Hello Everybody,
Losing FC like crazy during daytime hours! Tired of pouring money in the form of liquid chlorine into it, and wondering if anyone can give me some clues about what is going on.
I went on vacation, came back to a green pond. Started the SLAMMING process, and eventually got my blue water mostly back after about 3 days and 10 or 12 gallons of chlorine (still cloudy). Three days ago, my OCLT showed a 2 ppm FC loss from 18 down to 16. Thought I was getting close to being done with the procedure, but brought the FC back up to the shock level of 18 ppm for another day. When I checked it in the evening, my FC was ZERO! A few hours before, I did add 15# of Calcium Chloride to bring my hardness up to ~250 from 150, but I didn't think that affects the FC or CYA. Proceeded to bring the pool back up to shock level (aiming for 18) and a couple of hours later it tested at 17 where I left it overnight. My morning FC level this morning was 16, so I was feeling pretty good and left it there. This afternoon, my FC is down to 4 again, a 12 ppm loss!
My first thought was sunlight destroying my chlorine (we have been having sunny days with temps above 100 degrees) but my pool store CYA test (before starting SLAM) put it at 60, and my first ever two CYA tests with my new TF-100 kit (earlier in the evening several days ago before starting SLAM) put it at 45 and 55, so I can't imagine CYA is a problem. As I write this I'm thinking I should probably test the CYA again, but I didn't think there was any way to bring CYA levels down without replacing water (which I haven't done), so I wasn't particularly worried about that possibility.
Admittedly I am very new to all this, but I've done all the reading I can find on it. So...am I missing some chemical interaction, or can anyone think of a reason why I'd be losing FC like crazy during daylight hours, and only losing 1 - 2 ppm overnight on the OCLT, with a CYA range of 45 - 60?
My water is blue, cloudy, with a clearing trend...I can now see to the bottom everywhere except the deep end and the middle of the pool from the sides.
Do I need to bring the FC level up again? Should I leave it at 4 ppm and see if it is stable at "normal" levels through a day, and/or perform another OCLT on the lower current level? Is it to be expected that I would lose so much chlorine during daylight hours if it is as shock level?
Please help me stop bleeding money in the form of chlorine! So far I've put in 16 gallons of 10% chlorine at over $3/gallon! I could have emptied and refilled the whole pool for $35!
Thoughts?
Thanks,
- Paul
Losing FC like crazy during daytime hours! Tired of pouring money in the form of liquid chlorine into it, and wondering if anyone can give me some clues about what is going on.
I went on vacation, came back to a green pond. Started the SLAMMING process, and eventually got my blue water mostly back after about 3 days and 10 or 12 gallons of chlorine (still cloudy). Three days ago, my OCLT showed a 2 ppm FC loss from 18 down to 16. Thought I was getting close to being done with the procedure, but brought the FC back up to the shock level of 18 ppm for another day. When I checked it in the evening, my FC was ZERO! A few hours before, I did add 15# of Calcium Chloride to bring my hardness up to ~250 from 150, but I didn't think that affects the FC or CYA. Proceeded to bring the pool back up to shock level (aiming for 18) and a couple of hours later it tested at 17 where I left it overnight. My morning FC level this morning was 16, so I was feeling pretty good and left it there. This afternoon, my FC is down to 4 again, a 12 ppm loss!
My first thought was sunlight destroying my chlorine (we have been having sunny days with temps above 100 degrees) but my pool store CYA test (before starting SLAM) put it at 60, and my first ever two CYA tests with my new TF-100 kit (earlier in the evening several days ago before starting SLAM) put it at 45 and 55, so I can't imagine CYA is a problem. As I write this I'm thinking I should probably test the CYA again, but I didn't think there was any way to bring CYA levels down without replacing water (which I haven't done), so I wasn't particularly worried about that possibility.
Admittedly I am very new to all this, but I've done all the reading I can find on it. So...am I missing some chemical interaction, or can anyone think of a reason why I'd be losing FC like crazy during daylight hours, and only losing 1 - 2 ppm overnight on the OCLT, with a CYA range of 45 - 60?
My water is blue, cloudy, with a clearing trend...I can now see to the bottom everywhere except the deep end and the middle of the pool from the sides.
Do I need to bring the FC level up again? Should I leave it at 4 ppm and see if it is stable at "normal" levels through a day, and/or perform another OCLT on the lower current level? Is it to be expected that I would lose so much chlorine during daylight hours if it is as shock level?
Please help me stop bleeding money in the form of chlorine! So far I've put in 16 gallons of 10% chlorine at over $3/gallon! I could have emptied and refilled the whole pool for $35!
Thoughts?
Thanks,
- Paul
