Can you Shock too long?

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Taterelder

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May 15, 2009
38
so I have read the how to shock your pool article and pool school... but I have been shocking my pool and placing Tons of bleach in it and after about a week of keeping my FC above 20 and still losing about 5 FC over night, I decided to raise it to 30, and it still lost 5 FC overnight, then raised it to 40 and I am still losing 5 overnight. THrough this process I havn't let it dip below 20. The pool is chrystal clear but I am tired of dumping so much bleach in, when last year I only had to put about half a jug a night in. how long can this last?

FC: 30 now
CC: 0
TA 130
PH 7.6
CYA 30
CH 120
 
Your shock level for a CYA of 30 is only 12ppm. What's in there.................Alien spores?????????? Have you backwashed any at all? What are you using to test the water with?
 
When you say you raised it to FC 30, is that a calculated number , like I had FC = X and so I added this much bleach to get to FC = 30, or did you test at FC 30? I am wondering about the bleach strength, whether it is actually 6% as you expect it to be.
 
hey guys, Funny thing is, I did raise my CYA levels abt 10 days ago from 30 to 55, and it didn't help much at all... and I am using the Taylor K2006 test kit, I have used the BBB method last year and it worked great... with my Pool Size my Calculations are usually pretty spot on with 1 182oz Jug of CLorox Bleach raising FC by 5... and I have used the same Clorox Bleach from Sams Club that I have always have, and it is 6%. And after the shocking I did at the lower FC's I decided to raise it to 30 just a round number(no calc) just to see if that would burn more of 'whatever is in there'... and still taking it up to 30, I still lost 5-6 FC overnight. I am clueless now

Also... when FC is anticipated high, instead of doing 10ml and dividing by 2... can you do 5ml and not divide by 2?
 
my personal opinion is your looking into this too far. If you have a liner in your pool your going to end up fading it if you continue to keep your fc level so high.

just bring the fc level back down to normal range and use the pool before the summer is over.
 
yeah maybe so, but I lost 5 FC again last night.. and I used the BBB method last year successfully, no problems at all and never lost 5 fc overnight after shocked for a few days. I just can't figure out how am consistently losing soo much...
 
Do you have an auto-fill? If so, you could be adding water to your pool that you don't know about. I had the same problem, once I shut off the water to the auto-fill, I discovered I had a leak.
 

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I don't have an autofill... but I have noticed a little loss of water. I thought it was b/c of evaporation b/c it has been hot here... the FIlter and pump are new and there are no leaks around that(no water whatsoever on the concrete near)... I have an inground so where on earth would I start to check for leaks? Also how does a leak use up chlorine?
 
Taterelder,

Let's go back to your first post and question. Two things consume chlorine....sunlight and organics (usually algae) in your pool. Naturally, the point in the overnight FC loss test is to eliminate the sun as one of the causes. You have done that test and you still consumed 5ppm FC. That means you have organics in your pool and you must continue with high levels of chlorine until they are gone. The consumption will then go back down and you will be finished.

You probably know this and it may seem like I'm talking down to you. Please don't take it that way. I am only trying to simplify your issue.

Since your water is clear, then you might look for places algae or slime mould can hide....ladders, light niche, etc. Again, once you destroy the organics your pool will return to normal consumption.
 
Thanks I appreciate the info... I have had my FC levels at shock level for about a week now, have you guys ever heard of people needing to shock this long? and still consume a lot of Chlorine like this?
 
Taterelder said:
Thanks I appreciate the info... I have had my FC levels at shock level for about a week now, have you guys ever heard of people needing to shock this long? and still consume a lot of Chlorine like this?
Click to expand...

Well, yeah. I had to shock for at least a week when I first attacked my pool. But, it was a nasty greenish-brown and full of leaves and all kinds of c**p.

So, let's review how you did the overnight test. Did you add the chlorine after the sun was off the pool, then wait at least an hour (with the pump running) and then test the chlorine levels to get your baseline reading? And then in the morning, test chlorine levels again right at dawn?
 
Taterelder said:
Also... when FC is anticipated high, instead of doing 10ml and dividing by 2... can you do 5ml and not divide by 2?
Click to expand...

No.

I agree with Dave, you should investigate the source of the overnight loss - organics are lurking somewhere in your pool.

And you didn't answer my question above, are you testing AFTER adding the bleach, to confirm you are even reaching your shock target?

Shocking higher than your shock level risks liner fading and wastes bleach. We have folks on here who have shocked for a month. By keeping your shock levels at the normal level, and just doing it in the evening/nite time hours, you can still use the pool during the day when the FC has dropped below shock level. This will allow you to use the pool at least.
 
By keeping your shock levels at the normal level, and just doing it in the evening/nite time hours, you can still use the pool during the day when the FC has dropped below shock level. This will allow you to use the pool at least.
Click to expand...

If i shock at night and then FC falls to safe levels by morning, kids can swim during the day?
 
I don't know if this could possibly pertain to your situation but I'll add my two cents. I also had a problem getting the FC to hold. In fact, I fought it for weeks. My water was totally clear, but it just kept eating chlorine. I found out my kids were consistantly peeing in the pool. Dave, The pool Geek and the rest of the gang helped me figure this out. My kids (and the neighbor kids) got a harsh lecture and within a couple days, my FC held. My pool has been perfect ever since! Good luck!
 
brbbbfuller said:
By keeping your shock levels at the normal level, and just doing it in the evening/nite time hours, you can still use the pool during the day when the FC has dropped below shock level. This will allow you to use the pool at least.
Click to expand...

If i shock at night and then FC falls to safe levels by morning, kids can swim during the day?
Click to expand...
You can swim if your FC is above the minimum and below shock level based on your CYA.
 
Can you list for us (again if you've already done it once) all the places you've checked for organics? Light niche, ladder and mounts, etc. Everywhere there is a place water can get into or behind is a place for it to hide.

My sister had an unexplaned overnight loss for a couple of days before I had them unbolt the ladder and check inside it. When they removed it they found a lot of algae hiding in there and once it was cleaned out the loss went away. They now pour a little high FC water in the ladder about once a week so nothing can grow there.
 
OK guys thanks for the info... and Yes I do Add the Chlorine after the sun goes down, and Yes I do wait an hour (pump running), and I do get up first thing in the morning and check it to see how many FC I have lost.

And I don't have a ladder, I just have steps comming out of the shallow end, and there is no way to get behind them... the only other areas where Algea could be lurking would be around the skimmer and behind the light both which I have checked... the only other thing I can think was different from last year would be when they winterized it last season they didn't take the mesh filter out of the filter casing like they did the season before. Think that would make a difference? should I look in the filter casing?

thanks
 

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