Overwhelmed new pool mama needs steps.
- Thread starter Sarameow
- Start date
That CYA is fine. Go for it!
Not sure what all the ingredients are in the CalHypo? That 7 way business makes me wonder...? Hang tight... I'll look it up online.
Not sure what all the ingredients are in the CalHypo? That 7 way business makes me wonder...? Hang tight... I'll look it up online.
Do you have an Ace Hardware in your area? If so, I was able to purchase liquid chlorine from them online and did curbside. They brought it out and loaded it and I didn't have to sign or do anything; didn't have to be close to any human. Just throwing that out there. Good luck. It seems overwhelming at first bc there's so much information, but once you digest it, you'll find that taking care of your pool is really easy.
That CalHypo pouch has some aluminum in it (no clue why?) but if you only use it once or twice I doubt it will cause you much problem. I'd return any extra you bought if you can and just go for liquid if possible?
But you NEED to get some chloirine in that pool somehow TODAY. Check your laundry bleach, or use the packaged stuff but get something in there today, ok?
But you NEED to get some chloirine in that pool somehow TODAY. Check your laundry bleach, or use the packaged stuff but get something in there today, ok?
- May 3, 2014
- 58,383
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Okay. We went ahead and added .5 lb of the "7 way shock" I do also have the chlorine tabs and I have some crazy high duty germicidal bleach in my laundry room but no idea how I would even use that. I will test the level after dinner and come back and report?
We did .5 lb because the whole package said it treated 12.5 k gallons and was a 1 lb package.
- May 3, 2014
- 58,383
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I suspect that is 6% sodium hypochlorite, at most. It is actually quite weak.
You are right! It is just 6%. How does everyone feel about the amount of shock and CYA we added? I am going to go run out and test it real quick now.
These are our current test results. The CYA is about 2/3rd dissolved so far. Do we need to add more shock and have it spike and lower or not? We will get liquid chlorine soon (and need some instructions!) but would it be acceptable to put a floater with a puck in now temporarily until we get different products?
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When you added 8 ounces of the cal-hypo 7 in 1 shock that added 5 ppm of chlorine to the pool. The puck you want to put in the floater will add 9.5 ppm of chlorine and 5 ppm of CYA to your 6000 gallon pool. That will put your chlorine level too high for swimming, and will raise the the CYA to 35 ppm. You need to keep the CYA between 30-50 ppm. Every puck you use will add 5ppm more CYA each time. The only way to lower CYA levels is to drain and refill the pool. This is why we say "do not use the pucks at this time".
Keep the pucks in their original container and store them in a cool, dry location away from any metal. Even though the container is closed some fumes will escape and oxidize (rust) metal surfaces. Plain, unscented grocery store bleach should be used as your chlorine source. You need to keep the chlorine level between 5-10 ppm. PoolMath will help you determine how much bleach to add each day.
One thing to keep in mind as you read about the TFP method, it is not like pool industry methods. Pool industry recommended levels are based on perfect world scenarios where water comes out of the tap balanced with the correct chemical levels. That is not reality. They make recommendations looking at each chemical value in isolation and adjusting it accordingly. However chemical values do not function in isolation. TFP recommends balancing your pool by keeping chlorine and CYA in the correct ratio to each other. If you add bleach you will raise chlorine, but you will also raise pH a little too. If you add a puck (made of trichlor) you raise chlorine over the course of a week, but you also raise CYA. Same is true with dichlor granules. Cal-hypo granules like you used will increase chlorine and calcium levels. Calcium needs to be under 400, so you can use it as a chlorine source for a little while.
Keep the pucks in their original container and store them in a cool, dry location away from any metal. Even though the container is closed some fumes will escape and oxidize (rust) metal surfaces. Plain, unscented grocery store bleach should be used as your chlorine source. You need to keep the chlorine level between 5-10 ppm. PoolMath will help you determine how much bleach to add each day.
One thing to keep in mind as you read about the TFP method, it is not like pool industry methods. Pool industry recommended levels are based on perfect world scenarios where water comes out of the tap balanced with the correct chemical levels. That is not reality. They make recommendations looking at each chemical value in isolation and adjusting it accordingly. However chemical values do not function in isolation. TFP recommends balancing your pool by keeping chlorine and CYA in the correct ratio to each other. If you add bleach you will raise chlorine, but you will also raise pH a little too. If you add a puck (made of trichlor) you raise chlorine over the course of a week, but you also raise CYA. Same is true with dichlor granules. Cal-hypo granules like you used will increase chlorine and calcium levels. Calcium needs to be under 400, so you can use it as a chlorine source for a little while.
OK.... so.... don't add the puck... I still don't have the right kind of liquid chlorine so am I out of luck to swim until then? I thought chlorine levels needed to be between 1 and 4 and anything over 5 was too high to swim?
If I understand it correctly, I think zea3 was saying had you added the puck, your chlorine level would have been too high, but since you didnt, and just added the cal-hypo, that you should be good to swim. But wait until someone else confirms.
I am still waiting on my better test kit but was able to get a pH and chlorine test curbside. It is literally the only thing aside from strips I can find here. I can't read this any better than the strips. What do I need to do now to make this swimable? It looks to me that my chlorine/CYA and alkalinity are too high to swim?
18*48 Coleman Vista II filled with hose water. Approx 6500 gallons (skimmer added). Finished filling yesterday and added 1.5 lbs CYA (clorox stabilizer) via sock in front of output and 2 separate .5 lb doses of HTH 7 way shock via skimmer one time in the sunlight (whoops) and one time in the shade. Test strip is this morning 3 hours ago and chlorine/pH just now.
18*48 Coleman Vista II filled with hose water. Approx 6500 gallons (skimmer added). Finished filling yesterday and added 1.5 lbs CYA (clorox stabilizer) via sock in front of output and 2 separate .5 lb doses of HTH 7 way shock via skimmer one time in the sunlight (whoops) and one time in the shade. Test strip is this morning 3 hours ago and chlorine/pH just now.
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DeanP66
0
It is safe to swim in your pool all the way up to shock level based on your CYA. So, if you put 1.5 Lbs of CYA powder to dissolve, assume that it will be 30 ppm, which means you can swim with the chlorine all the way up to FC 12, which is the shock level for 30 ppm cya.
Thanks everyone. I just couldn't read those stupid strips or the feel confident in the way the drip test was reading chlorine. I tried posting for help reading it but couldn't get a response here or any other forum. It's weird.... I have noticed that no one responds to pleas to help read test results on any forum readily and it seems to be something start up people really needs help with... finally just took my water to a store. I realize you all think that's dumb but I didn't know what else to do. They said my chlorine was 5.5, my CYA 29 and everything else mostly in range enough not to need to do anything else but get some better chlorine and move on. The numbers made sense with what I had added. We bought some liquid chlorine there. I used the calculator and have been adding more as needed and it seems good to go. So many of you were so incredibly helpful but it was really overwhelming in response and it felt like everyone was annoyed with me. Homeboy who said he wasn't patient enough for me made me cry. Please be gentle with new members and realize that when someone new comes here they know literally nothing about pools or what a "troublefreepool" method is vs a "store method" . Thank you for everyone who was kind and helpful here.
PoolNewb2020
Well-known member
@Sarameow I'm not sure what your experience is with participating in forum discussions, but from my experience, it is very rare to have such dedicated and helpful site full of people willing to help for FREE. I mostly hang around automotive forums and it is not pretty there. Lots of personal attacks and ridicule, something I have not seen here yet.
I understand that it could be frustrating to you, especially since you needed help and quick, but that's the way it is with internet forums, you sometimes don't get the responses you expected or in a timely fashion. You also have to remember that a lot of the very knowledgeable members here reply to post after post with similar problems to yours, so it could get repetitive and frustrating as well from their end.
Also, something I've noticed over the years, the way I read and interpret posts has a lot to do with the mood I'm in at the time of reading. If I'm not in a good mood, I tend to interpret other posts in a negative way.
I understand that it could be frustrating to you, especially since you needed help and quick, but that's the way it is with internet forums, you sometimes don't get the responses you expected or in a timely fashion. You also have to remember that a lot of the very knowledgeable members here reply to post after post with similar problems to yours, so it could get repetitive and frustrating as well from their end.
Also, something I've noticed over the years, the way I read and interpret posts has a lot to do with the mood I'm in at the time of reading. If I'm not in a good mood, I tend to interpret other posts in a negative way.
You are correct. We do NOT help read the test strips. They are worse than knowing nothing about your water as they are so inaccurate. As far as "couldn't get a response here"..................I beg to differ with that. Several different people DID respond with honest, correct, caring replies.
I would like to point out that post #7 (the one above posted by @crusemm ) on the first page of your plead for help told you what you needed to do to get started. A few posts later you were told we don't put stock in the test strips or pool stores.
I am sorry the one reply made you cry. That was not his intent. He tried his best to help you but it was not working so he walked away. We are ALL volunteers that want everyone to have Trouble Free Pools BUT we need the pool owners to do their part-read the posts and get the items needed to take care of their pool-good test kit and chlorine to start with.
Let us know when you get a good test kit like was linked to and we can go from there.
Kim TFP MOD
@Sarameow this forum is full of incredibly smart and generous people who want nothing more than to help you. I was the exact same way you were....probably a lot stupider, to be honest. I asked a million stupid questions, and got help that I will be forever grateful for. But I had to help myself, too. When someone took the time to write out detailed posts on what I needed to do, such as Richard did here, I had to try and follow the instructions, and if I didnt understand (which I often didnt), I asked again. You cant be slave to 2 masters. The TFP way is specific, and theres scientific reasons why (of which I have no clue). You will eventually understand all this and wonder how easy it could possibly be. Dont give up!