Hello everyone, new here. Been following TFP very closely and recently got my Taylor K2006 kit.
My pool is a 15000 gallon new concrete pool (since Jan 2021) with acrylic paint. I run a 0.6kw pump 6 hours a day, which in technicality filters my water 1x through my sand filter.
Recent readings:
CH: 225
TA: 70
CYA: 65-70?
pH: 7.5
FC: 10ppm
CC: 0.5ppm
I've had a lot of problems in the past few months with algae and cloudiness, mainly because I added CYA as a conditioner first by itself and my test strips were not registering it. I continued to use granulated 90 trichlor for a while, even to shock based on the store's advice, and that led to my CYA level higher than I would like it. But the sun, when it is out is very intense, UV is usually registering at a level of 12.
Test strips were all I had before I got my Taylor test kit a month ago. Also I live in Rwanda so the abundance of chemicals and test kits are difficult, I depend on people bringing them over here for me.
Most recently, about 3 weeks ago I thought I nailed it with getting my pool under control. I kept the pool at 38ppm with Cal Hypo 65 (it's all I have) to maintain Mustard Algae SLAM level, and did manage to get OLCD of 0 and 0 combined chlorine. I allowed the pool to drift to about 21ppm before letting people swim. It was clear as day, light blue as day as well. I started measuring daily loss, which would be 2ppm on a very sunny day with no pool cover, and 1-1.5 on a cloudy day with little to no activity.
I use Cal Hypo on a regular basis, adding 4ppm every two days and keeping my pool above the recommended range of 8-10ppm for my CYA level.
We had the largest pool party so far, 4 men, 11 kids, from a staggered period of 10am to 4pm, full sun. The pool was at 12ppm, CC 0 before the party began, and then it dropped to 10ppm. CC 0.5ppm after the party. I dosed up 12ppm at 5pm and by 9pm it was back down to 10ppm again. Next morning it was like 9.5ppm. But I noticed already after the party that the pool was cloudy (expected from so many kids and sunscreen) but it was changing to that slightly teal color, which gives me trauma that it would sometimes get out of control. I don't want to pump it up to shock level of 28ppm unnecessarily. I've had the pump running all night and day so far, the cloudiness has improved some (which isn't too bad, I can see the deep end, it just isn't as sparkly and crystal clear as I was getting it to become).
My questions are:
1) After a pool party, I've read that cloudiness takes a few days for the filter (sand takes longer) to get rid of the organics. However, the slight tinge color change, is that expected? I've brushed and vacuumed today (and we backwashed the filter before the party). Does it mean I need to SLAM again when there seemed to be a low overnight loss? The color literally changed in the last hour of the pool party but the chlorine never dropped below 10 to my knowledge.
2) Is daily chlorine loss a percentage or fixed amount per day? Meaning, at a higher amount of 21ppm, it was dropping 2ppm on a sunny day. Would I expect that if it were at 10ppm it would also drop an equal 2ppm or more of a ratio of the FC? (like 2ppm is 10% of 20ppm, and 1ppm would also be 10% of 10ppm?) To keep pool maintenance easy, would I be safe to add 3 days of chlorine (6ppm) every 3 days? Should I expect chlorine consumption to be
Thanks guys! Trying to keep on top of this!
BTW: Cal Hypo has been working well, we usually dissolve it and then walk it around the pool for daily chlorination (or every 2 days). Also with the CYA level, given our high UV I am okay with maintaining a higher FC level, I just don't like the idea of putting in so much chlorine when we have a problem! Also, our water here is super soft, 50ppm hardness so the Cal Hypo works wondrously in our context.
Thanks!
My pool is a 15000 gallon new concrete pool (since Jan 2021) with acrylic paint. I run a 0.6kw pump 6 hours a day, which in technicality filters my water 1x through my sand filter.
Recent readings:
CH: 225
TA: 70
CYA: 65-70?
pH: 7.5
FC: 10ppm
CC: 0.5ppm
I've had a lot of problems in the past few months with algae and cloudiness, mainly because I added CYA as a conditioner first by itself and my test strips were not registering it. I continued to use granulated 90 trichlor for a while, even to shock based on the store's advice, and that led to my CYA level higher than I would like it. But the sun, when it is out is very intense, UV is usually registering at a level of 12.
Test strips were all I had before I got my Taylor test kit a month ago. Also I live in Rwanda so the abundance of chemicals and test kits are difficult, I depend on people bringing them over here for me.
Most recently, about 3 weeks ago I thought I nailed it with getting my pool under control. I kept the pool at 38ppm with Cal Hypo 65 (it's all I have) to maintain Mustard Algae SLAM level, and did manage to get OLCD of 0 and 0 combined chlorine. I allowed the pool to drift to about 21ppm before letting people swim. It was clear as day, light blue as day as well. I started measuring daily loss, which would be 2ppm on a very sunny day with no pool cover, and 1-1.5 on a cloudy day with little to no activity.
I use Cal Hypo on a regular basis, adding 4ppm every two days and keeping my pool above the recommended range of 8-10ppm for my CYA level.
We had the largest pool party so far, 4 men, 11 kids, from a staggered period of 10am to 4pm, full sun. The pool was at 12ppm, CC 0 before the party began, and then it dropped to 10ppm. CC 0.5ppm after the party. I dosed up 12ppm at 5pm and by 9pm it was back down to 10ppm again. Next morning it was like 9.5ppm. But I noticed already after the party that the pool was cloudy (expected from so many kids and sunscreen) but it was changing to that slightly teal color, which gives me trauma that it would sometimes get out of control. I don't want to pump it up to shock level of 28ppm unnecessarily. I've had the pump running all night and day so far, the cloudiness has improved some (which isn't too bad, I can see the deep end, it just isn't as sparkly and crystal clear as I was getting it to become).
My questions are:
1) After a pool party, I've read that cloudiness takes a few days for the filter (sand takes longer) to get rid of the organics. However, the slight tinge color change, is that expected? I've brushed and vacuumed today (and we backwashed the filter before the party). Does it mean I need to SLAM again when there seemed to be a low overnight loss? The color literally changed in the last hour of the pool party but the chlorine never dropped below 10 to my knowledge.
2) Is daily chlorine loss a percentage or fixed amount per day? Meaning, at a higher amount of 21ppm, it was dropping 2ppm on a sunny day. Would I expect that if it were at 10ppm it would also drop an equal 2ppm or more of a ratio of the FC? (like 2ppm is 10% of 20ppm, and 1ppm would also be 10% of 10ppm?) To keep pool maintenance easy, would I be safe to add 3 days of chlorine (6ppm) every 3 days? Should I expect chlorine consumption to be
Thanks guys! Trying to keep on top of this!
BTW: Cal Hypo has been working well, we usually dissolve it and then walk it around the pool for daily chlorination (or every 2 days). Also with the CYA level, given our high UV I am okay with maintaining a higher FC level, I just don't like the idea of putting in so much chlorine when we have a problem! Also, our water here is super soft, 50ppm hardness so the Cal Hypo works wondrously in our context.
Thanks!
