zero chlorine / low CYA

[crackers8199]

went to the pool store yesterday to have water tested after a two week vacation, and found that the salt level was low and as such my TC and FC are both zero. dumped a few bags of salt in yesterday and the salt level is now good again...but this morning we also found a dead baby rabbit who must have wandered into the pool overnight. i was going to shock the pool today anyway, but now even more so...what level should i shock it to? it's a 10,000 gallon in-ground, SWG (obviously), and i was planning on just picking up bleach at target to do the shock. i looked at the shock chart, but the lowest CYA for a SWG pool is 60 - which leads me to my next question...

leslie's also said my CYA was low at 25, so they recommended stabilizer - should i do that before or after shocking (i'm guessing before)? is it alright to use the liquid stabilizer?

luckily the water is still clear, i added acid yesterday and as of their test ph was 7.2 and TA 80...

 

[jblizzle]

Why didn't you just test the water using your test kit?

We also do not "shock" pools, we follow the ShockLevelAndMAINTAIN Process which requires one of the Recommended Test Kits.

It is usually better to SLAM at the lower CYA level (although I would not trust their number for this), and then raise the CYA after to the levels recommended for SWG Water Balance. Use the shock level for your CYA based on the non-SWG table .. or what PoolMath tells you which you need to use for the SLAM process also.

 

[crackers8199]

Why didn't you just test the water using your test kit?

We also do not "shock" pools, we follow the ShockLevelAndMAINTAIN Process which requires one of the Recommended Test Kits.

It is usually better to SLAM at the lower CYA level (although I would not trust their number for this), and then raise the CYA after to the levels recommended for SWG Water Balance. Use the shock level for your CYA based on the non-SWG table .. or what PoolMath tells you which you need to use for the SLAM process also.

Test kit hasn't come from amazon yet (I was slacking, just ordered it this week).

As for SLAM I wasn't sure that was necessary since the water is clear...just wanted to get the chlorine levels back up where they should be and the CYA to the right spot...

 

[jblizzle]

One animal in the pool for a short period of time may not really warrant a full SLAM, but the fact that the FC dropped to 0 likely means that algae is starting.

Assuming their CYA is close, I would raise the FC up to 8-10ppm for a few days and even Perform the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test with the SWG off to see if there is anything in the water.

Once you can confirm the test results and pass the CC and OCLT tests, then raise the CYA and dial in the SWG.

 

[crackers8199]

FC was zero before the animal was in the pool...that number was from yesterday, animal was there this morning. I was assuming FC dropped because salt level was too low to generate any chlorine (red light was flashing)...

First thing I did was add salt to get that level back up and then turned the SWG up to 100% (perhaps not the best idea). It only ran at 100% for around 6 hours this morning though...

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Your SWG isn't the best way to get an instant response when you NEED more FC in the pool. It just would take too long to get where you want it, but its excellent for keeping the CL up there. Running it on 100% is also hard on the SWG and shortens its lifespan.
Liquid CL, usually household bleach will give you that immediate response that you need so that you avoid any algae outbreaks. Use bleach to supplement that SWG to keep your pool pristine.

 

[jblizzle]

I agree with the above. You should be using bleach to get your FC up. A SWG just tries to maintain the FC level.

Also, you usually do not want to run the SWG for 24 hours after you add salt. Some can be damaged.

Please add pool details to your signature as described HERE as it will help us help you.

 

[crackers8199]

I did make sure to turn the swg off while adding salt, but I didn't see the part to leave it off for 24 hours...good info to have! I will update my sig as soon as I get home!

 

[crackers8199]

i know test strips are frowned upon, but can they serve me some purpose here til my kit comes in? i do have a bottle of them available...i plan on taking a water sample back to leslie's this afternoon as well.

i added one 121oz jug of bleach earlier and according to the strips i do have, all of the numbers look good except for CYA which looks like it might indeed be low (again, best i can tell from the strips). i'll have a better idea when i go back to get the water tested again...

 

[jblizzle]

Well, you can try, but I do not trust test strips or pool store testing.