So in my attempt to keep the hard water here from making the pool more difficult to manage ( scaling and whatnot ) - I swapped over the fill water from the city water tap to the water softener hose bib ( like for the plants and trees ) - That water softener is now running with Potassium Chloride instead of Sodium Chloride to keep the plants that we do water from dieing from the Salt - it's like fertilizer for the plants. did you catch that part - fertilizer? Add in a trip the grand canyon during which there was a wind storm that knocked a bunch of debris ( Leaves ) into the pool. That got me an extended ( 2 day probably ) sunny and warm period with zero FC in my pool. cue bacteria!
So when the FC is zero upon my return I bleach the pool to shock levels and measure the next morning and have zero FC again. Wow - that's alot of not green algae I think - but I had readings which looked like the chlorine was rising up and then killing stuff and dropping down only it took a lot more bleach than I was expecting for a non-green-pool. Lots more bleach and it held for maybe an hour but was zero again in the morning. Until finally today I am guessing that I have bested the ammonia monster I created as I have zero cc and 1.5FC stable for 12 hours ( adding more bleach now to get up to 4 fc )
Most recent Readings : two weeks ago readings
PH 7.8 7.4
FC 1.5 9
CC 0 0
CYA less than 20 72 ( give or take )
TA 80 60
CH 800 600
now for the questions :
given a CC of zero and 1.5 FC holding as steady as it can given 100% full Arizona July sun and ZERO CYA - I think it's probably time to think about adding in some CYA - yes?
I still have a box of trichlor tabs from last year when my dad thought I needed them since my floating baskets were empty and out of the pool. I never did explain to him that I didnt need them because I am a good son, and maybe now I can put them to use.
Would that be an OK source of CYA for my pool for now or do I need to get the CYA up faster than that?
I take it that the CH increase to 800 from 600 can be attributed to the now using hard fill water instead of potassium based make a bacteria bloom to eat my CYA experiment. if someone would just confirm that this isnt a concern i should be able to take the lessons I have learned and move on with my newly sparkling clean and clear pool now that all the dead bacteria have been swept up by the Polaris.
And finally - I assume that the PH would be the last thing that I bring down as 7.8 is tolerable but in need of 'drifting' down a little with some acid.
BTW - the process of discovering that you did not just barely escape an algae bloom returning from your trip, but instead had an ammonia adventure was a very fun one.
Thanks all again for your wonderful help
Cardano
PS - I assume Deep end is where the Ammonia stories go but please feel free to have a mod move this to where it should go if this aint right.
So when the FC is zero upon my return I bleach the pool to shock levels and measure the next morning and have zero FC again. Wow - that's alot of not green algae I think - but I had readings which looked like the chlorine was rising up and then killing stuff and dropping down only it took a lot more bleach than I was expecting for a non-green-pool. Lots more bleach and it held for maybe an hour but was zero again in the morning. Until finally today I am guessing that I have bested the ammonia monster I created as I have zero cc and 1.5FC stable for 12 hours ( adding more bleach now to get up to 4 fc )
Most recent Readings : two weeks ago readings
PH 7.8 7.4
FC 1.5 9
CC 0 0
CYA less than 20 72 ( give or take )
TA 80 60
CH 800 600
now for the questions :
given a CC of zero and 1.5 FC holding as steady as it can given 100% full Arizona July sun and ZERO CYA - I think it's probably time to think about adding in some CYA - yes?
I still have a box of trichlor tabs from last year when my dad thought I needed them since my floating baskets were empty and out of the pool. I never did explain to him that I didnt need them because I am a good son, and maybe now I can put them to use.
Would that be an OK source of CYA for my pool for now or do I need to get the CYA up faster than that?
I take it that the CH increase to 800 from 600 can be attributed to the now using hard fill water instead of potassium based make a bacteria bloom to eat my CYA experiment. if someone would just confirm that this isnt a concern i should be able to take the lessons I have learned and move on with my newly sparkling clean and clear pool now that all the dead bacteria have been swept up by the Polaris.
And finally - I assume that the PH would be the last thing that I bring down as 7.8 is tolerable but in need of 'drifting' down a little with some acid.
BTW - the process of discovering that you did not just barely escape an algae bloom returning from your trip, but instead had an ammonia adventure was a very fun one.
Thanks all again for your wonderful help
Cardano
PS - I assume Deep end is where the Ammonia stories go but please feel free to have a mod move this to where it should go if this aint right.