Hi Folks,
I learn something new about the pool every year and this year proves to be no exception. I wanted to open early and opened myself this year. I had intended to do a stain treatment with ascorbic acid before swim season started. Chlorine was low and temps were low so thought it would be an opportune time.
I dosed the pool with poly 60, at about 1.5X label recommendations. Added in 1.5 containers (3lb) of StainFree Advanced. Saw absolutely no change in stains on the pool. In a moment of frustration, I ordered super cheap 5lb bag of citric acid and dumped the whole thing in the next day (Thanks Amazon Prime One-Day). This was of course before I did some research on the forums and found that citric acid needs 3X the amount of FC to neutralize it as compared to ascorbic. And yes, I violated a cardinal rule of using more than needed of any chemical in the pool.
At the same time I added citric acid, we went from 60 degree temps to 80 degree temps and pool water got cloudy despite poly 60. I went ahead and added Jack's Magic as directed and a culator and began raising FC. Since the water got cloudy, I had to raise FC higher than planned but didn't have a choice.
Ever since, my FC demand has been extremely high despite crystal clear water. I'm going thru 1 gal of 12.5% LC per day (approx 5ppm). In good times, my consumption was more like 1ppm per day, rising to 2ppm when temps got to 90+. The more I read, I chalked this up to a lesson learned on citric acid. I've been going now for 12 days and the consumption hasn't changed. I've added 25 gals LC (125ppm), and I don't fully understand math on citric acid neutralization but thought it should be gone by now. I've done all the little things that in the past helped get me over the hump during a SLAM (light niche, extra brushing, spraying tile above water and skimmers with diluted bleach). Wondered if something was growing in the filter but that didn't make sense and forum research would indicate that anything that was growing in there would have been killed by SLAM levels of chlorine.
Back to the point about opening myself this year, now I'm wondering if it could be antifreeze? At closing, typically between 11-15 gallons are used by the pool man. I did not try to remove this in any way before opening.
Any other idea? Here are my latest test results:
I learn something new about the pool every year and this year proves to be no exception. I wanted to open early and opened myself this year. I had intended to do a stain treatment with ascorbic acid before swim season started. Chlorine was low and temps were low so thought it would be an opportune time.
I dosed the pool with poly 60, at about 1.5X label recommendations. Added in 1.5 containers (3lb) of StainFree Advanced. Saw absolutely no change in stains on the pool. In a moment of frustration, I ordered super cheap 5lb bag of citric acid and dumped the whole thing in the next day (Thanks Amazon Prime One-Day). This was of course before I did some research on the forums and found that citric acid needs 3X the amount of FC to neutralize it as compared to ascorbic. And yes, I violated a cardinal rule of using more than needed of any chemical in the pool.
At the same time I added citric acid, we went from 60 degree temps to 80 degree temps and pool water got cloudy despite poly 60. I went ahead and added Jack's Magic as directed and a culator and began raising FC. Since the water got cloudy, I had to raise FC higher than planned but didn't have a choice.
Ever since, my FC demand has been extremely high despite crystal clear water. I'm going thru 1 gal of 12.5% LC per day (approx 5ppm). In good times, my consumption was more like 1ppm per day, rising to 2ppm when temps got to 90+. The more I read, I chalked this up to a lesson learned on citric acid. I've been going now for 12 days and the consumption hasn't changed. I've added 25 gals LC (125ppm), and I don't fully understand math on citric acid neutralization but thought it should be gone by now. I've done all the little things that in the past helped get me over the hump during a SLAM (light niche, extra brushing, spraying tile above water and skimmers with diluted bleach). Wondered if something was growing in the filter but that didn't make sense and forum research would indicate that anything that was growing in there would have been killed by SLAM levels of chlorine.
Back to the point about opening myself this year, now I'm wondering if it could be antifreeze? At closing, typically between 11-15 gallons are used by the pool man. I did not try to remove this in any way before opening.
Any other idea? Here are my latest test results:
- FC - 16.5 (Was aiming for 15 with CYA of 30)
- CC - 1.5 (Have not been able to get a reading less than 1 in a week, it is usually 1.5. Early on in the SLAM it was consistently 2 or 2.5 so it has improved slightly.
- ph - 7.2 (measured before slam started)
- TA - 275
- CH - 500
- CYA - 10 (Had been 30 at opening, but when pool water got cloudy it must have gone to zero and I did not realize it until 2-3 days ago when I lost all FC in an afternoon of swimming. The pool only sees light use on weekends and cover is closed at all other times. I am working on getting it back up to 30.)
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