New filter, new pump, can't get pool to not be cloudy blue.

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Ok, so started the official OCLT:

8pm EST:

FC: 7.0 to 7.5 (somewhere in the middle as it was ever so of the faintest remnants of pink at 7.0 and totally overkill gone at 7.5
CC: 0 to 0.5 (really didn't turn pink after putting back in 5 drops...even put a 6th just to see if it did anything and couldn't really see pink) <--- is that bad?

pH earlier in the day was about 7.4
CYA was a little under 60.
 
under 1 FC loss overnight, clear water and no CC you are good :)

let FC drift down to your CYA level and test everything when below 10 FC

Great Job :)
 
mgmoore7 said:
. . I believe it is 1 or less. Confirm on the slam page in pool school.
Click to expand...

So I just measured tonight at 745pm est and my FC is all the way down to 4.5. Down 2 ppm in one day? Is that normal? It rained a little bit this morning and it was definitely not super sunny. CYA around 60.

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mgmoore7 said:
. . I believe it is 1 or less. Confirm on the slam page in pool school.
Click to expand...

Cc is 0
 
2 to 4 ppm in a day is normal even at 60 cya

I am using my phone so please excuse any spelling errors and short response. :)
 

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mgmoore7 said:
. . I believe it is 1 or less. Confirm on the slam page in pool school.
Click to expand...

cowboycasey said:
2 to 4 ppm in a day is normal even at 60 cya

I am using my phone so please excuse any spelling errors and short response. :)
Click to expand...

Oh wow really? Didn't realize I would lose that much. I used the math calculator to say I wanted to target 7.5 and so it told me to add 96oz of liquid chlorine.

The problem I see is that 7 is my target FC, but going under 5 is considered min. If I lose 2ppm in a morning vs night scenario and it wasn't even hot out, how can I possibly maintain 7ppm?

I feel like I need to keep it at 9ppm to allow it to go down to 7ppm throughout the day. Is that what I should do?

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mgmoore7 said:
. . I believe it is 1 or less. Confirm on the slam page in pool school.
Click to expand...

cowboycasey said:
2 to 4 ppm in a day is normal even at 60 cya

I am using my phone so please excuse any spelling errors and short response. :)
Click to expand...
Also if losing 2ppm is normal then how do you do the oclt test if that is supposed to be losing less than one part per million overnight? Is it just that losing 2 ppm per day is a longer period Of time then overnight?
 
ionizer said:
I feel like I need to keep it at 9ppm to allow it to go down to 7ppm throughout the day. Is that what I should do?

Also if losing to parts per million is normal then how do you do the oclt test if that is supposed to be losing less than one part per million overnight? Is it just that losing 2 ppm per day is a longer period Of time then overnight?
Click to expand...
The "normal" loss during the day time is due to UV rays of the sun. The OCLT is conducted at night, thus no UV - the only thing that consumes chlorine at night is organics in the water.

If you find you loose more during the day, then yes you would raise your target to make sure you don't go below the minimum.
 
the 2 to 4 is during the day in full sun, some only lose .5 to 2 ppm during the day, that is why we say every pool is different :)

Right now you're figuring out just how much you're going to lose from sun up to sun down and say .5 overnight..

What that means is you will start out testing 2 times a day just to see where your landing, if you target 7 and every day you fall to 5 then make your target 7.5 or 8 and then see if you land at 6...

if you are losing 3 or 4 ppm during the day then think about taking your CYA up 10 ppm and see if you can get closer to 2 fc loss a day :)
 
mgmoore7 said:
. . I believe it is 1 or less. Confirm on the slam page in pool school.
Click to expand...

cowboycasey said:
2 to 4 ppm in a day is normal even at 60 cya

I am using my phone so please excuse any spelling errors and short response. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone, I thought maybe I still had too many organics in the water but it sounds like the drop I had is somewhat normal or to be expected.

Sounds like I am indeed in the adjust and determine phase. However, if I have to add 98oz of chlorine everyday, that's about $2 a day on sale x 7 days which is $14. Whereas two bags of shock applied once a week is about $5.

So what am I missing here?

I also forgot to turn on.my chlorinator during the day today after turning it off for the oclt test last night. Now it's back on. Maybe I won't lose as much tomorrow because today was a very overcast day.

Lastly, is falling under the min threshold for less than 12 hours (probably only 4 hrs) imply I have to go slam again, or is falling just under the min for such a short time usually low risk?
 
Use Poolmath section Effects of Adding Chemicals to determine how much FC 2 bags of shock add vs the bleach. And calculate the cost per PPM of FC to see what is the best value. Also, keep in mind that dry chlorine products add CYA to your pool. Poolmath will tell you how much for that also.

When FC falls below minimum the kill rate for bacteria, algae, viruses and pathogens is not sufficient to keep the pool sanitary and there is increased risk of person to person disease transmission. Especially in kids. The real purpose of chlorine is to sanitize the pool. Killing algae is just a bonus.
 
Think back to your first posts where you indicated the pool store told you to add chemicals A, B, and C. Think about how much those cost and how ineffective they were. Had you not educated yourself and taken control of your own testing, you would have invariably spent more money for that ellusive quick fix, that probably would not have occurred.

The pool season in the Northeast lasts about 17 weeks. 17 x $14 = $238. Now that your pool is under control, that's a drop in the bucket compared to what you would have spent using your former methods.

When you compare cost between liquid and granular shock, you must also keep in mind that the CYA added by the granular shock does not dissipate through evaporation. You'll have to continually monitor the CYA and that is probably the the most valuable reagent (let alone, trickiest test) in your box. The more CYA, the more chlorine you'll need, probably leading to a drain/refill, which costs money. Finally the refill water will be undoubtedly colder than your pool water. You may lose some swim time that could have otherwise been avoided.

So yes, in the short term, you'll save $9/week, but the above plus the peace of mind (and time saved. Unless I am vacuuming, I literally spend less than 5 minutes per day on pool maintenance.) more than make up the difference over the course of a season.
 
thanks... i just wanted to make sure I wasnt crazy. i thought part of the whole liquid bleach was that it was somehow cheaper, but it seems the bigger concern is more about only using the chemicals needed - ie dont add CYA if you dont need it.

so it seems safe to say that I should be focused on keeping the chlorine level above the recommended min and using liquid bleach to do this daily. However, at the same time, if for example I ran out of liquid bleach one day, using the equivalent amount needed of a 'shock bag' (while not great because it has CYA in it) is also not the "end of the world"

is it normal (assuming chlorine levels are maintained) to still get some sediment in the pool on a daily or every other day basis on creases/liner fold areas or does that mean I perhaps never really passed the OCLT with flying colors? Are people vacuuming that or are you only vacuuming because dirt from outside the pool flew/blew in?
 
ionizer said:
thanks... i just wanted to make sure I wasnt crazy. i thought part of the whole liquid bleach was that it was somehow cheaper, but it seems the bigger concern is more about only using the chemicals needed - ie dont add CYA if you dont need it.

so it seems safe to say that I should be focused on keeping the chlorine level above the recommended min and using liquid bleach to do this daily. However, at the same time, if for example I ran out of liquid bleach one day, using the equivalent amount needed of a 'shock bag' (while not great because it has CYA in it) is also not the "end of the world"

is it normal (assuming chlorine levels are maintained) to still get some sediment in the pool on a daily or every other day basis on creases/liner fold areas or does that mean I perhaps never really passed the OCLT with flying colors? Are people vacuuming that or are you only vacuuming because dirt from outside the pool flew/blew in?
Click to expand...
I think you are getting the whole point of TFP. It's not that we are "against" solid forms of chlorine, it's that we want you to understand what you are putting in your water. If you control your CYA an need to go on vacation then floating tabs is fine. But, if that is all you ever do then the CYA is going to get out of control.

As to the "sediment", stuff blows in my pool every day. I run my robot almost daily to get it up. But, it is in fact dirt that is blowing in. How does your feel? Sandy & gritty or slimy?
 
tim5055 said:
I think you are getting the whole point of TFP. It's not that we are "against" solid forms of chlorine, it's that we want you to understand what you are putting in your water. If you control your CYA an need to go on vacation then floating tabs is fine. But, if that is all you ever do then the CYA is going to get out of control.

As to the "sediment", stuff blows in my pool every day. I run my robot almost daily to get it up. But, it is in fact dirt that is blowing in. How does your feel? Sandy & gritty or slimy?
Click to expand...

Any reason someone doesn't make liquid chlorine in a solid form without any stabilizer or other added unnecessary chemicals? Maybe that isn't possible?

It's hard to say what it feels like since at the moment it is so little, but you can see it occasionally on the seams or in a specific spot where it must be blowing from the returns. Under the water it looks like "Blue easily scattering dirt" but once my electric vac picks it up, it doesn't look like much of anything and the only thing observable would be "sandy" looking pieces.

Once it gets warmer and I can actually put my head under the water without feeling like i am freezing, ill see if i can try to collect some in a cup to observe it out of the water. could just be the pavement wearing and blowing in. beyond that we only really have rocks and well beyond that is the grass.

i do have some shrubs overhanging the waterfall which i want to trim back. on some of them they have these stupid blue looking berry things. i want to trim it all back so it doesnt hang over at all, but im also afraid about doing it and getting a bunch of stuff in the pool and making it dirty again..

we have a major party here next weekend and so i am hesitant to do anything but "maintain" right now!

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PS: Took my FC a little while ago and it was at 7 after adding the amount of liquid chlorine suggested by pool math. Considering the off line chlorinator was back on and full sun today, losing only 7.5 to 7 (based on the math of what i was supposed to raise it to using pool math) seems pretty good.

is there any harm in purposely putting my FC higher, say at a 10 to only have to then use the liquid chlorine 1 or 2x a week?

this would still be under shock values, but would be over target. does this make the water less desirable to use for eyes,etc?
 

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