I've got absolutely no clue where to start!

[Strawberryshortcake]

FC was at 9 just a bit ago. I don't know if I ever reached 12 last night, but going to aim for that today. I added what the app said to reach 12, and will retest a bit later. I finished squeezing out all the CYA bags.

I also had a nasty surprise! Any clue what these are?? They are literally diving and swimming in the pool. One was hiding under the sock, in the water, needless to say I freaked out !
There was one sitting on the pipe there, one down in the water on the sock (fully submerged! just hanging to the bottom of it), and I spotted another one in the middle of the pool.
This is like, my nightmare of deep, dark water coming true. Are there more of them down in the deep end I can't see :O
The closets thing to this behavior I could google was a diving bell spider... but those are in Asia and Europe. Not arkansas!!

 

[splashpad]

FC was at 9 just a bit ago. I don't know if I ever reached 12 last night, but going to aim for that today. I added what the app said to reach 12, and will retest a bit later. I finished squeezing out all the CYA bags.

I also had a nasty surprise! Any clue what these are?? They are literally diving and swimming in the pool. One was hiding under the sock, in the water, needless to say I freaked out !
There was one sitting on the pipe there, one down in the water on the sock (fully submerged! just hanging to the bottom of it), and I spotted another one in the middle of the pool.
This is like, my nightmare of deep, dark water coming true. Are there more of them down in the deep end I can't see :O
The closets thing to this behavior I could google was a diving bell spider... but those are in Asia and Europe. Not arkansas!!

I just reread, you had THREE of them? I feel for you! I tried a quick search for southern water spider, no dice either

Once you get that pool clear & FC up, they will skedaddle!

 

[Strawberryshortcake]

Yes! There were 3 of them handing around

I just retested FC and I am only at 10. I waited about an hr between adding the chlorine (1 gallon when it read 9 FC. App said to add 3 quarts, I just went ahead and dumped a whole jug in).

So, I feel my math somewhere is wrong (my pool size) or I didn't wait long enough to re-test? It is very cloudy today, no sunshine.
I got 10ml of pool water, added a scoop of the powder, it turned pink, and I needed 20 drops to get the tube clear. It was ALMOST clear at 19, but I believe it needed the full 20 drops.

The CC test was 0.5 today.

 

[splashpad]

Yes! There were 3 of them handing around

I just retested FC and I am only at 10. I waited about an hr between adding the chlorine (1 gallon when it read 9 FC. App said to add 3 quarts, I just went ahead and dumped a whole jug in).

So, I feel my math somewhere is wrong (my pool size) or I didn't wait long enough to re-test? It is very cloudy today, no sunshine.
I got 10ml of pool water, added a scoop of the powder, it turned pink, and I needed 20 drops to get the tube clear. It was ALMOST clear at 19, but I believe it needed the full 20 drops.

The CC test was 0.5 today.

Is the bleach/chlorine strength right?

Were you expecting it to be higher? or lower?

 

[Strawberryshortcake]

It is 10% pool chlorine from Walmart. I took it as they were unloading it, so it is fresh.

I was expecting it to be 12, which I think is my slam level. I was at 9 an hour ago, and added what the pool math app said (3 quarts - I added a full gallon). And now it is only at 10.

 

[kimkats]

Increase you pool size by 500 gals and see if that helps. Test and dose two times with that new size and see if it matches then. If not increase the size by another 500 gals. Keep doing that until you get a match!

on your new friends!! NOPE!!!

 

[splashpad]

It is 10% pool chlorine from Walmart. I took it as they were unloading it, so it is fresh.

I was expecting it to be 12, which I think is my slam level. I was at 9 an hour ago, and added what the pool math app said (3 quarts - I added a full gallon). And now it is only at 10.

I got 3qts as well to raise FC/9 to FC/12
Playing around with PoolMath

Effects of adding chemicals

I have to make the pool size over 74K before 1 gal of 10% would be a change of only 1ppm (approx)

• Time for 20 Q's
• Was it FC/9 when tested, and added 1gal of 10% right then?
  • And 1hr later it was only FC/10?
• Was it bright sun on the pool?
• Pump running?
  • Is this the first time that the measurement hasn't worked out?
• I'm curious where your chlorine went! lol

 

[Strawberryshortcake]

Yes. Did FC and CC test and added cholrine about 10 minutes later.

Yes. 52ish minutes later, FC was at 10.

No, it has been very cloudy all day today.

Yes, pump has been running non-stop since Friday evening.

I would say it’s the first time I’ve had to rely on measurement! As this pool wasn’t mine originally I don’t know anything about it. I took measurements to get my gallons. With my measurements I got roughly 32x17.5, it is Grecian shapes as pictures show so not a prefect rectangle.

So, until my test kit arrived yesterday I had been following earlier advice of adding enough cholorine to reach 10ppm each night until I could test my levels (I used 25,000 gallons).

I just retested and was at 7 FC. So from 9 to 7 in 5ish hours. Going to start increasing gallon size in the app and go from there. Im inclined to believe my measurements of the pool were off enough to cause a big difference.

 

[Sharkygirl]

After much leaf pulling and 4 gallons of bleach. Let the pump run all night and backwashed a bit ago.

Also a sad surprise in my pump filter thingy. I knew there was stuff living in there!

View attachment 98961View attachment 98962

Oh my gosh!!!! How did he get in there!!!!

 

[splashpad]

...So, until my test kit arrived yesterday I had been following earlier advice of adding enough chlorine to reach 10ppm each night until I could test my levels (I used 25,000 gallons)...

Was this a guesstimate or actual 10ppm?
This is the first day/time you've been able to test your addition(s)?

 

[Strawberryshortcake]

I assumed I had 25,000 gallons and that FC was at 0 (pool out of use for years), and used that calculation in the pool app. It was pretty much all guesswork as I had no way to test until yesterday, and used online calculators to guess gallons based on measuring. I had been adding about 2.5 gallons of the 10% after dark for several days while I waited on my test, and that is all I was doing with the pool besides brushing and skimming.

 

[Strawberryshortcake]

Before last night we were just in “don’t let it get worse while we wait for the kit” mode.

 

[Strawberryshortcake]

Okay, question.
When doing the chlorine test with the powder and drops. Do I record the drops when it goes clear and stop? If I let the water sit for less then 15 seconds after swirling, it will start turning pink again. It will get quite pink. Do I need to add enough drops so that is STAYS clear?

Just retested about 45 minutes after adding 1 gal, 1 quart, 2 cups of bleach as per app - I put in 27,000 gallons. FC still read at 7, which doesn't seem right! Even if my gallons are off, shouldn't it have bumped a little? So maybe I am doing the test wrong?

 

[splashpad]

I assumed I had 25,000 gallons and that FC was at 0 (pool out of use for years), and used that calculation in the pool app. It was pretty much all guesswork as I had no way to test until yesterday, and used online calculators to guess gallons based on measuring. I had been adding about 2.5 gallons of the 10% after dark for several days while I waited on my test, and that is all I was doing with the pool besides brushing and skimming.

So did you add 2.5gallons 10% last night?
And had FC/9 (this morning?), before adding 1gal 10% and getting FC/10 1hr later?

That almost points to low potency Pool Chlorine (it was a new bottle), what is the date code on the bottle by chance?

Thank you for humoring me! I'm just really curious what happened!

 

[splashpad]

Okay, question.
When doing the chlorine test with the powder and drops. Do I record the drops when it goes clear and stop? If I let the water sit for less then 15 seconds after swirling, it will start turning pink again. It will get quite pink. Do I need to add enough drops so that is STAYS clear?

Just retested about 45 minutes after adding 1 gal, 1 quart, 2 cups of bleach as per app - I put in 27,000 gallons. FC still read at 7, which doesn't seem right! Even if my gallons are off, shouldn't it have bumped a little? So maybe I am doing the test wrong?

Hmmm, is it the correct reagent? Do you have/using the speedstir?
Just till it goes clear, it does pink back up if you wait 30sec-1min You don't count that

:edit:
Here are some extended FAS-DPD Instructions:

FAS-DPD Chlorine Test

The FAS-DPD chlorine test is used to find the level of Free Chlorine in the … Read more…

www.troublefreepool.com

::Curious edit::
Have you tried the yellow OTO test? What color is the OTO chlorine test result? (just for giggles) Color must be matched in the firs 30-45sec, after that it gets darker to indicate CC presence
The shades are too close for most of us to see, hence why it's not the recommended chlorine test

 

[Strawberryshortcake]

Yes, am using a speed stir.
Am using the Chlorine only tube, with the R-0870 powder and R-0871 drops.

Hmm. Date on all my 10% pool chlorine jugs say 18 349 03:58 B1 TX-01
Date on my Great Value 6% bleach says 19 ?02 20:14 B2 TX-01

I assumed they were fresh because I literally took them out of the loading box they were doing, but it looks like it may not be...not totally sure how to read that date / how long the 10% will stay at strength.
It if is bad, will Walmart take it back? What about the empty jugs I feel like I've poured money away if that is the case

The GV bleach I guess is fresher however it says "Makes white stay brighter longer!" And pretty much all of the bleaches say that now, which I was reading is bad. Not sure where to go from here. Small town, not many bleach options.

 

[splashpad]

Yes, am using a speed stir.
Am using the Chlorine only tube, with the R-0870 powder and R-0871 drops.

That sounds 100% perfect

Hmm. Date on all my 10% pool chlorine jugs say 18 349 03:58 B1 TX-01
Date on my Great Value 6% bleach says 19 ?02 20:14 B2 TX-01

So the 10% is from Dec 2019 (pretty much last day), that's not bad, except, does it stay warmer in Ark over the winter?
SO if we change the strength of the BLEACH (rather than the gallons) that will match up much better

I assumed they were fresh because I literally took them out of the loading box they were doing, but it looks like it may not be...not totally sure how to read that date / how long the 10% will stay at strength.
It if is bad, will Walmart take it back? What about the empty jugs I feel like I've poured money away if that is the case

They will, but you may not want to, so that they order more in.... I'm not sure which way to suggest to you on that one.

The GV bleach I guess is fresher however it says "Makes white stay brighter longer!" And pretty much all of the bleaches say that now, which I was reading is bad. Not sure where to go from here. Small town, not many bleach options.

Do you have the cleaning bleach option?

 

[Strawberryshortcake]

The temperatures in Ark swing like crazy! We can have 70 degree days in Dec, followed by 20 degrees the next. Jan-feb were consistently quite cold though, and had several frosty nights and freeze warnings.



I find it almost impossible to tell the difference from 2 - 4 / 3 - 6 on this test. Attached photo. Definitely not 5 -10 which it probably should be at for the levels I need?

 

[Strawberryshortcake]

They do carry cleaning bleach. Having just spent like, $80 on all this pool chlorine I feel like I need to return/exchange it if I need to go get another type.

 

[splashpad]

The temperatures in Ark swing like crazy! We can have 70 degree days in Dec, followed by 20 degrees the next. Jan-feb were consistently quite cold though, and had several frosty nights and freeze warnings.
View attachment 99322
I find it almost impossible to tell the difference from 2 - 4 / 3 - 6 on this test. Attached photo. Definitely not 5 -10 which it probably should be at for the levels I need?

Agreed Yes it should be much darker. The 2nd number is a bromine level, you can ignore it If you pull the picture into Paint (on PC) you can see it's a "strong" 2, much lighter than 3.

They do carry cleaning bleach. Having just spent like, $80 on all this pool chlorine I feel like I need to return/exchange it if I need to go get another type.

Yes, I totally agree with you!!

::edit::
There is a good possibility you were/are battling Ammonia as well. Which consumes chlorine like a bad habit, BUT you would have CC's (usually)

I'm leaning towards a weak batch of Pool Chlorine, which is unfortunate (