CH and CYA level?

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What’s really weird is that I added 5.25 lb of dry stabilizers to the pool on 5/30. By my pool size, this should have already raised CA by 40+.

But I definitely have CA less than 30, because the 4ppm FC this morning at 5:30am is now gone. Tested at 1:30pm, FC=0.2…

Just added 23oz of dry stabilizer by the sock method. By PoolMath, this should raise CA by 10. But, not sure this will….

This is very frustrating, to see all the liquid chlorine I poured in just go poof.
 
Texas Splash said:
Was the stabilizer you added on 5/30 also by the sock method? Do you recall what brand of stabilizer it was?
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No, I didn’t know the sock method at the time. Was poolstored lol. They told me to just put it into the skimmer, 1.75lb at a time. 5/30 night, I put in 2.5lb. 5/31 noon, I went to pool store again, only showed an 8 increase in CA. They told me to put in another 1.75lb.

That was when I knew they were full of ***. CA doesn’t register in 12 hours. Whatever they say, they cannot suggest me to do another 1.75lb. Of course, I found out about this only after 5/31.

The stabilizer I put in at that time was from pool store

This time, I am using the Clorox one I got from Walmart.
 
Okay. Those granules are slow dissolving when poured into the skimmer and allowed to sit in the filter. Assuming you haven't cleaned the filter in the past week, some may still be sitting in there. That could explain why you haven't seen the increase you hoped for. Give it another few days. But if you did clean the filter, some of it may have washed out.
 
Texas Splash said:
Okay. Those granules are slow dissolving when poured into the skimmer and allowed to sit in the filter. Assuming you haven't cleaned the filter in the past week, some may still be sitting in there. That could explain why you haven't seen the increase you hoped for. Give it another few days. But if you did clean the filter, some of it may have washed out.
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I did clean the filter.

Could it be sitting there this long though? I added the stabilizer on 5/30 and 5/31. I cleaned the filter on 6/8. A week had already passed.

This time, since I used the sock method, when should I expect to see the raise in CA in the test?
 
henryforever14 said:
5/30 and 5/31. I cleaned the filter on 6/8. A week had already passed.
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You would think they should've been dissolved by that time. You probably didn't see any large granules. Not sure it they had time to fully acclimate to the water though or if any powdery residue was still in the pleats. About all you can do is watch the CYA for the next few days. If it remains stuck (low), about all you can do is cautiously add more via the sock method in 10 or 20 ppm increments as to not go too high.
 
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Texas Splash said:
You would think they should've been dissolved by that time. You probably didn't see any large granules. Not sure it they had time to fully acclimate to the water though or if any powdery residue was still in the pleats. About all you can do is watch the CYA for the next few days. If it remains stuck (low), about all you can do is cautiously add more via the sock method in 10 or 20 ppm increments as to not go too high.
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From all I read on this forum, if it was CYA eating bacteria, I wouldn’t be able to hold chlorine overnight at all. Correct?
 
henryforever14 said:
if it was CYA eating bacteria, I wouldn’t be able to hold chlorine overnight at all. Correct?
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That is an ammonia scenario which your us not. But when a pool does develop an ammonia situation, stabilizer cannot be added until an unusually large amount of chlorine is able to neutralize the bacteria, otherwise the ammonia feeds off of it.
 
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So, this is very frustrating.

Last night at 9:45, I had FC at 4.6. This morning I had FC 3.8. This means I passed OCLT again.

Since I put in CYA yesterday around noon and I am not a patient person lol, I went ahead and tested CYA. it’s definitely above 30. I can see the dot at 40. But at close to 30, it’s completely gone.

I thought, well good, FC is gonna hold better today. So I added some liquid chlorine to bump FC to 7. (Knowing my pool, the amount I added probably will get it up to 6 or 6.5). In the meantime, I also had the SWCG run at 40% while the pump run continuously.

I just tested FC again at 2:30. FC is <=0.5… How?!! We didn’t exactly have a super sunny day! And it’s Syracuse, not Texas or Arizona!!

What should I do?

1. Is it at all possible there is something in my pool consuming chlorine other than the sun?

2. Should I use chlorine tablets? The CYA is low anyways. I have some tablets in the shed, probably from 3 years ago. The previous owner left it. Could it go bad? If it is not bad, I am seriously considering using it because it would solve my Chlorine and CYA problem together.

3. Should I add CYA today? Another 10ppm? I was gonna wait till next week to do it. But, I can’t go another week dumping chlorine just to see it go poof in 5 hours in a not particularly sunny day!

Help please…
 

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Tested at 4:15pm. About 1.5 hours after adding 106oz of 12.5% chlorine, FC=3.5.

By poolmath, that 106 oz of chlorine should get me to 7. Let’s say I got 6. Is it normal to lose 2.5ppm of FC with 30ppm CYA in 1.5 hours?
 
Your numbers are definitely not where they need to be. It's good you are vigilant and adding liquid chlorine as needed. :goodjob:

- Can you use tabs? .... Yes. Put 2-3 tabs in a floater if you wish, but no more than that for now.
- CYA fluctuation? Probably has more to do with the testing. Not your fault, it's just a wonky test. Perhaps it wasn't as high as you had hoped initially, hard to know. But yes, add another 10 ppm of stabilizer now.
- The FC is not holding in-part due to heat and low CYA. Our official summer doesn't get here for another week or two, but it's hot now.

Since you just passed an OCLT, you should feel rather confident you don't have algae. Stay vigilant and on the lookout for water changes, but you should be okay. Add enough liquid chlorine to not just "think" the FC should hit 8 (for example), but be sure it gets there, and if it doesn't, make it. I would keep the FC anywhere between 7-10 ppm today if you can.

Also remember that if you are trying to maintain an FC range of 5 for example with your SWG, it's not going to get there for two reaasons:
1. Not nearly enough CYA. I know you're working it, but our SWGs need a minim CYA of 60. Down here where I'm at, anything below 70 and my FC falls.
2 - SWGs are no designed to make an FC climb like we might think. Sure, they may have a boost or super-chlorinate feature, but IMO it's a bit of a joke. It just means it's running a 100% it all.

So while the CYA is so low, don't have high expectations for the SWG. Continue to have liquid on hand.

At some point you'll need to get the CYA to at least the 60-70 range. If you are still concerned about algae or something, you can do another OCLT in a day or two for peace of mind before increasing it. But your SWG needs that additional CYA.
 
Also remember that for the FC test, the standard 10 ML sample size is just fine. Performed as follows:

10 ML water sample with ONE generous scoop of powder. Add drops until clear and divide result in half. Example: 20 drops to clear equals an FC of 10.
 
Texas Splash said:
Your numbers are definitely not where they need to be. It's good you are vigilant and adding liquid chlorine as needed. :goodjob:

- Can you use tabs? .... Yes. Put 2-3 tabs in a floater if you wish, but no more than that for now.
- CYA fluctuation? Probably has more to do with the testing. Not your fault, it's just a wonky test. Perhaps it wasn't as high as you had hoped initially, hard to know. But yes, add another 10 ppm of stabilizer now.
- The FC is not holding in-part due to heat and low CYA. Our official summer doesn't get here for another week or two, but it's hot now.

Since you just passed an OCLT, you should feel rather confident you don't have algae. Stay vigilant and on the lookout for water changes, but you should be okay. Add enough liquid chlorine to not just "think" the FC should hit 8 (for example), but be sure it gets there, and if it doesn't, make it. I would keep the FC anywhere between 7-10 ppm today if you can.

Also remember that if you are trying to maintain an FC range of 5 for example with your SWG, it's not going to get there for two reaasons:
1. Not nearly enough CYA. I know you're working it, but our SWGs need a minim CYA of 60. Down here where I'm at, anything below 70 and my FC falls.
2 - SWGs are no designed to make an FC climb like we might think. Sure, they may have a boost or super-chlorinate feature, but IMO it's a bit of a joke. It just means it's running a 100% it all.

So while the CYA is so low, don't have high expectations for the SWG. Continue to have liquid on hand.

At some point you'll need to get the CYA to at least the 60-70 range. If you are still concerned about algae or something, you can do another OCLT in a day or two for peace of mind before increasing it. But your SWG needs that additional CYA.
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Thanks for all of this. I am losing my mind here… I just went out and got 10 gallons of 12.5% chlorine…

I will do the following as you suggested:

1. Add 10ppm of CYA right now.

2. When sun comes down, bringing FC up to 10ppm

3. Keep monitoring tomorrow.

I do know the 10ml FC test that saves you reagent. But when I do OCLT, I just want the accuracy for the peace of mind. On a usual basis, I do 10ml. However, with how things going at this rate, I will have to buy additional reagent whatsoever… might as well go for the jumbo size they sell on Amazon lol.
 
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@Texas Splash sorry to bother you again with questions. You must be tired of me now…

I was doing my daily inspection of the pool after the CYA addition. I found a strand of algae sitting on the pool step. It is about 1/8 of an inch long. The water otherwise looks crystal clear.

I am confused. I did pass OCLT twice and from what I understand, if one can see algae from naked eye, it would be pretty bad already?

Any thoughts? Or does that change how I should proceed?
 
The big question is was it really algae? Perhaps something blew into the pool? Really hard to tell. Keep a watchful eye. If you see more unexplained items like that, you may choose to do another OCLT. Don't panic until there's a reason to panic.
 
Texas Splash said:
The big question is was it really algae? Perhaps something blew into the pool? Really hard to tell. Keep a watchful eye. If you see more unexplained items like that, you may choose to do another OCLT. Don't panic until there's a reason to panic.
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Thanks for all the support. It could be something blew into the pool. My pool is surrounded by weed… the sun from two weeks ago now make some of them knee high. (I inherited this mass from the previous owner, who owned the house for 15 months. I guess they always knew it was gonna be short term and didn’t take care of anything. With last year’s craziness, they also walked away with about 50K of gain. Sigh…)

I guess at this point, I am a bit tired. This pool has taken a lot of my attention. Since it got opened, I brush and vacuum several times a day. My wife jokingly said this must be the cleanest pool in Syracuse. Well, all I wanted is that when my daughter and children of neighbors (all toddlers) swim in the pool, they don’t get rash and other medical issues. I’d feel very guilty otherwise.
 
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So, I might have a bigger pool. When I inherited the pool, I called the builder who told me it’s 16k gallon.

But whatever chemical I added, I consistently get smaller than expected change.

Reverse calculate the pool based on these days data, the pool might be 18k gallon.
 

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