RJ45+ Losing Chlorine Daily.

[Ronz800]

Hello, Currently have RJ45+ that is losing chlorine everyday. It’s August in Atlanta Ga and temps have been in low to mid nineties every day for a while with full sun. I can see it generate chlorine whenever it comes on so that is not a problem. It is set at 50% right now with 24 hr VS pump run time which should produce 6 ppm of FC a day. Am losing that plus another 1 to 2 ppm of FC everyday. Today turned it to 100% just to see and dosed it with some Home Depot LC I had laying around. CYA is 70 PPM. PH is 7.5 and has stayed there for two weeks. Alkalinity is around 70-80 ppm. Seems like a lot of chlorine to lose during the day. Don’t see any signs of algae bloom. If anyone has any ideas I am all ears. Thanks.

 

[Ronz800]

Forgot to add salt level is 3400 ppm tested with Taylor kit.

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! According to the PoolMath APP, our RJ-45s product 2 lbs of chlorine in 24 hrs. How much FC depends on output and run time. My pool is slightly smaller than yours, but if set to 100% and 24 hr run time I can produce a max FC of 13. We don't like to see our pools lose any more than about 4 ppm of FC in 24 hrs, so if your cell isn't keeping up with FC production, it's time to run an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to ensure you don't have organics tearing up that chlorine. So I would get the FC up to about 6-8 ppm (use liquid if needed) and shut off the SWG for the night after dark. Confirm one more good FC test and compare it again in the morning to see if you lost more than 1 ppm in the hours of darkness. That should tell us more.

 

[Ronz800]

We are currently under tropical storm Fred and will rain all night and all day tomorrow. Rain would dilute the test right? Supposed to be 5 inches of rain. I meant 6 ppm per day not 6 lbs. edited OP.

 

[Ronz800]

Welcome to TFP! According to the PoolMath APP, our RJ-45s product 2 lbs of chlorine in 24 hrs. How much FC depends on output and run time. My pool is slightly smaller than yours, but if set to 100% and 24 hr run time I can produce a max FC of 13. We don't like to see our pools lose any more than about 4 ppm of FC in 24 hrs, so if your cell isn't keeping up with FC production, it's time to run an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to ensure you don't have organics tearing up that chlorine. So I would get the FC up to about 6-8 ppm (use liquid if needed) and shut off the SWG for the night after dark. Confirm one more good FC test and compare it again in the morning to see if you lost more than 1 ppm in the hours of darkness. That should tell us more.

Performed OCLT. Went from 12ppm to 8ppm overnight. Pool is crystal clear. Thoughts?

 

[Newdude]

Hey Ronz !!!

5 inches of rain in your roughly 60 inch average depth pool would be an 8% loss of FC give or take, and you lost 25%. The OCLT took the sun/UV out of the equation so something is festering and eating the chlorine.

no question about it……. SLAM Process

You may have hit minimum for a spell in the last few weeks and didn’t catch it. Once algae starts you can keep it at bay for an amount of time but it’s always just a matter of time before you notice the FC loss.

 

[Texas Splash]

I would agree. Time for some chlorine at SLAM level.

 

[Newdude]

Don’t worry Ronz !! You got a small army of folks willing to help guide you through it all.

 

[Ronz800]

Brought pool up to 26ppm FC based on 65-70cya using bleach. Had to work at FD for two days so set SWG at 70 which produces 8.4 ppm at 24 hr pump run time just to make up for overnight loss. Came home this morning and FC was at 18.5ppm. I don’t know how it could have lost that much. Is blowing my mind. Am I crazy?

 

[Ronz800]

Hey Ronz !!!

5 inches of rain in your roughly 60 inch average depth pool would be an 8% loss of FC give or take, and you lost 25%. The OCLT took the sun/UV out of the equation so something is festering and eating the chlorine.

no question about it……. SLAM Process

You may have hit minimum for a spell in the last few weeks and didn’t catch it. Once algae starts you can keep it at bay for an amount of time but it’s always just a matter of time before you notice the FC loss.

Sorry for late reply. Work was crazy.

 

[Ronz800]

So basically from Thursday night until Sunday morning the pool lost 7.5ppm that was already there plus 8.4 per day the SWG was making. Seems like an insane amount to have lost in that time. All tested with indate Taylor reagents. Am I missing something?

 

[Ronz800]

pic of pool.

 

[Ronz800]

Based on other posts I found decided to pull ladder and this was under the stair treads. Could that be it?

 

[mknauss]

At least part of it. Check other areas. Light niche, skimmer, weir doors, etc.

 

[Ronz800]

At least part of it. Check other areas. Light niche, skimmer, weir doors, etc.

No light. Checks all of skimmer. Ladder was all I found. Cleaned really good and is upside down in sun to dry.

 

[Newdude]

When was the last time you deep cleaned the filter ? Could be funky in there too.

 

[Mdragger88]

Be sure to flush out the ladder hand rails too - they can hold some funky stuff
Hopefully you’re on your way & the SLAM Process won’t take long.
That sure is some clear water
This is why tfpc methods are great - without regular testing & logging you likely wouldn’t have even realized there was a problem until bam green water.
Your vigilance has hopefully spared u the expense & labor of a lengthy clean up.

 

[Ronz800]

When was the last time you deep cleaned the filter ? Could be funky in there too.

How to deep clean sand filter? Replaced all sand at beginning of season. Around April 2021. SWG has been online since then so chlorinated water is always going through it.

 

[Ronz800]

Be sure to flush out the ladder hand rails too - they can hold some funky stuff
Hopefully you’re on your way & the SLAM Process won’t take long.
That sure is some clear water
This is why tfpc methods are great - without regular testing & logging you likely wouldn’t have even realized there was a problem until bam green water.
Your vigilance has hopefully spared u the expense & labor of a lengthy clean up.

I hear you. Just through regular testing started to realize something was up about week or two ago. Kept raising SWG % and still saw loss. Knew I had some sort of problem. If had just judged based on water clarity would have had huge problems. This forum changed the way I dealt with the pool a couple of years ago. Saw LC was gonna be a problem this year and at board recommendation went with Circupool. Never had a problem all year until now. I’ll know to check under ladder from now on. Gonna do OCLT again just to confirm on Monday night after keeping at SLAM level for a day. Thanks y’all.

 

[Pv2]

do the SLAM until you pass all 3 criteria. take it an extra day to make sure - as you just found out, water can look fine but something is still going on. also make sure reagents are freshish - in your case there was obvious algae in your steps but occasionally reagents can expire (don't ask how long I SLAMMED clear water a few weeks ago, sigh)