SWG - No FC???

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Yo Rook.
I'll cut to the chase.. You have an SWG just get this test kit.. There is no point shopping around for something else, this one:
tftestkits.net

TF-Pro Salt

tftestkits.net tftestkits.net
there I did the shopping for you. Keep adding liquid chlorine until it shows up and then we can have a discussion about everything else.

Get some stabilizer in your pool.. but if you are using test strips I wouldn't add anymore than half of what your guestimated target is.. You shouldn't need to add any other algaecide except for chlorine.

There are a lot of threads on the forum by posters that dealt with their iron and a consensus procedure is starting to emerge as to the order of treatment and products that work best. so read up. start here:

Ascorbic Acid Treatment - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

Also can you put your equipment and pool type in your signature.. it makes it a lot easier for us to make recommendations if we have a ready reference to your pool equipment.-thx

Create Your Signature - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
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Ok, got some stabilizer. Had to get it at the pool store. Walmart was out and Home Depot around here doesn't carry pool supplies in stores. $20 for 4 lbs.

My next question is: I was told by the pool company that did our opening and our SWG system that the pool is about 18,000 gallons. But, I don't know that for certain. It's 16x32 like 3 foot shallow end and 8 foot deep end with sloping bottom so not very much is actually 8 foot. If I check various online calculators it tells me between 20,000 and 22,000, which would make a difference for the Pool Math.

Pool math tells me adding 4lbs of stabilizer in 18,000 will raise the CYA to 27. However, until the test kit I ordered arrives next week, I won't be able to test myself, so I'm stuck relying on the pool store testing until then and don't want to over do it. 4 lbs is a lot to add at once right? Should I do it like 1 lb at a time to not restrict the skimmer?
 
RookWDW said:
Pool math tells me adding 4lbs of stabilizer in 18,000 will raise the CYA to 27. However, until the test kit I ordered arrives next week, I won't be able to test myself, so I'm stuck relying on the pool store testing until then and don't want to over do it. 4 lbs is a lot to add at once right? Should I do it like 1 lb at a time to not restrict the skimmer?
Click to expand...
Add half of what your target is for now until you get your test kit. Use the sock method... what the heck is that you say?... put the CYA in a gym sock or old nylon knee high and dangle it in front of a return. If your household is like mine, I have lots of orphaned socks. The blast from the return will help dissolve it and if you squeeze the sock it will poof out into solution. Keep at it until its dissolved. should take less than an hour. DONT put it in your skimmer, like the instructions on the box probably say.. that will just clog your filter.

Give it a day or two to completely dissolve before you get real CYA readings. Its not one of those chems that disperses and dissolves in 30 min.
 
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Oh and BTW, as you start testing with a real test kit you will be able to narrow down the size of your pool by how it reacts to chem additions and the testing results you get. Its quite accurate. That is why it's important at this stage of the game to creep up on your chem levels when you don't have an exact number for your pool volume by adding half at a time, then half again. For the first 10 years of my pool ownership I was estimating 5K gal more than my actual pool size.. then after discovering this site and with accurate testing I realized the volume was too big. There is a cool trick with the TA measurement and adding a specified amount of MA where you can get a pretty close estimate of you pool's volume. But any chem addition can be used to do that.
 
3 lbs stabilizer added via sock. Pool has a slight brown tint in the deep end, but otherwise is clear.

FC - 0.6 (added about 1/4 gallon after test)
SWG still at 50%
Pressure at 15lbs - after a quick vacuum for a light bit of debris that settled.
-- note to self, buy a better vacuum head --
Normal pressure for me after a good backwash and adding 3lbs of DE is around 12-13lbs. I've been backwashing at around 22-23lbs or when I can see the water flow is low. When I backwash, chunks of brown debris is seen in the spy glass, which I assume is chelated iron (hopefully???)
 
The last couple of days the pool looks great. Very clear, no slime, no sign of any issues. I don’t have the new test kit yet but based on the existing kit.

FC - 1-2. Hard to tell. It’s a much deeper yellow but no orange tint. Defiantly over 1, the no orange suggests not yet 3. according to a test strip its

PH stable at 7.2.
All 250
Calc 250

temp is 88 deg
SWG still at 50%.
I added a half gallon of chlorine last night and the night before. Trying to add it slowly so o don’t cause the iron to drop out again. I’d like to get it up to 3.0 FC and drop the SWG back to 10-15%.
 
New TFTest kit arrived all ready; that stirrer is awesome ---

Just tested at 1:45 - 2:00 PM ET

From test strip
FC - 3
TC - 7
AK - 240
PH - 7.2
TH - 250

From old Poolmaster Test Kit
FC -1.0/2.0 ish
PH - 7.2
TH - 210

TFTest Kit daily method
FC - 3.0
PH - 7.2

TFTest Kit full method
FC - 2.5
CC - 0.0
AK - 190
TH - 325
Salt - 320
CYA - not enough to read, dot became cloudy but I could still see it.

PH Meter (not calibrated yet as I don't have distilled water)
7.1

SWG 25% (turned down to 25% from 50% last night around 7:00 PM)
Pressure stable at around 12/13 lbs
No chemicals added yesterday.
Kids swam for hours yesterday in the hot sun.

Pool looks very clear, besides a bit of debris that needs to be vacuumed.

Based on that, besides adding more CYA today, any other recommendations?
Any objection to turning down the SWG to 15% (does it matter what it's set at)?
 

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CrystalRiver said:
Your FC still seems low, but without knowing an exact CYA it's hard to say for sure.

Do the OCLT tonight. SWG needs to be off for that.
Click to expand...
For the OCLT:

1. Can I do it with FC at 2.5? Instructions say to have 3.0, so should I spike a bit of liquid to get the levels up over 3.0?
2. I have a floater with a couple of pucks in the pool. They are VERY slowly dissolving - to the point I doubt they are doing much. I can go pull it out now. Is it still okay to run the OCLT tonight?

I understand the recommendations for CYA and FC for SWG pools. But, why does so much of every other resource say 1-3PPM FC?
 
OCLT Results: -0.5

After the kids swam for a while yesterday, I closed the pool for an hour, removed the floater and unplugged the SWG. Half hour later I tested. Each time tested from the same location, roughly 1/3 down the pool, away from jets, about 12 inches under the surface.

FC at sun down: 2.0ppm (maybe 1.50)
- My reading uncertainty is that after three drops the water was mostly clear, clear from the top down and only a hint of pink from the side when viewing the swirl.

FC at sun up: 1.5 (maybe 1.0)
- same uncertainty. So either it was 2.0 to 1.5 or it was 1.5 to 1.0.

Plugged SWG back in, added 1/4 gallon of LC - tested again after 30 mins and it's back to 2.5ppm.

Thoughts, Tips, Advice?
 
RookWDW said:
I understand the recommendations for CYA and FC for SWG pools. But, why does so much of every other resource say 1-3PPM FC?
Click to expand...
To put it bluntly, everyone else is wrong or outdated. The whole point of this website is to perform pool management based on the CYA/chlorine relationship. They do a really good job trying to keep these charts up today. like
FC/CYA Levels and Recommended Levels
So follow those... Every now and then it possible to find reference material in the wiki's that was overlooked.. but for the most part everything on the site agrees with itself. The rest of the pool industry is stuck somewhere in the 70's or 80's. There are rumblings in the standards committees that things are starting to get updated but that is a slow process. We are the sharp end of the stick. :poke:
RookWDW said:
Plugged SWG back in, added 1/4 gallon of LC - tested again after 30 mins and it's back to 2.5ppm.

Thoughts, Tips, Advice?
Click to expand...
Why are you targeting your FC so low? If you have a SWG your CYA should be up in the 60-80 ppm range and your FC in the 5-7 range. If anything you want to be on the high end of your target range to accommodate any sudden FC load situations.. like a bunch of kids jump in the pool. I know you cover your pool when not in use, but I think I would keep the FC higher than 2.5 ppm

What were your CC's last night and this morning? Did you have the pool covered overnight? Also you must be using a 10ml sample if you are getting a .5 ppm resolution. Try using a 25 ml sample for the FAS/DPD test and then each drop is .2ppm
 
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RookWDW said:
I'm just trying to raise FC slowly so the Iron does not drop out of solution again. I was not aware that I could test the FC using 25ml, but I'll do so next time.
Click to expand...
Yeah, most of the drop tests can be done with different sample sizes or dilutions and you adjust the multiplier accordingly. That way you can tailor the test to the resolution you require.

I would take advantage of the iron dropping out of solution and fire up the Polyfill filter. When its in that state you can filter it and get it out of the water. So go for it!
 
Well Crud.

Pool is slightly cloudy yesterday, less so today but still a bit. Tested the water yesterday after two days of crappy weather where the pool remained closed with the top fully closed. FC - 0.0. Ugh. SWG was set at 25%

Yesterday I added 1 gal chlorine, 1 lbs of stabilizer and turned the SWB to 50%. I also backwashed as the pressure was over 25lbs. Lots of brown came out of the backwash.

This morning, still slightly cloudy, and FC - 1.0 (maybe .75 but I only tested at 10ml of sample). Also, I have now added 4 lbs of granular stabilizer over four tranches and when I test the CYA it is definitely cloudy but I can pretty easily see the black dot. So, I was guessing maybe 15 CYA but I don't know for certain. It's definitely less than 30.

How can I verify for certain the SWG is actually working? All the lights are on suggesting it's working. But at 50% I should be producing more than enough chlorine, even if there is some algae, right?

I'm guessing at this point a SLAM is in order.
 
I went to the LPS (yes I know) to get some liquid chlorine (limited to one carton due to the shortage) and I needed a new pole. I had them test my water just to see. Yes I know.

Their readings using their computer test kit system:

FC 1.64
TC 2.04
PH 7.2
Alk 195
CH 137
CYA 22
Salt 3300
TDS 0.1
Phosphate 4604

Their readings are fairly in line with mine, though I added chlorine between when I tested and they tested. They pointed out the very high phosphates. I know the rule here is to ignore phosphates so I did not buy the recommended treatment. But, I want to double check that I should ignore phosphates and do the SLAM???

For the SLAM, should I / can I turn the SWB to 100% to try and help maintain FC along with daily adding liquid?

I'm starting to doubt the estimate of 18,000 gallons. After adding 4 lbs of stabilizer my CYA is 22 (per LPS). Using pool math that suggests 22,000.
 
Your test results in Poolmath show 15 for CYA, so the dot did not disappear.

4 lbs in 18000 gallons is 27 ppm CYA. So add 1 more lb. Assume your CYA is 30 and follow the SLAM Process for that level CYA.
 
My CYA is a bit of a guess as the tube is cloudy but I can still see the dot. So it's definitely below 30, but above 0.

Side question: is it safe to add a chlorine puck into the skimmer basket or will it cause pump damage? I had one in a floater but it took two weeks to dissolve so I doubt it helped much. I had it just to help buffer the chlorine loss.
 

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