Hello,
My water turned cloudy after heavy rain. Admittedly, I hadn't treated the pool with any chemicals for a couple weeks before that. So I found this web site and decided to try the TFPC method. Yesterday I got the pH down to around 7.2 using Sodium Bisulfate (couldn't find muriatic acid anywhere in town). Then, I started to SLAM this morning, since the FC level was zero. The CYA is around 25-30 (tested using TF-100), so I read that the shock level is around 12 or 13 for that CYA. We have a 25,000-gal vinyl above-ground, with sand filter.
I started adding bleach this morning (4 gallons at a time) and testing every 2 hours with the FAS/DPD test from the TFTestKits TF-100. The FC hovered all day around 0.5 to 1.5. I figured I still needed to get the FC level up, so I KEPT adding bleach all day long. So far, in ONE day, I have added 28 gallons of 8.25% concentration Clorox (I had gone to Sam's and bought 10 of the Clorox 3-gallon boxes). Water is still cloudy, and FC never came up. It was a very sunny day in Tennessee, so maybe with the CYA level and sunshine, that's why the FC never rose?? CC rose once to 5.5 but then went back down and stayed near FC level all day. Our pool is in direct sunlight all over -- 33 ft circular diameter, 4 ft deep, so that's a lot of surface area to let the sun destroy the chlorine.
Anyway, it is evening now, and I just added 3 tri-chlor tabs to add a little CYA (yes, I know, not part of BBB method, but I had some left over). FC just came up to 2.5 within last 2 hours -- but that may be due more to tri-chlor than bleach?
Questions:
1. Will adding this amount of bleach in one day hurt my vinyl liner? If so, what to do to reverse damage?
2. Should I have started my SLAM process at night? I fear I have wasted all this money today.
3. Should I go buy some cyanuric acid for stability, and then restart SLAM? But that would require even MORE bleach to reach shock level. Sheesh!
4. Should I stay the course (following PoolMath calculator, which tells me to add 3-4 gallons of bleach each time) indefinitely, and trust that FC will eventually rise?
Thanks,
Joel
My water turned cloudy after heavy rain. Admittedly, I hadn't treated the pool with any chemicals for a couple weeks before that. So I found this web site and decided to try the TFPC method. Yesterday I got the pH down to around 7.2 using Sodium Bisulfate (couldn't find muriatic acid anywhere in town). Then, I started to SLAM this morning, since the FC level was zero. The CYA is around 25-30 (tested using TF-100), so I read that the shock level is around 12 or 13 for that CYA. We have a 25,000-gal vinyl above-ground, with sand filter.
I started adding bleach this morning (4 gallons at a time) and testing every 2 hours with the FAS/DPD test from the TFTestKits TF-100. The FC hovered all day around 0.5 to 1.5. I figured I still needed to get the FC level up, so I KEPT adding bleach all day long. So far, in ONE day, I have added 28 gallons of 8.25% concentration Clorox (I had gone to Sam's and bought 10 of the Clorox 3-gallon boxes). Water is still cloudy, and FC never came up. It was a very sunny day in Tennessee, so maybe with the CYA level and sunshine, that's why the FC never rose?? CC rose once to 5.5 but then went back down and stayed near FC level all day. Our pool is in direct sunlight all over -- 33 ft circular diameter, 4 ft deep, so that's a lot of surface area to let the sun destroy the chlorine.
Anyway, it is evening now, and I just added 3 tri-chlor tabs to add a little CYA (yes, I know, not part of BBB method, but I had some left over). FC just came up to 2.5 within last 2 hours -- but that may be due more to tri-chlor than bleach?
Questions:
1. Will adding this amount of bleach in one day hurt my vinyl liner? If so, what to do to reverse damage?
2. Should I have started my SLAM process at night? I fear I have wasted all this money today.
3. Should I go buy some cyanuric acid for stability, and then restart SLAM? But that would require even MORE bleach to reach shock level. Sheesh!
4. Should I stay the course (following PoolMath calculator, which tells me to add 3-4 gallons of bleach each time) indefinitely, and trust that FC will eventually rise?
Thanks,
Joel