Free Chlorine Levels

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Shani

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May 16, 2015
66
Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
Pool Size
15700
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Hayward Turbo Cell (T-CELL-5)
Hi Folks,

With my CYA at about 38-40. Using the Pool School Chart my target FC is 5. I had a couple of questions:
1) Is it okay for me to use Pool Calculator and push the FC up to 6 and wait until it drops below 5 and repeat? Or can I let it go lower? Testing shows I have usually 0 - 0.02CC. I'm finding I need to add chlorine 1-2 times a day with this method, is that normal? I am using liquid Chlorine.
2) For amount of Chlorine needed daily, I seem to be using about 750 - 900 mL / day, pool is ~15700gallons, would that be normal? This seems to be true on days the pool isn't even used. The pool does get a decent amount of sun during the day so I know some is lost there as well.

None of this may be any issue, first year with the pool I didn't think I would need that much chlorine. I need to start stocking this stuff =)

Thanks
 
The idea of a target at 5 is so that it never goes below 3 for 40 CYA. So, target 5 so that it doesn't go below 3. The higher you push it the more you will loose every day because the "extra" isn't protected by the CYA

Also, it appears you are using 25 mL sample for 0.2 ppm accuracy. You can go ahead and use 10 mL sample for 0.5 ppm accuracy. It will save you reagents and is close enough for us
 
Ah ok so going much higher than 5 isn't doing much. Good to know! Maybe that's why I'm using so much Chlorone [emoji14]

I have a LaMotte ColorQ PRO 7 tester, it uses 5mL tubes I believe.


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I always begin with the range that is listed in "PoolMath" after all your numbers are input correctly. My pool is also at 40 ppm CYA so the CL range is listed as 3 - 7 ppm. Seven is more suggestive, I want to have enough chlorine in the pool to last till the next 24 hrs when I'll test and add again. The lower number, 3 ppm, is the critical number. I never want my water at 40 ppm CYA, to fall below 3 ppm of chlorine. I've found as I get to know how my pool reacts to sun, weather and bathing loads that I don't always need to achieve 7 ppm.
 
Shani ... just FYI ... but since our pools are fairly close in size (capacity) .... when my pool is balanced throughout the season, I add (on average) about 1/2 gallon of bleach each day to the pool. That's about it unless I have a large amount of people in the pool or something very unusual happen that requires more. My pool is 100% exposed to the sun.
 
Shani said:
I have a LaMotte ColorQ PRO 7 tester, it uses 5mL tubes I believe.
Click to expand...
Ah, that's another issue. The ColorQ has not had good results for folks around here.

This thread is a few years old, but compares the ColorQ to our test kit of choice, the TF-100 ColorQ vs TF100

We have already had a couple of people posting earlier this year that bought them and found they they were not reliable for consistent accurate numbers.
 
Thanks Texas, makes me feel better!

Tim, saw that article... Unfortunately I didn't join TFP until after I purchased the ColorQ. Looking into the TF-100. I would like to get it to even just compare results. My numbers have been pretty consistent with what chemicals I add via Pool Calculator but it would be interesting to compare the results.


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Shani said:
Thanks Texas, makes me feel better!

Tim, saw that article... Unfortunately I didn't join TFP until after I purchased the ColorQ. Looking into the TF-100. I would like to get it to even just compare results. My numbers have been pretty consistent with what chemicals I add via Pool Calculator but it would be interesting to compare the results.


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Click to expand...
I'd love to see a new comparison.
 
Tried to order the TF-100 kit but the site doesn't seem to have a shipping option to Canada, I've emailed them to find out. May be out of luck.


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Shani said:
Tried to order the TF-100 kit but the site doesn't seem to have a shipping option to Canada, I've emailed them to find out. May be out of luck.
Click to expand...
They can't In Canada you have to buy the Taylor K-2006 as one company has an exclusive arrangement for the entire country from Taylor Chemicals. They are a bit pricey also.

Got any friends south of the border?
 

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Yeah, they legally cannot ship to Canada. There is a company in Canada that has exclusive rights (read: monopoly) to sell Taylor products in the country. So Dave cannot ship to Canada at all. You are unfortunately limited to the Color-Q or the Taylor k-2006. The k-2006 is a better choice, it is the same tests as the TF-100, just smaller amounts.
 
I seem to be having issues getting the FC level up, I'm trying to decide if the Liquid Chlorine I have is weaker than listed, I am using PoolMath wrong, or some other reason. I have used different bottles of liquid chlorine but they were all bought from the same place (Canadian Tire), only place I can buy them.

For an example at 6:00pm today I did a test:

FC: 3.65

My CYA is ~40 (target FC of 5), I was having issues getting the FC up so I decided to put in a target of 6 in the PoolMath. It told me to add 1.5L of 10.3% liquid chlorine.

Did another test at 7:30pm:

FC: 4.51

No one was using the pool during these times.

Any thoughts?
 
Hi pooldv, thanks for the reply. I did the OCLT and the loss was about 0.30. The % increase in FC I get seems very linear with what I add, feeling as if the liquid chlorine may be weak. Would that make sense with what is going on?


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For example in PoolMath if I put 3.5% as the % bleach instead of 10.3% chlorine as mentioned on the bottle. My number are pretty much right on for the amount I have put in and the FC level reached. Folks on TFP have also mentioned that the tester I have (ColorQ) from others feedback is not very reliable so I have a Taylor k-2006 ordered and on the way.

I tried two FC tests tonight just from two diff samples of pool water taken at the same time. One FC reading was 4.95 the second was 5.20, that seems like pretty large difference to me.


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I did the OCLT test again lastnight. I lost 0.2 FC. I'm purchased some different bleach today. I'm going to try that out tonight and see if there is any difference.


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I know Lamotte gets a bad rap here, but other than some low readings on CH with the original reagents included with my kit (replaced for free by Lamotte with fresh reagents), I have had no issues with my ColorQ Pro. My readings line up perfectly with the pool store, so unless we're both consistently wrong, I don't think the kit is giving me bad readings. The pool store takes their time with the testing and they seem to strive for accuracy and provide a computer printout. My pool water is pristine.

I'd be curious to see how your readings compare with the Taylor kit. Just make sure your Lamotte reagents, especially CH, are fresh and you keep everything clean and take your readings indoors.
 
Skimmerswimmer thanks for the info, the reagents I am using are the original ones that came with the unit.

I used the different bleach today and the reading are much more accurate to what I expect using PoolMath.

Unfortunately, I don't have a pool store where I live that I could use as another way of comparing.

This may be a silly question but is there a "best" place to get the pool water from for testing? I usually just go to the end farthest from the return, I have an oval pool.
 

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