Brand New Pool Owner with cloudy water

[wireform]

For now just check the FC and not even the CC as the CC will be cause in effct now. I'd check when FC holds better.

 

[andrewholtmd]

For now just check the FC and not even the CC as the CC will be cause in effct now. I'd check when FC holds better.

Excellent. Will do.

 

[wireform]

Excellent. Will do.

You can even save on regent for the FC test by using 5ml pool water perfectly to the 5 ml mark on the vial and then each drop is 1 and not .5(half). Not as accurate but for most of the slam it'll be good enough. By the end of slam and OCLT use 10ml water and each drop gets calculated @ .5

 

[andrewholtmd]

You can even save on regent for the FC test by using 5ml pool water perfectly to the 5 ml mark on the vial and then each drop is 1 and not .5(half). Not as accurate but for most of the slam it'll be good enough. By the end of slam and OCLT use 10ml water and each drop gets calculated @ .5

Excellent plan. Have been doing that since last night. I ordered some more reagent off Amazon just in case. Thank you.

 

[andrewholtmd]

Another good day. FC has been at SLAM level the entire day. Have been through about 3 gallons of 7.5% bleach today. Water continues to look great. Brushing and robotic vacuuming are continuing twice daily. Hopeful to wrap the SLAM up by early next week.

My CYA was hovering at around 30 pre-SLAM. Should I add some CYA after SLAM? If so, when is the best time? My pool gets direct sunlight all day long.

 

[wireform]

Hovering minus or hovering plus ? If the former then just add 10 ppm so the sun doesn't feast on the chlorine and just slam as CYA 40.

 

[andrewholtmd]

Water is as clear as I have seen. FC has been 18-19 for the last 12 hours without adding any bleach. I’ll see what my FC does throughout the day and decide on an OCLT tonight into tomorrow morning. Agree?

 

[crimson avenger]

Water is as clear as I have seen. FC has been 18-19 for the last 12 hours without adding any bleach. I’ll see what my FC does throughout the day and decide on an OCLT tonight into tomorrow morning. Agree?

What was your CC this morning?

 

[mariane]

Inquiring minds want to know: Did you pass the OCLT?

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Y'all stand back..... I wanna talk to Andrew about really REALLY important stuff!

Andrew- how have you been chlorinating your pool up to this point?? I suspect pucks....right?? Please tell me they're not Clorox Xtrablue?

If you want to use some of those pucks to help you raise your CYA, you can! About 30 ounces of Trichlor pucks (either 4 or 8 ounce pucks) will give you about 11ppm of CYA.. Each 8 ounce puck contains about 4.8 ppm of FC and 2.9ppm of CYA.

As you can see from above- the use of pucks builds up CYA to stupidhigh amounts and folks don't realize the problem with that. The more CYA you have, the more FC pools require to balance against that. Pucks also make the water more acidic. So using them *now and then* is absolutey fine... (as long as they're copper free pucks) and it fits in to the TFP plan fine. Monitoring those levels is what's important.

Have you considered using a Salt Water Chlorine Generator?? Makes life easy peasy. Consider it a PCA pump on continuous base dose, but you can tweak it up or down based on break thru pain.....which in this case would be a need for more/less FC.

Holler if you have any questions....

Maddie

 

[andrewholtmd]

Y'all stand back..... I wanna talk to Andrew about really REALLY important stuff!

Andrew- how have you been chlorinating your pool up to this point?? I suspect pucks....right?? Please tell me they're not Clorox Xtrablue?

If you want to use some of those pucks to help you raise your CYA, you can! About 30 ounces of Trichlor pucks (either 4 or 8 ounce pucks) will give you about 11ppm of CYA.. Each 8 ounce puck contains about 4.8 ppm of FC and 2.9ppm of CYA.

As you can see from above- the use of pucks builds up CYA to stupidhigh amounts and folks don't realize the problem with that. The more CYA you have, the more FC pools require to balance against that. Pucks also make the water more acidic. So using them *now and then* is absolutey fine... (as long as they're copper free pucks) and it fits in to the TFP plan fine. Monitoring those levels is what's important.

Have you considered using a Salt Water Chlorine Generator?? Makes life easy peasy. Consider it a PCA pump on continuous base dose, but you can tweak it up or down based on break thru pain.....which in this case would be a need for more/less FC.

Holler if you have any questions....

Maddie

I have been using 7.5% liquid bleach. I have some Trichlor pucks but didn’t want to use them Unless advised. I’m aware of high CYA issues of the pucks. I am researching SWCG currentoy but wanted to get my pool in tip top shape before doing so. Will do a CC this afternoon.

How much FC should I expect the sun to burn off each day if my CYA is 30 ppm and my pool is in direct sunlight most of the day?

 

[mariane]

What was your OCLT result?

 

[andrewholtmd]

1 ppm (FC 19 -> 18). I was a bit lazy and tested once it was light but just barely. Didn’t test my CC because I forgot. Will test them this afternoon. They have been 0 the last three times I’ve test this week.

 

[mariane]

You're testing FC and CC. Those two added together give you your TC number. The OCLT test is passed when you have a loss of 1ppm or less of FC and a CC reading of .5 or less. The third criteria is crystal clear water.

Here's what I do when my water is clear but I suspect something is off. I add Chlorine to the upper part of my guidelines for my CYA. Mine is 4 to 6ppm for a CYA of 50. With the filter running I add my Chlorine when the sun dips below the trees and is completely off the pool. I test my FC level one to two hours later. I like to give the Chlorine a chance to sanitize anything introduced by swimming that day. Next day I check before the sun hits the pool.

If my night time test is 5ppm FC and my morning test is 4ppm or more, I passed the FC part. If my CC test is .5 or less, I passed the CC part. If my water is still crystal clear, that's a passing grade.

All my tests are done using the 10 ml sample size. There's no need to use the 25 ml size unless you like doing so. The 10 ml sample is precise enough and save on testing agents.

If your water's not clear and you are shocking, there's no reason to perform the OCLT until your water is clear

Hope this helps

 

[andrewholtmd]

Did the OCLT last night. My FC loss was 0. CC was 0.5 using the 10 mL test. Water is crystal clear!

SLAM method worked wonders!

 

[mariane]

WooHoo!

Now let the FC drop to the upper range for your CYA level. When FC is below 10 you can test pH.
Post your test results:
FC, CC, pH, TA, CYA
You can test for CH for a base level if you like put it's not important. A vinyl pool does not need additional calcium.

 

[andrewholtmd]

Just ran some tests:

FC 6
pH 7.5
TA 140
CYA 26
CC 0

I’ve got some Trichlor pucks available as well as some granular CYA. Expecting some swimmers today and tomorrow. I am burning through Bleach like it‘s nobody’s business. I definitely need to add some CYA. How best to do it? Slowly with the pucks? Granular? Both?

 

[mknauss]

Add granular using the sock method.
You can not measure 26 CYA. Round up to 30.

 

[mariane]

^^^^What he said^^^^

 

[andrewholtmd]

Excellent. Will add it tonight.