Somewhat new at this and need some advice.

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When I got up for good, I took the two remaining cases of chlorine back to Lowes. Then went to the pool store and got several jugs of 12.5%. I had to put down a deposit but the price of the chlorine was essentially the same price as Lowes. A few cents more ut a better bargain due to the higher content and probably a lot fresher.

My FC was 0 when I got up. Ugh!!
 
The best prices for me are at Walmart (although I absolutely hate going into that store). You're going to need to keep the pool at shock levels the next few days which means a LOT of chlorine consistently. I always get strange looks when I'm lugging 20 jugs of bleach in a shopping cart to checkout.
 
Remember that you need to slam the pool maintaining shock levels. For 40 CYA you have to maintain 16 PPM of CL but your CYA could be 50 based on your other results which would demand 20 PPM. We're talking about maintaining these FC levels, so you need to come in much higher. If I'm shocking at 16, I'm going to take the pool up to like 26 and watch how long it takes to drop down to 20 or 18, then add more to take it back up to 26. I don't want it to get below 16 and definitely do not want it to go to zero. Heck, if I'm going to be away from the pool for a day or two, I would jack the FC level even more. Take a sample each night when the sun is down and check in the morning if you are still losing FC at night based on OCLT.
 
jimmycat said:
Thanks. It took almost 3 jugs to get it to 17. So I will just throw the last jug in and go restock, now, so I can get to tomorrow. Wow! It's taking more than I thought. This IS gonna work, right?
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You need to maintain ~17. You need more CL. Whatever gunk is in your pool, it is going to eat up that CL very quickly and you will be below shock levels in the next few hours. In order to slam properly, you need a lot of bleach on hand so that you can keep the CL levels up and maintain it. You are defeating the purpose if you keep letting it go below the shock level, especially to zero.
 
At 7pm FC already dropped from 22ppm to 16ppm. I went ahead and pushed it back up to 23ppm to give me some room. I just tested now, it's 11:30pm and it is still sitting at 21ppm. So it hasn't lost near as much, of course, the sun is down now. I will test and replenish in the morning. It's doing something.
 

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I have a question about the FC test. What has been happening is I test it and lets say I get a reading of 16ppm but I want it at 20ppm. I check the pool math and when I walk back to the sample it's pink again. I tried putting a few more drops in it and it took 4 more drops to turn clear.

Should I be counting those drops into my equation. What am I doing wrong? Why does it go clear and then turn back to pink?
 
Still losing about 2ppm per hour during sunlight hours. Lots of sparkling dirt floating around in the pool today. Looks like little sparks in the sunlight. I have never seen that before. Water is a lot cloudier than yesterday but the color gets better and better. I will just keep doing what I am doing.
 
Another question: I still have plenty DPD powder but am running low on R-0871. I will get through this process of slamming but will probably be out by the time I am done.

*How much aprox will I need to get through the season (my season starts now and will run 'sometimes' to the end of October. So I need enough to last 6 months.
*And where to get it for the best price?
*And I might as well get more DPD powder. though I won't run out soon. I will definitely run out way before the season is up.

PS - Good news, I only used a little over 3 jugs of chlorine compared to yesterdays 8. So it is working.

Thanks, so far, for your help.
 
I pretty much only use the PH/CL drops 3-way test for normal use. I keep my CYA at 65 and my FC around 8 with a SWG. My pool stays pretty stable. The only thing I need to adjust is PH that drifts up every 10 - 14 days. The CL only goes up to 5 I think on the color scale but I have a good idea what 8 ppm is as it's a bit darker yellow. When I want an accurate reading or if I'm slamming I'll break out the FAS/DPD. KimKats has a link to test kits where you can easily order refills. I always make sure I have enough refills in case of an emergency.
 
It's probably hugely overkill, but I bought the 16oz R-0871 from Amazon for about $25 (+prime 2 days shipping). The one that comes with my Taylor kit is .75oz. There's also a 2oz version that ran about $10. I knew I'd probably need at least 4 oz the way I was going so $5 more and there should be no way I'd run out even if had to slam for a long time, or again... seemed like a great bargin. Especially since NONE of the pool stores around here carries it! Leslie's could special order but only the 2oz and it'd be 3+ days and it was $15.

Keep in mind even at the 10ml with CYA of ~60 you need ~50 drops per test for the 24FC level you need to maintain. That's going to eat through the .75 oz bottle pretty quickly! I have higher CYA so was shooting for 35ppm, but I think I got about 6 (SLAM) tests out of a new bottle (though I overshot eyeballing pouring in bleach more than once, too. :)).

I also ordered extra powder. Though I was slightly more reasnable there and only bought the 2oz as I still had plently left in my kit as I always do the 10ml test and just use 1 scoop. :) Figured it was better to toss some when it gets too old vs. not having it when I needed it.
 
Congrats on the orders! I also buy the CYA in big bottle (but from tftkits) and I easily push off the drop tip of the small taylor bottles and refill them from the big bottle, then press the drop tip back in. they just pop in and out. Then I keep the big bottle in a zip lock for when I need to refill again. I maintain a high CYA/FC so I don't ever refill the FAS/DPD drops, just use straight from the big bottle, just have to barely squeeze or your risk doing more than 1 drop per second and skewing results.
 
+1 on the CYA from tft as well. If you are considering buying the R-0871 from them, I'd add a bottle of the CYA, too while you are at it. I don't test my CYA often, but given how much you need when you do, the amount that comes with most kits won't last long.
 
Well, I just ran out on drop 41. Sample is still pink. So it's safe to say that I have lost less than 3ppm over the last 5 hours. Which is awesome. Since I don't know what the actual number is, I guess I will just throw in enough chlorine to raise it up 4ppm and look for somewhere locally to get it first thing in the morning.

The minimal loss of FC makes me feel pretty comfortable that if I don't get to it until 10am, I should be quite safe. I am very pleased as I see that it is truly working. I wasn't sure the last two days because I went through a ton of chlorine but today was a HUGE improvement and I really did not go through that much.
 
SWEET!!!! You are winning! Keep up the good work.

As for ordering new regents I will tell you that I was helping another member with their new to them pool. They ordered some regents from Amazon to finish up the SLAM. When it came in the results were off. We could not figure out why until one of them looked at the bottle.........it was out of date by quite a bit :shock: This was a brand new bottle just sent from Amazon :( AND when Amazon sent them another bottle to replace it........yep it was out of date as well!!!! TFtests do not even keep out of date stuff around so that is who I order from. I even have the link in my siggy below.

:hug: I am so glad things are turning for you!

Kim:kim:
 

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