A little all over the place. FC is zero and alkalinity is 230ppm

[dkimble]

Yes it is absolutely possible. That is actually what should happen, if there is nothing organic consuming chlorine in the pool.

Yes, if the three criteria are passed you can let the levels drop. At my CYA (50) the min is 4, and target is 6-8. I up chlorine to 7ppm each evening and the most I have lost is 2.5ppm, but usually it is under 2. You will find your perfect target number after testing a few days in a row. Better to start a little high until you figure that number out.

and Yes, the pool is safe for swimmers. Anything at or below shock level is safe.

So how is your PH and TA looking?

 

[jagger2005]

+1 for time to enjoy the pool! With no sun on the pool, there should be no FC loss, so zero is what is expected. Normally you will see a loss of 2 - 4 FC per day. Tends to be more the higher the FC. So do not be concerned if it is down to 14 by end of today.

Great job!

Once your FC gets below 10, measure your pH and TA and work on trying to stabilize the pH so that you do not have to dose very often

 

[Underwhere]

Yes it is absolutely possible. That is actually what should happen, if there is nothing organic consuming chlorine in the pool.

Yes, if the three criteria are passed you can let the levels drop. At my CYA (50) the min is 4, and target is 6-8. I up chlorine to 7ppm each evening and the most I have lost is 2.5ppm, but usually it is under 2. You will find your perfect target number after testing a few days in a row. Better to start a little high until you figure that number out.

and Yes, the pool is safe for swimmers. Anything at or below shock level is safe.

So how is your PH and TA looking?

With the 16 month old I didn't have time to test pH and TA..but I'll be doing that tonight once she's sleeping.

+1 for time to enjoy the pool! With no sun on the pool, there should be no FC loss, so zero is what is expected. Normally you will see a loss of 2 - 4 FC per day. Tends to be more the higher the FC. So do not be concerned if it is down to 14 by end of today.

Great job!

Once your FC gets below 10, measure your pH and TA and work on trying to stabilize the pH so that you do not have to dose very often

Great.
I noticed that pH tends to always rise to about 7.5 or 7.6 and I think perhaps it's because of the TA.

 

[dkimble]

I forgot you need to wait to test PH and TA anyway. If FC is above 10ppm the test isn't accurate. It will probably be tomorrow evening before you will be below 10ppm FC.

 

[jagger2005]

With the 16 month old I didn't have time to test pH and TA..but I'll be doing that tonight once she's sleeping.


Great.
I noticed that pH tends to always rise to about 7.5 or 7.6 and I think perhaps it's because of the TA.

If you let it go up to 7.8 dose it back down to 7.2, eventually you will see your the TA go down - and it will take it longer to get back to 7.8. When you reached a point where you rarely need to adjust - that should be close to your TA sweet spot which is different for each pool.
And if you really want to be a pool nerd, read up on CSI. You can play with the numbers to see how each affect the CSI value on pool math web page or the new pool math app that was just released.

 

[Underwhere]

I'm feeling much more confident about my water now.

So just now I tested and got these numbers
FC - 14.5
CC - 0
Alkalinity - 130 or 140 (I wasn't paying attention but it seems it is coming down after I put in the acid 3 days ago)

So it looks like my chlorine levels are coming down in the sun (about 3.5 for a full sun day)
And I'll let it come down and maintain it at 4-5 ppm.

And by maintain does that mean I just add chlorine every day (with a calculator) ensure it stays like that?
And if you go away for a few days do you just try and guess the FC loss during the day and add enough chlorine to cover that?

 

[dkimble]

U have to maintain above minimum at all times. So, my min is 4, and target is 6-8. At first I would do to 8ppm each evening. Then I learned I was only loosing 2ppm most days, but occasionally 2.5...

So my current target is 7ppm so if I loose the 2.5 I am still at 4.5...

I test every evening just before sunset.

Vacation is tricky... Because as you have noticed once you get well above your cya/ch target, you loose FC much faster... So it's hard to just dump a bunch in and hope for the best.

Some will use pucks if they don't have other options, but you have to know you will see a bump in cya...

 

[Underwhere]

U have to maintain above minimum at all times. So, my min is 4, and target is 6-8. At first I would do to 8ppm each evening. Then I learned I was only loosing 2ppm most days, but occasionally 2.5...

So my current target is 7ppm so if I loose the 2.5 I am still at 4.5...

I test every evening just before sunset.

Vacation is tricky... Because as you have noticed once you get well above your cya/ch target, you loose FC much faster... So it's hard to just dump a bunch in and hope for the best.

Some will use pucks if they don't have other options, but you have to know you will see a bump in cya...

Got it thanks.
So I'll just test every day and I'll eventually just figure out what my average daily dose should be.
On days that I'm away I'll have a neighbor put in my average dose.

Does anything change if the pool gets heavy use? I have family coming over in 3 weeks and the kids love to play in the pool.

 

[dkimble]

You usually will use more FC, hence my 2.5ppm loss days when the kids swim on the weekends. For me it's minimal, but I have read where others see bigger variences​. My pool is only 7000 gallons and 3 or 4 small kids.

 

[Underwhere]

Thanks everyone for their help.
I think my pool is perfect now and it's stable and predictable.

FC - 4.5
CC - 0
TA - 130
CYA - 40

And I'm just trying to figure out my FC loss per day. It seems probably around 2ppm.

I tried the TFP app pool math calculator on my phone. No dice. It locks up. Oh well I'll continue to use the calculator via the web.