New Florida Pool Owner

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Ramirar

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Jun 4, 2017
21
Shalimar Florida
Hi Everyone

Hopefully I'm posting the right way. If not please let me know and I'll try to change things.

Our family just moved to Florida and our new house has a in ground pool. We had a professional come and clean out the pool for us cause it had been neglected. I've found this cool site and I'm optimistic I can take care of the pool myself with you're help.

So I tested with my new K-2006 kit on the June 7th and then again today (the June 9th). If I'm testing correctly these are the numbers for the two days.

JUNE 7TH
FC - 11.5
CC.25
PH 7.4
TA 100
CH 170
CYA 80

JUNE 9TH
FC 9.5
CC - didn't test
PH - 7.2
TA - 80
CH - didn't test
CYA - between 70-80

We have 4 very active kids and so there is plenty of splashing going on almost every day. When the pool guy came and cleaned the pool last weekend he did say the chlorine was high and so I haven't added anything, just been keeping an eye on the numbers. I'm very new to this whole new pool thing. So please pour on all your wisdom you'd like to share. What order to I need to add chemicals? (My husband bought a big bucket of the hockey pucks of chlorine and a box of shock from Sam's club before I found this site. I'd like to use them up, and not waste the money we used for them) How long do I let things circulate? How to measure dry chemicals to put into the pool like the Borax and Baking Soda? How often do I SLAM? (right now the pool is a beautiful crystal blue color, and I'd like to keep it that way) I've read a lot of whats on the site, but I think my brain is on overload and I need some feedback.
 
HI! FLORIDA in the house and with 4 kids!! SWEET!

Here is a light reading link to get you started on learning the TFP "language":

TFPC for Beginners

You look like you have a good start on the testing! NICE JOB!

Okay lets talk about the tablets and "shock" you have. A couple of things. They both add CYA to your pool. CYA is needed BUT this is one of the "too much of a good thing is bad". I am going to share a link with you to show you what I mean:

Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart

Notice how the higher you CYA is the more FC you need. After a while you will not be able to stay on top of the CYA with the FC and that is when things get greeen.

There are two ways to work through this. Your CYA Is already a little high SO you can drain some water and get the CYA down quite a bit and use what hubby brought home OR you can save it for weekend trips or such. It will last forever if it is kept in a dry place.

I will tell you that I almost always have to add CYA in the spring due to all of the rain we get causing us to drain some water to keep it from overflowing.

Most of us use liquid chlorine to add FC to our pool. Even if you plan on using the pucks (after draining some water) you will still need to have some liquid chlorine on hand to keep ahead of what the kids *add* to the pool :roll:

I look forward to learning more about you are thinking after reading this so I know which way to take you.

Kim:kim:
 
Weclome! :wave:

First the bad news: those pucks are not going to be needed this season, most likely. They add CYA along with the chlorine. You already have enough. Keep the lid on the bucket and they'll last for years.

Medium news: the powdered shock might be useful for daily chlorinating, if it's Calcium Hypochlorite. You have low enough CH now that with rain and kids' splashout, it shouldn't build up enough to be a problem before the stuff is used up. Just don't buy anymore.

Good news: Your pH and TA are okay. I suspect that you have some pucks going now and they are acidic, which is why pH and TA went down. You don't need borax nor baking soda yet. No more pucks.

Best news: you have a recommended test kit :kim:

Now you need to put it to good use. Start with ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Then Pool School - How to Chlorinate Your Pool and Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

As an aside, your FC is not especially high. That's only in the pool store world where FC is 1-3 no matter what the CYA level is. Follow [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA] and you'll never get algae so you'll never need to SLAM.
 
Ramirar said:
How do I know how much chlorine to add on a daily basis?
Click to expand...
By testing and using pool math. It won;t take long - a week or two to get that figured out.

Let's just say your CYA level is still 70 and you're chlorinating with bleach.

Minimum FC for 70 CYA is 5, target is 8-10 Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart

Let's say you test at 4. That is your Now FC. You go to poolmath and enter your pool's size at the top, 4 FC as now. and 9 as target. Then you enter the strength of the bleach. It should say on the jug. hot enter and it will give you the amount to add.

The next day at roughly the same time, you test again and repeat things. If your test is less than 5, you know you need to target higher than 9 this time. If your test is higher than the 5 minimum, you can lower your target by .5.

The whole point is to add just enough so that FC doesn't dip below the minimum FC for your CYA before you add again. Super hot weather and a lot of swimmers will make you lose more. Gloomy overcast days when no one wants to get in will use less.

The sad news is that chlorine loss is a percentage, not a straight parts per million per day, and that percentage climbs as the amount of FC climbs. So you can't just add 3 days usage every three days.
 
Hi

So I tested yesterday and my CYA was 90 I could be off, still learning to read the results. We've been getting rain and my water level is high. So according to the CYA/Chlorine chart. My chlorine should be minimum 7 and target is 10-12. So yesterday my FC 4.5, so I need to add chlorine. Do I add like a gallon at a time? Wait and retest? I'm gonna be going to the store to pick some bleach since I don't have any liquid on hand.
 
Ramirar said:
Hi

So I tested yesterday and my CYA was 90 I could be off, still learning to read the results. We've been getting rain and my water level is high. So according to the CYA/Chlorine chart. My chlorine should be minimum 7 and target is 10-12. So yesterday my FC 4.5, so I need to add chlorine. Do I add like a gallon at a time? Wait and retest? I'm gonna be going to the store to pick some bleach since I don't have any liquid on hand.
Click to expand...
We don't know how big the pool is, in gallons. A small pool could be using 2 cups per day. A big giant thing could be 2 gallons or more. You test, you plug in numbers, and poolmath will tell you how much to add to reach the target. And then you test again in 24 hours.
 
Ramirar said:
Our pool is 20,000
Click to expand...
Yesterday's test results are useless. Just sitting in the sun consumes chlorine.

If it was 4.5 yesterday, and it's not green, it's probably down to about 2 now, maybe less. According to poolmath, taking 20,000 gallons from 2FC to 12FC will take 296 ounces of plain household bleach. Round it to 2.5 jugs.

I'm not saying that's what you need to add. Test results from today will be necessary to do that. But now you know you'll need to buy several gallons of bleach to bring you up to level today and keep it up for a couple days.
 

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Being a newbie I waited to long after the pool guy came and waiting for my test kit to take care of the chlorine levels like is suggested on the site. Now the pool isn't quiet so clear and blue and is taking on a blue/green color. I think I may need to shock the pool. :(
 
Ramirar said:
Being a newbie I waited to long after the pool guy came and waiting for my test kit to take care of the chlorine levels like is suggested on the site. Now the pool isn't quiet so clear and blue and is taking on a blue/green color. I think I may need to shock the pool. :(
Click to expand...
A shock won't do much good. ASLAM Process, on the other hand, will. Problem is, your CYA is really high. At 80 CYA, you need to get the FC up to 31 :shock: and keep it there for several days until it passes the three tests. Or replace some water to lower CYA and SLAM Process at a lower FC.
 
Hi

So I did a good vacuum of our pool and let the water level drain down some and replaced the water. I probably didn't do enough and I took out the hockey pucks automatic feeder, so there still might be some of that stuff still in pipe system. But I just tested and here are my numbers

FC - 10
CC - .25
PH - 7.4
TA - 100
CYA - 70

Is draining the pool the only way to lower the CYA? I'm afraid of what my water bill would be if I tried draining even more. I'm thinking I need to SLAM since the water is dull, its not so blue/green as before but still isn't a nice crystal clear blue.
 
Yes, draining water is the only real way to lower CYA. There is some stuff they have been trying to see in some pool stores but it did not work. They even GAVE one of our members some to try. It did not work I am so sorry to say. One day but not yet.

Yes you do need to SLAM if your water does not look like a jewel!

Kim:kim:
 
That is up to you. It will easier as far as how much chlorine you will have to use if your CYA is lower. You can SLAM at your level. It will take more chlorine. How much are your water rates? Compare them to cost of chlorine and go from there.

KIm:kim:
 

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