Pea green and frustrated

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zethacat said:
I think that depends partially on bather load. It's still swimming season here in TX. :) I would agree to push the FC up to 7 .. maybe even 8 and then report back what you have at noon the next day.
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But to go from an FC of 5 at lunchtime to zero by late afternoon is losing a boat load of FC if everything (parameter) wise is accurate to what OP states. At at CYA of 35 that's a lot of FC to lose IMO, unless something is consuming it.
I would bump that CYA up to 50 and see what happens. Then target FC at 8 and never below 4. ?
 
Well, it's not difficult to get the CYA up to 50 and that is key to stopping your chlorine from disappearing so quickly. I ensure you that the people on this forum are giving you the proper recommendations. I highly recommend you just do it. You can get stabilizer from home depot or walmart (that is the same thing as CYA). It's usually 15 bucks for a 4 lb container. Start by putting 1 1/2 lbs of it in a sock and leave it in the skimmer until it dissolves. Check on it every few hours and squeeze the sock. Don't pour it into the skimmer like the instructions say, because then it will get lodged in the filter and you will have no idea when it's fully dissolved.
 
I've gotta agree with Pwrstrk on this one. Having that large of a FC drop in a few hours is ALOT this time of the year with a CYA level of 35ish. Something's not adding up here in my mind. I'd like to ask you a few questions to make sure all is right here..........

  • Your current CYA level is 35ish
  • You nightly pass the OCLT only dropping .5 or less each night
  • You've maintained a FC level of at least 5 each day


At a last request in addition to these questions, can you post a photo of the water? Somethings simply not adding up here.
 
The picture of the water earlier in the thread is still representative - it is wonderfully clear. To answer your questions.
Yes CYA remains at 35 - soon to start adjusting.
OCLT passed with .5 or less loss.
Maintained FC of at least 5 each day - No.

I poured the last bit of bleach I had at the house in at 1:30 that brought me from 0 to 3. I just checked and it is back to 1. So 2 ppm in an hour. It is a beautiful 80 degree day in Central Texas.
 
The entire time there has been no solar cover used has there?? The few issues I've seen with using the CDX product resulted in VERY high CC levels, so I'm not sure if that is the case here. Let's try this out for an action plan.

  • Add 20oz of stablizer to the water via a sock
  • Raise your FC level to 15 tonight after sunset
  • Retest your FC and CC levels about 20minutes after you add the chlorine
  • Keep the pump running overnight


Lets try this and see what happens tomorrow.
 

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graler said:
Stabilizer is already in a sock in the skimmer. I will get to the store this evening and restock on chlorine. I just added 121 oz. at 3:50 found a bottle I didn't know I had. That brought me back up to 4.5 FC. No CC
Click to expand...

How much stabilizer did you add ? What precent chlorine is the bleach are you using ?
When you added your bleach you stated you had 1 ppm of FC. To raise your FC from 1 to 4.5 it would take 2 qt's 3 oz of 8.25%. If it were 6% it would take 2 qt's 3 cups to raise it to 4.5. You stated you added a whole jug. A whole jug of 8.25% would raise FC by 6.4 ppm. A whole jug of 6 % would raise FC by 4.6 ppm. ?
 
My chlorine is fresh it is 8.25%. I just tested and it is at 1 ppm FC right now. I added 20oz of stabilizer via sock this afternoon. I am now adding 264 oz of 8.25% which should take my chlorine up to 15 ppm for overnight. I will verify that in about 30 minutes. I will leave the pump running all night.
 
So since your last addition which took your FC to 4.5, you lost 3.5 in 5hrs. How many hours has the sun been on the pool since your last bleach addition and were there swimmers ?
Pool Math states 20 oz of CYA will raise it by 12. Is that what you came up with also ?
 
So 3:50 pm to 8:00 pm I was down to 1 ppm so 4 hours - not sure what time the sunset. 20 oz. should take me up to 47 CYA.

8:30 after adding bleach just before 8:00 pm. I just tested and I am at 15 ppm FC, CC = 0.

By the way I have a 90 degree elbow on my return. This makes the water move in a pretty aggressive CCW flow. It also means that the water in the center may not be getting as much mixing? When ever there is any debris if it sinks it finds its way to the center. It also means that any floating material gets evacuated rather quickly. Just thinking out loud don't know if it makes a difference. The guys we bought the pool from recommended it. They also recommended baquacil. If need be I can put the eye ball back tomorrow. right now we are changing one thing at a time.
 
Take an FC test tomorrow morning before the sun gets on the pool. Make sure the pump is running over night.
That's normal for dirt to get into the center of the pool. That's a lot of pump for that size pool.
With your new CYA addition make sure your targeting 8 and not letting it fall below 4. Don't bother testing CYA for close to a week so it fully registers on a test. Just assume it's there and keep your FC in range for it. ?
 
It doesn't make sense to have no FC loss overnight, and then huge FC losses during the day. If something were eating the FC, it should do it both overnight and during the day. Also the daytime FC loss is much greater than would be expected by sunlight degradation. If you take the total daily FC loss it sure looks like there is still some Baquacil remaining to be converted.

I'm wondering if there might be sampling error caused by poor water circulation in the pool, and that somehow when the sun comes out and warms both the pool surface and the sides of the above ground pool, circulation is improved.

I think graler mentioned the pool only has one return, so to rule out circulation issues I'm going to suggest this return be directed downwards and towards the center of the pool and, of course, bleach should be added above the return. Also run the pump 24/7 until total daily FC loss drops to normal, and FC samples taken no sooner than 60 minutes after a bleach addition to make sure it got properly mixed in before the test.
 

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