Giving TFP a Try

[Uncle Rico's Pool]

I bought it from pool supply world. It is a plastic container with screw on lid. What color should it be?

 

[Uncle Rico's Pool]

I added muratic acid per pool math, waited 1/2 hr. Tested two spots and and now down to 6.8 (target was 7.2). Ok to proceed or do I need to bring up? I don’t want to yo-yo.

 

[setsailsoon]

I bought it from pool supply world. It is a plastic container with screw on lid. What color should it be?

I took a quick look at PSW and yes that's the right kit. And it's the same container that I've had with my original and refill kits. When you said jar, I thought you meant a glass container. My powder is white and granules with no clumps. When it gets old or stored outside too long it gets clumps and sometimes turns dark and leaves a black stain on my cylinders but it still works fine. Can you please post a photo of the powder? Somehow it appears your powder is not working right. With your FC level it should turn clear with one or two drops. After 20-30 seconds it will turn pink again but your test ends as soon as it turns clear the first time.

Chris

 

[setsailsoon]

I added muratic acid per pool math, waited 1/2 hr. Tested two spots and and now down to 6.8 (target was 7.2). Ok to proceed or do I need to bring up? I don’t want to yo-yo.

Your pH is very low. If it was me I'd raise it to at least 7. The pH calculations in Pool School are for narrow ranges so you should not try to change more than .4 units at a time. If this is what you did, your pool volume is off or you didn't have it properly entered into Pool Math. pH calculations are not perfect over wide range but aren't be off that much. Since you're still learning your pool I'd make pH changes at .2 until you get the hang of it. It won't take long. You'll need to resolve your FC test issue before you do anything more than Marty's previous recommendations. He's an expert at getting your pool from green to perfect, crystal-clear clean. Once you get FAS-DPD capability let him know and he'll have you in great shape in no time.

Good luck!

Chris

 

[Uncle Rico's Pool]

So last night I shocked my pool with 3lbs of Dichlor. I had the Dichlor left from preTFP shocking, but thought it would be ideal since my CYA is only 20ppm. According to pool math the 3lbs should have been 10ppm which is shock level at 20cya. I tested a half hour later and only had 3ppm. I then added another 5ppm of liquid chlorine. By morning I had no chlorine. Do I need to take shock ppm higher?

 

[mknauss]

Your pool is 'cloudy/green' according to you. Follow the SLAM Process. No reason to do anything else.

Test your FC and add liquid chlorine to get to SLAM level FC every couple yours to start. Once you are in the cloudy blue stage, test and add 3-4 times per day.

 

[Uncle Rico's Pool]

To confirm, no one sees a need to mess with TA at this time?

TA 190
Ph 7.2
FC 0
TC 0
CYA 30

 

[Uncle Rico's Pool]

My biggest concern as I go through the process is that I can only check levels and adjust in the evening and early morning. As noted, my chlorine is disappearing much faster than that. With my CYA at 30, would it be a decent idea to use tricolor tabs during the process to help maintain levels? I figure I have about 8 day before CYA would get to 45 (if consumption is 3ppm a day and there is .6ppm of CYA per 1ppm of chlorine in trichlor. Thoughts?

 

[mknauss]

Do not use tablets. Liquid chlorine only.
TA is of no concern.

If you can truly only test and add twice a day, it will take a lot longer to achieve success.

No way you can test and add in the morning, noon, after work, and before bed? Anyone at home that can add chlorine even if they are not able to test?

 

[Uncle Rico's Pool]

May I ask what your concern is with trichor? I’ll probably have to convince my wife to add the chlorine at noon by guesstimate.

Last question - we will need to close the pool in a week or two. My understanding is that I still have to get all this failed in before closing right?

 

[mknauss]

Trichlor will be raising your CYA. Which will raise your FC levels that are required. It is a moving target. And not necessary. This time of year your sun angle is dropping and the level of CYA does not need to be higher in your climate.

Trichlor also is very acidic. If you have your FC at SLAM level, you cannot test pH.

 

[Uncle Rico's Pool]

Thanks for the explanation. Good news this morning! I am 12 hours into the slam and chlorine levels were maintained through the night for the first time (see below). With chlorine this high I believe my powder is “working” for FC and TC now but still leaves a slight purple once it should be clear. At that point I stop because adding more drops doesn’t change anything from there out. I believe this purple is what I was fighting the entire time when I had zero chlorine (looked like I had some chlorine but no matter how many drops I added it wouldn’t go away).

Is there any issue with raising the chlorine too high during a slam? I ask because I am leaving for work and have my wife set up to add throughout the day but since she can’t take readings I plan to error on the high side so that worst case I am still above slam level.

Thanks!

 

[Uncle Rico's Pool]

Oh here are my numbers:
Fc 15
Tc 16-16.5
Cya 25-30

Thoughts? I have a ways to go on CC.

 

[mknauss]

Maintain your FC at SLAM level based on CYA. No need to raise your FC above SLAM level.

 

[Uncle Rico's Pool]

Maintain your FC at SLAM level based on CYA. No need to raise your FC above SLAM level.

I am not planning to go higher while I am able to monitor it. Only while I am gone. I am worried the algae may consume more than I anticipate during the day (unknown at this point) and I would hate for it to dip below slam if I didn’t have my wife add enough.

 

[Uncle Rico's Pool]

Thanks OTPirate for taking care of the powder issue!!

 

[santacruzpool]

If you can have your wife add say 5ppm (128 oz or a gallon of 10%) at least once, or spit it in to 2 different times during the day, that hopefully would keep you closer to the proper level until you get home to double check and adjust to the correct SLAM level. That would certainly be better than waiting until you get home and having it too low for a longer time.

An even better option, teach your wife to do just the free chlorine test? It is pretty easy, who knows maybe her inner chemist will be discovered!

 

[Uncle Rico's Pool]

Here is the latest: had my wife add 3ppm (1 gal) (all I have is a standard bleach at this point - harder to find at this point in the season). Then came home early to get a reading and take over.

FC: 24 at 6:30 a wife added 3 by 2:30 was 17. Basically I am losing 1.25 ppm every hour.
TC seems to be 1ppm. Hard to tell what is “clear” especially with the darker powder granular floating around.

Could I get some feedback from veteran SLAMers? Does this seem typical or very high demand? im going to keep levels high so I don’t fall below target (12) as it consumes. No harm in doing so right? As you can see from this morning, the swing over 8 hrs is large.

 

[mknauss]

No harm in doing so right?

No need to raise your FC above SLAM level.

Going above SLAM level FC can harm your liner. Do not go above SLAM level FC.

 

[Uncle Rico's Pool]

Ok thanks. Now that the weekend is here I can dial in closer as I can watch it carefully.

Last reading:
FC 20
TC .5-1
So losing only .75ppm per hour. This was during heat of the day so I’m feeling optimistic that I’m moving in the right direction evening though water still looks horrible.