pool levels

[ROBLOREN]

I have been battling my algea problem and I feel that I am heading in the right direction. The shallow area is now pretty clear and I can "ALMOST" see the bottom of the deep end. The water is still a bit green and someone cloudy. (However much, much better then last weekend!)

However, we really want to use the pool this weekend. My kids are young. They are 4 yrs and 16 months. I don't want them in the water and irritate their skin if the chlorine levels are high.
Here are my numbers:
FAC 2
TAC 4
PH 7.4
TA 50
Hardness 150
CYA 70

The water is still cloudy and I belive i need to shock again. I did this 3 days ago and have been adding bleach (a few gallons) each day as well as using up the clorine tabs that I have left in the shed.

I have 2 questions:
1- My CYA seems very high. Last year, if I recall, it was low. I will recheck the numbers again tonight to make sure it was not a bad reading. However, where should my chlorine levels be assuming the number is correct or close?
2- The chlorine tabs that I have say that there is a water softener as part of the composition. My Calcium hardness is a bit low. Can we attribute this to the tabs? (BTW I have a guinite pool with a heater). It says that the"softener" will help protect metals in the pool equipment. What are your thoughts??
Many thanks!
Rob

 

[JohnT]

For CYA of 70, your chlorine needs to be maintained at 5.25ppm or higher. With your FC being 2 and TC 4, that means you have 2ppm combined chlorine, indicating you need to shock, and since it's algae you need to hold at the shock level for a few days. You really want to quit using the tabs and any other form of dichlor or trichlor because they raise your CYA. You can still use cal-hypo shock since your CH is a little low, or you can use bleach. The kids are more likely to have skin irritation from the CC than from higher FC.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I have been battling my algea problem and I feel that I am heading in the right direction. The shallow area is now pretty clear and I can "ALMOST" see the bottom of the deep end. The water is still a bit green and someone cloudy. (However much, much better then last weekend!)

However, we really want to use the pool this weekend. My kids are young. They are 4 yrs and 16 months. I don't want them in the water and irritate their skin if the chlorine levels are high.
Here are my numbers:
FAC 2
TAC 4
PH 7.4
TA 50
Hardness 150
CYA 70

The water is still cloudy and I belive i need to shock again. I did this 3 days ago and have been adding bleach (a few gallons) each day as well as using up the clorine tabs that I have left in the shed.

I have 2 questions:
1- My CYA seems very high. Last year, if I recall, it was low. I will recheck the numbers again tonight to make sure it was not a bad reading. However, where should my chlorine levels be assuming the number is correct or close?
2- The chlorine tabs that I have say that there is a water softener as part of the composition. My Calcium hardness is a bit low. Can we attribute this to the tabs? (BTW I have a guinite pool with a heater). It says that the"softener" will help protect metals in the pool equipment. What are your thoughts??
Many thanks!
Rob

Hi Rob, you need to shock. Use the cya chart in Pool School to find your target and shock levels of chlorine. The tablets add cya and yours is high so I would stop using it. You have a CC of 2 which is really high and shows you have a full blown algae bloom. You need to raise your FC to shock and hold it there, constantly adding bleach till your CL holds overnight and you don't lose less than 1ppm.

You calcium is find if you have a vinyl liner, otherwise you want to raise it to the 200-400 range. The metals in the pool equipment are irrelevant to the calcium, unless it's an older pool, which may be an issue but I'm not sure.

It's not a good idea to use the pool while battling algae, especially with young kids, and while shocking I wouldn't let them swim either.

Hope this helps - read all the info in Pool school and post any questions!