Chlorine Lock

[IceShadow]

Also, I purchased that exact chlorine at Fleet Farm. Worked great. If you have a Woodman's near you they were selling 4 1-gallon jugs of 12.5% for $10.

The Midwest seems to have a lot of availability for liquid chlorine, which is good. It seems to be harder to find in the South / Southeast.

 

[fort384]

CYA tested at 80 this morning before I drained ~10%-15% of the water. Pool is refilling now. I just added 2 gallons of shock about an hour ago. Chlorine now off the scale as I would expect. Will test all again later this evening or tomorrow morning to see where I end up.

 

[IceShadow]

The best way to be sure you won't need to SLAM:

- Check to see if any visible algae or clouding. If yes, SLAM. If no:
- Test your CCs with your next FC test. If over 0.5ppm of CC, SLAM. If no:
- After sundown, bring your FC to an elevated state (SLAM level is best, but otherwise anything at or above the standard maintenance level maximum is fine). Mix for 30 minutes and test the FC to verify where it is. The next morning, before sunrise, test the FC again. (Either let the pump run overnight or mix for 30 minutes before testing.) If drop is 1.0ppm or less, then no need to SLAM. If over 1.0ppm, SLAM.

 

[fort384]

ok so it seems I have made some progress. This morning, FC=TC=5ppm. CYA=60. Water has a bit of cloudiness to it but I assume that is from adding several thousand gallons of well water yesterday. Assuming it continues to clear, can I now maintain using liquid? Ideally I’d like to drop that CYA even more obviously - but perhaps I’ll give it a week to recover before more water replacement?

 

[IceShadow]

If you’re going to drop the CYA, go ahead and do it now. It’s water, not a patient coming out of surgery you want to heal up before the next surgery. You can maintain at 60 too, and let it slowly drop with rain additions and time (some CYA does degrade but it’s slow, like 10ppm every 1-3 months). Your call, both are valid.

If you let it stay at 60, you will want to follow the SLAM Process to ensure it clears up without an algae bloom. Post a full test array and we can help.

 

[fort384]

Part of my thinking too is I think giving the well a week to recover is not a bad idea. That’s the first time I’ve had to add a significant amount of water to the pool since buying the house - hose and auto top off ran for 12 hours to get my water level back. I’ll keep chlorine elevated though for now until it clears. It’s 70F in June here in Illinois for some reason so won’t be any swimmers in the water this weekend anyway.

 

[fort384]

also - will do an overnight loss test tonight to see how that is looking.

 

[IceShadow]

Well replenishment is a different story.

 

[setsailsoon]

OCLT will determine if cloudiness of your water is from algae or something else. Please post a complete test result set on your well water. Have you ever had it tested for metals? I see in your logs you've used calcium containing chemicals in the past and your CH is not high. This would indicate it's not super hard water like some wells. Mine is very hard so only use it for irrigation. Have you been using well water all along? If so that would indicate you're well water isn't causing the problem... just want to confirm.

Chris

 

[fort384]

Chris - my auto top off uses my well. But I’ve never had to add a significant amount as rain usually keeps it topped off. Usually I am doing the opposite and actually draining water rather than adding. It would be a heck of a coincidence if it wasn’t adding a few thousand gallons of well water that caused the cloudiness. It looks like it’s even cleared up some more since earlier this morning so I am pretty confident that is all it was. My well water is not too bad - but I did use a filter on the hose (and I have one in line with the ATO) that is supposed to remove metals.

 

[fort384]

Also when I say it’s cloudy it’s not all that noticeable - just a bit off from yesterday’s appearance before adding water. Here is what it looks like right now:

Will do OCLT tonight and see where I stand.

 

[setsailsoon]

OCLT is so easy to do it's always a good way to confirm and never hurts. Pool looks pretty nice to me! Do the coin test. Drop a coin in the deep end and see if you can tell if it's heads or tails. If you can clarity is great. Still do the OCLT.

Chris

 

[fort384]

So far so good - FC tested at 4ppm here at sunset. TC also 4. Will check again in morning. First time in weeks I’ve gotten normal chlorine readings. Will check again early AM. Water now clearer than it was yesterday before the drain. Definitely would pass the coin test in the deep end.

 

[IceShadow]

OK - if you pass the OCLT, clear pool, CC of 0.5 or less, then no need to SLAM. You'd just maintain your FC up at maintenence levels, never let it get lower than minimums, and enjoy the Trouble Free Pool.

 

[fort384]

Looks good. CC is 0 and no detectable loss of FC overnight. I dosed back up to 5ppm after testing.

Thanks again for the help - I think I am on a good path. CYA still a little elevated but may just let it come down over the summer naturally if maintaining FC/CC continues to be this easy with liquid.

 

[IceShadow]

So you will want to test daily for a while and dose back up to the high end of the maintenance level for your CYA on the FC/CYA Levels. pH should be also tested daily for a bit and when it’s at 8.0, test TA and use the info to add acid to get back to 7.6. After a week or two you will get a feel for how much FC you’re adding daily and how often the pH needs testing. Then you just FC test 2-3 times a week to confirm you’re adding the right amount of FC.