Need a little help

[HermanTX]

Ok guys. The pool is nice and blue again! I have a question regarding my FC level. I normally keep my FC at 6 or 7, and I add my chlorine at night of course to bring it to that. The sun eats it up like crazy though during the day. My concern with that is algae growth if all the FC is ate up early in the day. Should I be concerned, or just keep doing what I’m doing?

If you are able - split your chlorine additions to morning and night. This keeps your FC level at a more consistent level rather than dump a lot and let it dwindle down over 24 hrs. Obviously sometimes we all need to do a big dump of LC due to work constraints or other activities. I put a quart in morning when I awake and another quart in evening around dinner time. I test every second day and verify I am on target.

 

[DonnieTheMan]

If you are able - split your chlorine additions to morning and night. This keeps your FC level at a more consistent level rather than dump a lot and let it dwindle down over 24 hrs. Obviously sometimes we all need to do a big dump of LC due to work constraints or other activities. I put a quart in morning when I awake and another quart in evening around dinner time. I test every second day and verify I am on target.

Thanks for that tip. I was just concerned with my FC being ate up so much during the day. Yesterday morning it was at 15, and last night it was at 3.5 so I added 20oz of LC to bring it to 6. Looks like I need to try and keep it around 6 at all times as much as possible.

 

[PoolGate]

Thanks for that tip. I was just concerned with my FC being ate up so much during the day. Yesterday morning it was at 15, and last night it was at 3.5 so I added 20oz of LC to bring it to 6. Looks like I need to try and keep it around 6 at all times as much as possible.

Have you done an overnight chlorine loss test?

 

[Sunnydaze]

Thanks for that tip. I was just concerned with my FC being ate up so much during the day. Yesterday morning it was at 15, and last night it was at 3.5 so I added 20oz of LC to bring it to 6. Looks like I need to try and keep it around 6 at all times as much as possible.

If your cya is 40, that much chlorine loss is not due to the sun. You still have algae consuming the chlorine. Did you pass all three criteria before ending the SLAM? SLAM Process

 

[DonnieTheMan]

Have you done an overnight chlorine loss test?

No

 

[Sunnydaze]

No

You'll want to re-read the SLAM Process. You likely ended the SLAM prematurely and the algae is not gone yet. Think of algae like a fire. If you don't extinguish it completely and there is even a small flame left, it will come back with a vengeance.

 

[DonnieTheMan]

If your cya is 40, that much chlorine loss is not due to the sun. You still have algae consuming the chlorine. Did you pass all three criteria before ending the SLAM? SLAM Process

My CYA is between 50 and 60. Really wish there was a easier test because I basically only have vision in 1 eye. My FC was 3.5 last night so I added 29oz of LC to bring it to a 7. Had to go back and check my logs because I was wrong earlier. I just checked my FC and it was still at 7. My PH was kinda high again at 7.8, so I added ph down to bring it to 7.2. My TA is still high though at 160. What’s the best thing to buy locally to bring it down?

 

[DonnieTheMan]

You'll want to re-read the SLAM Process. You likely ended the SLAM prematurely and the algae is not gone yet. Think of algae like a fire. If you don't extinguish it completely and there is even a small flame left, it will come back with a vengeance.

See my reply to sunnydaze. I had to recheck my logs.

 

[jeffchap]

My CYA is between 50 and 60. Really wish there was a easier test because I basically only have vision in 1 eye. My FC was 3.5 last night so I added 29oz of LC to bring it to a 7. Had to go back and check my logs because I was wrong earlier. I just checked my FC and it was still at 7. My PH was kinda high again at 7.8, so I added ph down to bring it to 7.2. My TA is still high though at 160. What’s the best thing to buy locally to bring it down?

Muriatic acid. But there's no real need to chase a particular number for TA. Just use muriatic acid to maintain your pH in the 7.2 - 7.8 range and TA will drop on its own over time.

 

[Sunnydaze]

My CYA is between 50 and 60. Really wish there was a easier test because I basically only have vision in 1 eye. My FC was 3.5 last night so I added 29oz of LC to bring it to a 7. Had to go back and check my logs because I was wrong earlier. I just checked my FC and it was still at 7. My PH was kinda high again at 7.8, so I added ph down to bring it to 7.2. My TA is still high though at 160. What’s the best thing to buy locally to bring it down?

Something seems a little off still. Let's not worry about TA right now. If your FC went from 15 to 7 during the day with a cya of 50-60, that's still double what you should be losing. But it's odd that you didn't lose any chlorine overnight if it was 7ppm last night and 7ppm now. No new additions of chlorine between those two tests? No tabs in floaters?

It seems you just did an OCLT if so. I would keep an eye on chlorine levels today and see how much you lose and do another Overnight Chlorine Loss Test tonight to be sure.

 

[jeffchap]

No

Passing an OCLT is one of the 3 test conditions required to complete a SLAM. If you didn't do that, you need to resume the SLAM.

Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

 

[DonnieTheMan]

Something seems a little off still. Let's not worry about TA right now. If your FC went from 15 to 7 during the day with a cya of 50-60, that's still double what you should be losing. But it's odd that you didn't lose any chlorine overnight if it was 7ppm last night and 7ppm now. No new additions of chlorine between those two tests? No tabs in floaters?

It seems you just did an OCLT if so. I would keep an eye on chlorine levels today and see how much you lose and do another Overnight Chlorine Loss Test tonight to be sure.

I may have had algae still present in the pool is the only thing I can think of. I just read the OCLT, and according to the documentation and my FC still being the same, the water is clean.

Nothing else was added and I don’t use tabs. They caused me cya problems lol.

I’ll definitely do another OCLT though. Thanks for the help!

 

[DonnieTheMan]

Passing an OCLT is one of the 3 test conditions required to complete a SLAM. If you didn't do that, you need to resume the SLAM.

Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

Sorry, I did one without knowing I was doing one lol. My head is spinning trying to remember all this stuff and reading so much.

 

[HermanTX]

Sorry, I did one without knowing I was doing one lol. My head is spinning trying to remember all this stuff and reading so much.

The goal of the OCLT is to isolate the sun (UV) as something that can consume chlorine. So do it right at dusk as no sun on pool and take the follow up pool sample to test at dawn before any sun hits the pool. Do the FC and CC test on both. A loss of 0.5 is acceptable Between those 2 tests.