening. I've been using Wally World Ultra Bleach.

 

[Mr Horsepower]

It is not at all uncommon to have a little invisible algae in your pool that consumes a little extra chlorine each day......you may have had that and are just now getting rid of it.

Something has changed in your pool that is requiring less chlorine and the solution is to simply use less chlorine.

Perhaps it was algae. The pool was run for a long time with little and sometimes 0 chlorine thanks to pucks and test strips. For the last month and a half it has been BBB and the chlorine levels have been 4-5 ppm. I'll just monitor it for a while and see what happens.