Swamp to pool conversion

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Still at it. Down to 7 FC again last night :( Put in my last 9 FC and will have to head to the store before I work on it more tonight.

Visibility getting better. I can see the tail end of my hand vac while I vac the deep end (from outside the pool). That is at least 7 feet down :eek: !! Black dust continues to settle in known places where it is easy for me to vac up. Beginning to wonder if the dust is already resident in the pool or if it is coming from elsewhere.

Shaping up to be a fairly nice looking pool. Not like some of the fantastic designs that I have seen posted here, but not bad considering I had no way of knowing what I was buying. It is more of a trapizoidal shape, which is actually seems pretty smart, since most of the usage is the top 3 feet of water anyway.
 
Good thinking pup. Actually I "recruited" a diver this last weekend. That is how I was able to report on the dirt piles and stuff in the floor drain. Call me a wuss, but I like to see to what I am diving at. :cool:

As a side note, I found an interesting trick, that is of little use to me now, but may have been earlier when my floor drain was so clogged I could not get any suction from it. Anyway, it is no secret that bleach is heavier than water. So dropping an entire jug of opened bleach into the pool (purposely or on accident) causes the jug to sink. As the bleach is released into the pool water, it is replaced with pool water, eventually the jug will become light enough to float back to the surface. Kind of cool, because I thought I was going to have to fish the jug out at some point, but the next day it was "returned" to me. :goodjob:
 
For some reason this would not post last night:



Wow!!! First CC reading of .5 today. FC back to 7, but found a good deal on pool chlorine. Seems the season is ending and stores are discounting their stock. 10 FC added to the pool...

Also got a sock on a return, hoping to catch some black dust....

To expand on these thoughts. I was reading the thread on CCs and the mini-debate on .5 CCs being okay or if you need to see 0 CCs too. The premise that .5 CCs ALL THE TIME could be an indicator of the need to shock. Whereas .5 CCs occasionally was normal. Anyway, got me wondering, I dont test CC daily, as my water is NOT clear, so I already know I need to shock. When I have measured it has always been in the 1-2 range on CCs, which one would expect. A reading of .5 last night gives me another good sign that I am close.

$2.79 for a gallon of the 12.5% (paid $2.51 after discount), and .98 for 96 ounces of the 6% ultra. Better than I have been able to get for quite awhile. :cheers:
 
I think some of it depends on whether one is testing for CC regularly. I prefer the FAS-DPD test vs the OTO. For one, I rarely test when it's still light outside, and even if it is I have a hard time with the yellow color matching. So I run a FAS-DPD instead. When it's low it's easy enough, 6-10 drops of R-0871 won't break the bank and I'm still using old #3 reagent so the 5 drops also won't break the bank and CC gets tested for.

So that's a CC test nearly every night which is different than testing once a week for CC like normal people do. Using my own testing as experience, I do see many many 0CC readings with an occasional .5 reading. If I tested every night and saw .5 CC yeah, I'd be suspicious but in reality it's not the same as if I saw it 4x per month. An all the time reading for me would be daily, and I do call that suspicious.

I'm not sure I'd shock if I saw such a thing, an OCLT would be the first action I'd take if that occurred and if it passed I wouldn't worry.

I too think your .5 CC reading is a VERY good sign and I'm thinking your pool is very close to turning sparkly. It might go up again as you complete the process but it'll fall again just as fast if it does so don't fret too much if you do see 1-2ppm CC again, it's just the chlorine working hard for that moment. Just like it's supposed to.
 
Just to be clear, I am not entering that debate, both sides make sence to me. The oriignal thread was "How often do you shock?", and in my case everyday and as such I am hardly qualified to participate. ;) I would not know a 0 CC if it bit me on... well you get the idea.

As for being close, I already know the end of this story. In my mind I have been "done" for several weeks, I am just going through the motions until the reality in the pool matches whats in my mind. It is a good feeling to know I am on the right path and that is a big thanks to all the help I have received here and those that have laid the path before me. :cheers
 
shortdogOH said:
The oriignal thread was "How often do you shock?", and in my case everyday and as such I am hardly qualified to participate.
Click to expand...
Your a shocking junky :wink:

Count me in group of thinking (and hoping) you are almost done.

To close on the 0.5 CC from my perspective, once you are done with your addiction to shocking (and you move into the house), you will start learning the nuances of your pool. If you consistently see 0.5 ppm CC then try (this is new to me) the 25 ml sample to confirm you are actually lower than 0.4 ppm CC. Also, it never hurts to do an occasional run up to FC shock levels followed by a OCLT just so you don't get out of practice of pouring substantial amounts of bleach, though in your case that may cause you to go into remission :mrgreen:
 
Really glad to see you make it. Some would have given up and I might not blame em. You've worked really hard and deserve all the credit. So Im curious, how many gallons of bleach do you think it took, and when do you move in?
 
Thanks for that. I am one of those types that really needs to do to learn something. Like I implied, I was still skeptical until a few weeks back when I could really see the difference I had made.

That said, I feel I am really good at shocking a pool, maybe not an expert, but more experience than most. Following the same logic, I have no experience maintaining a pool properly, so that will be an entirely different learning process.

As for usage, I did a run down a few pages back. I figure a rough average of $5 a day on Bleach. Using the calculator I have added about 1200 ppm of salt using the bleach and some trichlor. I have purchased 33 gallons of 12.5% "extreme pool shock" liquid chlorine, 16 cases of Sams Clorox (48 x 182 ounces of 6%), 12 gallons of regular 5.25%, plus 6-96 ounces jugs of 6% and 15 lbs of tri-chlor. Any way you look at it, I think "a ton" sums it up fairly well.

As for the house, tenants "officially" move in the 1st. As the property "pool boy", I reserve the right "to test" (and I am not talking the TF testkit, although I will be doing that too) the water at any time I feel necessary to maintain a safe swimming environment. If that means two hours a day, doing laps, then I will just have to make that personal sacrifice. ;)

Additional challenges, in that I will not known the precise usage and swimmer load, but I look forward to those challenges.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Much bleach indeed. If I understood the CYA component a little better I may have been able to use a bit less bleach. Even though I was told i needed CYA, I thought the lower end would be best, since it allowed for a lower shock FC number, meaning less bleach (or so I thought). There are probably too many other factors going on right now to try and find an optimal CYA level, so I will just be happy that I am making progress for now. Still losing 8-10ppm of FC a day.
 
Just curious, what was the overnight loss? At low CYA levels and high FC, you can loose a lot of ppm in a day.

Note on CC testing: Last night my 10 ml sample turned slightly pink when adding the R-0003 that cleared again with one drop. I redid the test with 25 ml sample and that also turned slightly pink, but cleared up with 2 drops (1 almost did it...may have). So at least that one experiment confirms that adding r-0003 causing a pink ting, does not necessarily mean an outbreak (at least that is what I want to believe :wink: ), since it was at/below the 0.4 ppm max CC requirement (when using 25 ml sample).
 
Never have done the overnight test. My water is still not clear, so I have not bothered. I only get over there a few mornings a week and it has been 12+ everytime. Got about 3 inches of rain overnight, so today might not have been the best time to test for the overnight anyhow. I am going to have to get up a hour earlier to do it, so I am waiting until there is a good chance that I will pass. CC measured .5-1.0 last night, and water is still not clear, but hopefully this weekend I can get in an OCLT, better yet hopefully I can pass ;)
 
Sometimes even with cloudy water an OCLT can give you an idea where you are in the process. Even better multiple OCLT can give you a trend. In your situation, this does not sound feasible.
As you have noted, your low CC readings are a good sign, but I often CC drops low well before overnight chlorine demand drops.

I still think you are close, your low CC shows this :goodjob:
 
Thanks, I will keep that in mind for the future. There were times I was unsure of the progress I was making, but now I can "see" it on a daily basis, so any additional confirmation would just be a waste of reagent for me.

Updating, with the excess rain fall we have had, the skimmer became covered again, so I got a good filter cleaning, and did some vac-to-waste of the hard to remove black dust the settles in the pool and still have the skimmer 90% covered. Good to know some of that dust is gone for good. FC came in at 9 this evening, so I put in another 8 to try and get me through until tonight.

Reports say you can see the floor drain (DEEPEST PART OF POOL) during the daylight hours. I could almost make it out last evening. My picture perspective (going from shallow to deep) does not really do justice to the progress I am making as the deep is still rather murky, especially at night. Tonight I will try to get a picture from the diving board that focuses on the shallow end, which to me looks perfect (though I know it is not, hard to beleive it can and will actually look BETTER).
 
Here we go...

Fc at 8.5 (7pm), CC at 0 per test, but I am guessing 0.3-0.4 by the shades I have seen. Water is clear, can see all the way to the floor and the drain. Still some black dirt that I vacced a good amount to waste. Decided to run OCLT, maybe I am THERE.

Added gallon of 12.5%. That Should have added about 6 ppm and checked at 9:45p and FC read 14.5, CC at .5. Sunrise is at 6:45 am, so hopefully i can get going to complete the test. Going to try and sleep now, and hopefully dream about clear water :)
 
??? Not sure what happened.... Took FC at 6:50am and got 16.5 reading. Took again, mking sure sample was just barely touching the 10ml mark , and got 15.0. Not sure if this is conclusive. CC still read below .5 on each sample.

So, I think I am going to leave it alone, and try the OCLT again tonight being very careful. With the lower FC, I can try a 25ml sample and maybe get more percise results. Water is still clear, but a few small piles of dirt remain. Also some leave have made themselves present, but I quickly removed those from the floor.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply