New pool owner in Northern California

[ryanho87]

Hi all,

I just purchased a house with a pool, and I'd like to take over maintenance instead of continuing the service that the previous owners were paying for. I've been reading the forums quite a bit to get oriented, but need some help on figuring out which chemicals to buy and if I need to do a SLAM or not.

Right now the water looks great, but after testing with a TF100 kit on Saturday, my numbers look a bit off.

Here is what I currently have:

FC 1.0
CC 0.5
TC 1.5
CH 175
TA 120
CYA 30
pH 7.3

I was planning on purchasing liquid bleach (6%), and a calcium hardness increaser to get my my CH to around 400ppm, but I'm wondering if I should instead go with Cal Hypo, and use that to increase my FC and CH at the same time. Also, if I do decide to do the SLAM method, can I wait until the weekend to do this, or should I take care of this immediately since my parameters are currently out of spec?

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
First - be aware of household bleach (6%). Nearly all of it has additives. If you can find 10% or 12.5% liquid chlorine you would be much better off. Check Walmart, Home Depot, pool stores, etc.
What is the CH of your fill water? If low, then use cal hypo. If the CH is above 100, I would be wary of adding calcium as your fill water will increase your CH as you fill the pool due to evaporation.
Any reason why you think you need to SLAM? Do you have algae, cloudy water, etc?
Raise your FC to target range for your CYA. FC/CYA Levels
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

 

[mguzzy]

Howdy Ryan!
I wouldn't fuss around with Cal Hypo.. get some liquid Chlorine in there like Marty suggests, and then once you find out what your fill water CH level is then go from there. I always just put the CH in separately, trying to raise your CL with pucks is slower than just dumping liquid CL in. I'm in NorCal too so you will be adjusting your levels every spring after the rains.

 

[ryanho87]

Thanks guys. I just tested my sink water and CH is 150, so I'll use bleach or liquid chlorine to increase my FC levels.

I was thinking of doing a SLAM as I thought that was the best way to get back into parameters if things were off, but I'm glad to just work my way into the target ranges.

Should I just try to increase my FC to 5 based on 30 CYA and call it a day, or do I need to address the low CH levels as well?

 

[mknauss]

Definitely add chlorine. That needs to be done every day.

Do you know how much fill water you have to add to the pool? Do you cover the pool at night?

 

[ryanho87]

Do you know how much fill water you have to add to the pool? Do you cover the pool at night?

Pool is covered every night and usually during the day unless we're swimming or cleaning. The pool is pretty full (actually a little bit more full than I want because I have too much of the pool water washing into the hot tub) so I don't think I need to add any.

 

[mknauss]

OK -- so if you will not be adding much fill water, then it may be wise to raise your CH to at least 250 ppm. Let your pH rise to the upper 7's and do not try to lower it any further than 7.6 when it hits 8.

 

[ryanho87]

Looking for a bit of help here as my FC levels are dropping to zero each morning.

On Saturday, I started at these parameters:
FC 0
CC 0
TC 0
CH 175
TA 90
CYA 30
pH 7.3

I added 55oz of 13% liquid chlorine at around 2pm and tested FC and PH:

FC 4.0
PH 7.3

At 4 pm, I added 5lbs of Calcium Chloride and then closed the pool cover for the day.

The next day my parameters were:

FC 0
CH 200
pH 7.3

I assumed that because I had left the cover off after adding the chlorine, Sun exposure had depleted the chlorine. Last night I decided to wait until night time (9:30pm) and then added another 55 oz of liquid chlorine, and covered the pool, and then ran the filter for an hour and a half.

Today I was expecting to see FC levels up, but this is what I tested:

FC 0
CC 0.5 (maybe)
pH 7.3

Can anyone advise on what I might be doing wrong, or what I should be doing to get my FC to the correct parameters?

 

[mknauss]

Raise your FC to at least 6 ppm. Close the cover. Check it tomorrow. If it is below 3-4 ppm FC, you have something growing in the water.

 

[ryanho87]

Ok, I'll do that once the sun goes down and report back tomorrow. Is it ok to cover the pool immediately after adding the chlorine, or should I wait a little bit? Also, how long should I leave the pump on after I add?

 

[mknauss]

Leave the pump on for 30 min to an hour after you add. Up to you on the cover. I just figured you kept it closed as I assume that is your safety device for the pool.

 

[ryanho87]

It's pretty windy in my area (at least recently), so I keep the cover on mainly to avoid debris getting into the pool.