Questioning Myself

[Farmerswife96]

Hello all,
I've had a very enjoyable summer taking care of and enjoying my pool. I'm usually very busy in the garden and farm. The pool looks great and I keep up the cleaning and maintenance. Here are this week's results.
pH 7.8
FC 2.5(Will be adding chlorine tonight to get it back to good level)
CC 0
TA 70
CH 175 to 180
CYA I'm assuming is still 40(ran out of reagent)
I had trouble in the beginning of summer getting the alkalinity up and keeping it up. I have added probably around 20 pounds of baking soda over the course of summer, always in small amounts mixed with water in a bucket to the deep end in front of the jets. I've kept pH around 7.2-7.8 all summer. The only complaint I've had from others is sometimes their nose and eyes burn when diving down in the deep end. I still can't figure that out. The pH has been holding steady at 7.8 for several weeks and I didn't want to fight it unless it goes beyond that. Am I correct in that or could it be the burning nose/eyes culprit? IMO the levels look good except the chlorine.
What would you guys suggest? Anything?

 

[ajw22]

TA rarely needs to be raised if the pH is staying in the 7s. PH 50 or above is ok.

Burning eyes does not come from pH in the 7s. Could be CCs in the water. Could be sunscreen. How do you chlorinate your pool?

Read ...

Ideal pH to avoid eye burn

My pH tends to drift upward and I control with acid, but normally don't go below 7.6 when I adjust. Since pH levels are what typically causes swimmer eyes to burn, and since human tears are generally 7.0 to 7.3 (according to a quick Google search), should I be shooting for a lower level? I ask...

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Burning Eyes

Ok so through my research on this site if i am correct i read it is not the chlorine level that gives you red and burning eyes its the PH level. Well ever since i switched to salt water we all have burning red eyes every time were in the pool. My ph stabilizes at 8.2 so im constantly adding...

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Burning Eyes...Help!

Pool is clean and clear, and numbers look pretty good, but water foams when agitated and eyes are burning! Please help! FC 6 pH 7.2 TA 100 CH 10 CYA 60

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Eye irritation

We just had a pool party and a lot of kids, and adults including myself, noticed a significant amount of eye irritation that I don't recall ever having before. Test results are from Taylor k2006. FC 5.5 CC 0 pH 7.6 TA 70 CH 120 CYA 60 Salt 3000 84 degree water temp Pool is clear and looks...

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[Farmerswife96]

I've been trying to use up some trichlor pucks that I had in a floater with a small amount of Calcium Hypochlorite for a weekly boost. Pucks almost gone, will be using the Cal Hypo rest of summer. My CCs have remained at 0-0.5. My husband says his eyes and nose burn only when he dives down to the pool bottom. Could CCs be higher down there or something else that may settle?? How long can sunscreen remain in the pool?

 

[frogabog]

 

[Pool_Medic]

With ph and alk in line, it’s very common inpuck pools for the combined chlorine to irritate eyes. There simply isn’t enough chlorine to aid in oxidation. That’s why puck pools smell of chlorine (suits, towels etc) while swg pools do not. Old timers use to shock their pools once a week with dichlor or mps.

 

[Farmerswife96]

Thank you Pool_Medic! I didn't realize that about pucks.
Anyway, I just checked the pool levels and here they are.
Ph 8.0-8.2
FC 1
CC 0
ALK 60
CH 150
CYA Still assuming it's 40, no reagent ordered.
Been keeping up with weekly brushing/vacuuming/cleaning. Pool is clear as a bell. Ph is creeping back up but alkalinity is down again. I don't know what to do about this. Should I add baking soda then get the ph back down or not worry about alkalinity???

 

[Donldson]

If your CYA is 40 (don't guess, get the reagents and test it) then your FC should never be below 3.

Follow the FC/CYA Levels.

 

[Farmerswife96]

It don't usually let it but I started back to work this week ? I want to get the ph and alkalinity levels right first! But if no one gives me any suggestions, I'll add some cal hypochlorite tonight.

 

[Donldson]

I'm afraid you have the priorities mixed up. Low FC is a critical problem, as is not knowing your CYA. Your pH is a much lower priority and your TA is virtually unimportant in comparison to the FC and CYA issues.

Yes, lower the pH to around 7.8. Do not add baking soda, the TA is fine for now.

 

[Farmerswife96]

I'm afraid you have the priorities mixed up. Low FC is a critical problem, as is not knowing your CYA. Your pH is a much lower priority and your TA is virtually unimportant in comparison to the FC and CYA issues.

Yes, lower the pH to around 7.8. Do not add baking soda, the TA is fine for now.

I thought you had to get other levels right before adding chlorine??
Poured about a pint of MA(rest of jug)
Just added 21 oz which should boost my FC to 5. Will order CYA reagent over the weekend. But, I just assumed if it was a 40 last time I checked it and haven't added products with CYA in it that it would still be around 40.

 

[frogabog]

I thought you had to get other levels right before adding chlorine??
Poured about a pint of MA(rest of jug)
Just added 21 oz which should boost my FC to 5. Will order CYA reagent over the weekend. But, I just assumed if it was a 40 last time I checked it and haven't added products with CYA in it that it would still be around 40.

There's nowhere nor no one on this site that says to adjust other chemistry before chlorine. Chlorine is always the first thing to add. Without chlorine your pool water isn't sanitary or safe, and your pool will likely get algae (go green). Alkalinity is actually the last thing to worry about.

Probably a good time to review Pool School in general, and re-read ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry. Adding chlorine to 5ppm won't allow you to make it through the next day without dropping below minimum. Add chlorine daily (I do it at night) to get to your target, which for 40ppm CYA is 7ppm. I actually do 1ppm above target each day. Expect to be back down to close to minimum at the end of the day, then add chlorine to target at the end of the day so that you never drop below your minimum. If you have extra swimmers or other conditions during the day that could use extra chlorine, you may need to bump it a couple-three ppm for those events.

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

There's nowhere nor no one on this site that says to adjust other chemistry before chlorine. Chlorine is always the first thing to add. Without chlorine your pool water isn't sanitary or safe, and your pool will likely get algae (go green). Alkalinity is actually the last thing to worry about.

Probably a good time to review Pool School in general, and re-read ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry. Adding chlorine to 5ppm won't allow you to make it through the next day without dropping below minimum. Add chlorine daily (I do it at night) to get to your target, which for 40ppm CYA is 7ppm. I actually do 1ppm above target each day. Expect to be back down to close to minimum at the end of the day, then add chlorine to target at the end of the day so that you never drop below your minimum. If you have extra swimmers or other conditions during the day that could use extra chlorine, you may need to bump it a couple-three ppm for those events.

The confusion may be because of the recommendation to adjust pH before SLAM.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

The confusion may be because of the recommendation to adjust pH before SLAM.

That's because during a SLAM process the high chlorine level skews the pH testing result. So we just want to get the pH taken care of and not needing more testing or treating during the SLAM process.

Maddie

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

I understand that... There are (rare) times you adjust pH first. This isn't one of them, but "There's nowhere nor no one on this site that says to adjust other chemistry before chlorine. Chlorine is always the first thing to add," isn't 100% correct, and if a new person got a little confused (they read the SLAM process as they were going through all the pool school articles, and the "adjust pH first" got stuck in the back of their head somewhere) it's understandable.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Yes, I see your point.

Maddie

 

[BowserB]

With ph and alk in line, it’s very common inpuck pools for the combined chlorine to irritate eyes. There simply isn’t enough chlorine to aid in oxidation. That’s why puck pools smell of chlorine (suits, towels etc) while swg pools do not. Old timers use to shock their pools once a week with dichlor or mps.

I see Farmerswife is using cal hypo and not trichlor. Is your observation about puck pools smelling of chlorine applicable to her situation, or does that really apply to the far more common trichlor pucks? I've thought about getting some cal hypo tabs for times when I have to be away for a few days and can't add my usual 12.5% liquid chlorine, so I'd like to hear the whole story about calcium hypochlorite tabs.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Funky chlorine smells come from the Combined Chloramines in the water.... it doesn't matter which type of chlorine you use. If you have CCs, they can smell a bit.

Usually it means you don't have *enough* chlorine in the water.

Maddie

 

[BowserB]

Funky chlorine smells come from the Combined Chloramines in the water.... it doesn't matter which type of chlorine you use. If you have CCs, they can smell a bit.

Usually it means you don't have *enough* chlorine in the water.

Maddie

Thanks Maddie. Pool Medic's comment could be construed to mean pucks are the problem while low chlorine, as we all know, is the root cause, not how the chlorine gets there.

 

[frogabog]

I apologize for saying nowhere on this site... I wasn't thinking about SLAM at the time, due to the fact that the OP simply needed to add chlorine due to FC level of 1ppm and this thread wasn't about SLAM. So, apologies again and yes do adjust pH before SLAM, but otherwise put the chlorine in first and then work on other levels.

 

[Pool_Medic]

Pucks are the issue 9 times out of ten due to the ever rising cya levels and the chlorine not rising to match, meaning not enough chlorine to oxidize the cc.