88 CYA and chlorine only lasts 2 days…

What about CC? Your FC is way too low for a CYA of 80ppm.
I know it’s low, that’s why I’m trying to figure out how much chlorine to add. Do I stick with 164 oz to get level up to 7 (minimum level) or do I slam it with over 900 oz of bleach? Won’t 900 oz wreck the equipment and burn swimmers’ skin? If I need to slam, do I pour it in all at once? I didn’t seem to find that info on website.
 
SLAM on. The kids can swim so long as you can see the bottom for swimmer safety / rescue (God forbid).


The industry recs to keep chlorine at 1-3 ppm are simply head scratching when the sun burns off up to 5ppm, daily, in sunny TX. They aren't telling you to start at 8 and end at 3. No sir. That would likely cover you most days this time of year. They're telling you that you can start at 1-3 (and then lose 5).
Does chlorine make the water cloudy? Why wouldn’t I be able to see the bottom? Fwiw, our water is still clear. There must be something eating up the chlorine but our water has remained clear all summer.
 
Does chlorine make the water cloudy? Why wouldn’t I be able to see the bottom
Just stating the not always obvious, or for the untold army of future readers who may have cloudy water. :)
There must be something eating up the chlorine but our water has remained clear all summer.
The sun rises everyday, even when there's clouds. As such, you need to match at least what you're going to lose each day, which is on the higher end right now in TX. My daily loss is about to fall off a cliff real soon in NY, but your will likely keep burning up for a while.
 
Here is what I would do.

1. Get your chlorine up ASAP. With your CYA of 80, shoot for somewhere between the target FC of 11 and SLAM level of 31.
2. Enjoy your pool party tomorrow. Note the chlorine will not make your pool water cloudy, algae does that.
3. Do another OCLT after the party if you are not convinced you have algae
4. If you fail, go into a SLAM. Also consider a partial drain and refill to lower your CYA and make your SLAM a bit easier.
 
Thank you so much. Just double-checking that that high of chlorine won’t burn eyes and skin? If I end up needing to slam, do I pour it all in at once?
 
Up to SLAM is less harsh than tap water, with 0 CYA and up to 4ppm FC.

lc_chart.jpg
If I end up needing to slam, do I pour it all in at once
Yes. Pour it low, even touch the bottom of the bottle to the water, to all but eliminate splashing. Pour a pencil sized stream over a running return, for as much as PoolMath says to bring you to your target, whether it be regular operation or SLAM. During SLAM you aim to maintain SLAM FC as often as reasonably possible. 2 to 3 hours is best, but life, so do the best you can. On a weekend, for example, you can test early and buy yourself the next couple of hours away for a soccer game / errands/ etc. It's fairly easy to work around, especially if you can deputize a helper to split the duties with.
 
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Thank you so much. Just double-checking that that high of chlorine won’t burn eyes and skin? If I end up needing to slam, do I pour it all in at once?
Note that in the SLAM link I posted that the SLAM is a multi-day/week process. Not a one and done kinda thing. Read through the link a few times if needed, you’ll get it.
 
Here is what I would do.

1. Get your chlorine up ASAP. With your CYA of 80, shoot for somewhere between the target FC of 11 and SLAM level of 31.
2. Enjoy your pool party tomorrow. Note the chlorine will not make your pool water cloudy, algae does that.
3. Do another OCLT after the party if you are not convinced you have algae
4. If you fail, go into a SLAM. Also consider a partial drain and refill to lower your CYA and make your SLAM a bit easier.
I added 200 oz of liquid chlorine yesterday. Tested FC level at night - it was 7.5. Tested this am and it’s 5.5. So I guess that means I need to slam, or I just didn’t get the Chlorine up high enough. I added acid 2 hours ago to correct the PH to prepare to slam I guess. I’m thinking I should add more chlorine now.
 

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Here is what I would do.

1. Get your chlorine up ASAP. With your CYA of 80, shoot for somewhere between the target FC of 11 and SLAM level of 31.
2. Enjoy your pool party tomorrow. Note the chlorine will not make your pool water cloudy, algae does that.
3. Do another OCLT after the party if you are not convinced you have algae
4. If you fail, go into a SLAM. Also consider a partial drain and refill to lower your CYA and make your SLAM a bit easier.
Update: we got the chlorine high enough where we didn’t lose any overnight. That was Tuesday night into Wednesday. Now we have CC of 1 or 1.5. Our FC is 13. Do I add more chlorine to get the CC down?
 
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Use the SLAM process anytime you fail OCLT OR CC >=1.

Print this out, read it three times, keep it with you. Hard copy really helps. Link-->SLAM Process

Start the SLAM process now.

As long as you can see the bottom, pool is safe for swimming with FC level up to SLAM level FC.
 
Update: we got the chlorine high enough where we didn’t lose any overnight. That was Tuesday night into Wednesday. Now we have CC of 1 or 1.5. Our FC is 13. Do I add more chlorine to get the CC down?
To be honest, you're rushing, not following the recommended processes and worried about all the wrong things.

You need the SLAM Process in its entirety but that's borderline impossible at CYA 80 (if that's actually your actual level.) There is no worry about person or equipment at SLAM levels, but it's the only way to safely clear the pool of algae. You can then, once 3 exit criteria complete, move on to Pool Care Basics.

You've never confirmed which test kit you have - please do so. You may have the wrong items. Stay out of the pool stores.

If your CYA is actually 80, you need to replace water before moving to SLAM. There's no magic fix for pool water out of balance. It is what it is.
 
Use the SLAM process anytime you fail OCLT OR CC >=1.

Print this out, read it three times, keep it with you. Hard copy really helps. Link-->SLAM Process

Start the SLAM process now.

As long as you can see the bottom, pool is safe for swimming with FC level up to SLAM level FC.
Printed it out. Update: I am naming myself head pool chemist in my household, as my spouse somehow gets strange numbers and I am far more confident in my accuracy. I just tested the chlorine and we are at 10.5 FC and under .5 CC. Water was barely pink. So I’m assuming we are good and earlier numbers were wrong because I have not added chlorine today yet.
 
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To be honest, you're rushing, not following the recommended processes and worried about all the wrong things.

You need the SLAM Process in its entirety but that's borderline impossible at CYA 80 (if that's actually your actual level.) There is no worry about person or equipment at SLAM levels, but it's the only way to safely clear the pool of algae. You can then, once 3 exit criteria complete, move on to Pool Care Basics.

You've never confirmed which test kit you have - please do so. You may have the wrong items. Stay out of the pool stores.

If your CYA is actually 80, you need to replace water before moving to SLAM. There's no magic fix for pool water out of balance. It is what it is.
I use the fas-dpd k2006C kit.
 
Update: we got the chlorine high enough where we didn’t lose any overnight.
For clarity, it doesn't matter what the FC level is when you do OCLT. Just needs to be >3FC when you start. A higher starting level of FC does not impact loss over night. If you have 5 starting FC, or if you have 10 starting FC, with the SAME pool, your overnight chlorine loss will be the same. Having it higher to start does not reduce the potential loss.

It is likely that you did have some organics and raising your FC killed it, which resulted in passing OCLT.
 
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