First test results in and I think I am OK, right?

[SafetyBob]

Got the big Taylor 2006C test kit, which if anyone reading is debating about NOT getting, please get it, lots of chemicals and nice plastic case to fit it all into and work out of WITH nice directions on the lid that are easy to read and understand. I watched the videos a couple of weeks ago when I ordered the kit, that pretty much with the directions made things very straight forward....thankfully.

So my numbers today from my 1,200 gal Intex pool.

9.6 ppm FC

2.0 ppm CC

pH 7.6

Alkalinity 200 ppm

Calcium Hardness: 120 ppm CH

CYA: 32 ppm

Salt: 3600 ppm

Here are some of my questions:

1. Guess I am a little confused with FC and CC. I am suprised that I have so much free chlorine. Is that normal/OK?

2. I know my pH is just a tad bit high, right? I am shooting for around 7.2 to 7.4?

3. Alkalinity doesn't really matter for my silly Intex pool? Right?

4. Calcium Hardness isn't a factor for my vinyl pool, this only matters for concrete and plaster....I don't need to worry about this test ever again?

5. A CYA of 32 ppm is just a tad bit low, correct? I recall 35 to better 50 ppm?

6. I have to find my Intex guide, but I believe 3600 maybe just a bit on the higher allowable range, but my Intex SWCG system isn't beeping at me and works, so I thing I will monitor this just because I can and it certainly would be a good idea at this point to simply gain information as to what is happening in my pool.

At this point it looks like possibly if I do the hanging sock trick with the stabilizer (I have Hth brand) and probably put a 1/4 cup in the sock and monitor it to see if it all disolves before the weekend which will surely be a heavy usage weekend.

Have I missed anything? I would certainly appreciate any directions/suggestions.

Oh, and for those keeping an eye on me.....I ordered one of the solar dome heaters for my pool. Should be here late next week. Can't wait to see what effect it has on the pool.

One last subject and question. Children and flu like symptoms. First, no poops in the pool. However, what if the kid has the squirts and keeps a little accident inside their trunks (OK, I have all girls so that should tell you where I am coming from), so they quickly get out and hit the bathroom and either return all good to go, or stop swimming all together. The reason I bring this up is there is a bug going around the schools and preschools that give the kids the poops for 5 to 7 days. I want to ensure my pool is NOT an unsanitary place breading who know's what kind of desease for the kids........is what I am doing OK or is there something more I need to do or keep an eye out for?

Bob E.

[aylad]

Hi Bob,

1. The amount of FC you have is a little high, but not really anything to worry about. Doesn't pose a problem for folks swimming, but might want to wear older suits until it comes down just a little bit. Might want to dial back the output a little bit, though.

Are you sure you have CC of 2.0, and not 0.2? If it's actually 2.0, and nobody's swimming in it, then it needs to be shocked to get rid of whatever the chlorine is trying to fight. If you mean 0.2, then that's fine. BTW, if you'll use the 10 mL sample instead of the 25 mL sample, your reagents will last a lot longer. Each drop you put in represents 0.5 instead of 0.2, but it'll be close enough for what you need.

2. Your pH is actually just fine where it is. With a SWCG, pH tends to rise just because of the process by which the chlorine is generated, and the SWCG gurus tell us that a pH of 7.6 actually slows that rise better than any other reading.

3, Alk doesn't matter for your pool, which by the way isn't silly--you get just as wet in an Intex pool as you do in any olympic size pool! :) If you bring the alk down into the 80-90 range, it will help stabilize your pH and it won't rise as quickly. If your fill water has alk of 200, then you probably would be fighting a losing battle to try to keep it down. However, if your fill water is lower in alk, then you might want to lower it. The SWCG folks may chime in here too, because I'm not sure about the alk possibly contributing to scaling that can happen on your SWCG cell. Here's the link to the procedure for lowering the alk.. http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?191-Alkalinity-HOWTO-amp-FAQ

4. Calcium hardness doesn't matter for your pool in the sense that you don't have concrete to dissolve, so you don't need to be targeting any particular level. However, with a SWCG, you do need to pay attention to calcium scale that can build up on your cell and needs to be cleaned. I don't know a lot about the SWCGs, so those folks will chime in shortly, but I'm thinking that your calcium is fine, but the alk may need to be lowered for the reason I stated above.

5. Check with your SWCG owner's manual--most SWCG's require a CYA level around 80 ppm for the cell to work at its most efficient and to extend the cell life as long as possible.

6. All I can tell you about this is to check with your manual.

Regarding the poop in the pool, I would not let any kid with diarrhea into my pool. Even if it's contained in the swim trunks, the bacteria shed washes through with the water. I believe the kill time is around 10 minutes for the chlorine to kill the bacteria, but you can expose a LOT of kids in that 10 minute time. I also would shock the pool after all swimmers are out, if you have a kid with diarrhea swimming in it. That may be overkill, but there are some really nasty bugs out there, and as a pediatric nurse that takes care of kids with severe dehydration problems from diarrhea cases, I can tell you that I would rather shock a pool (and close it to kids for a few days until the diarrhea is gone) than take a chance of exposing more kids to it.

[BigDave]

To add to what aylad said about Alkalinity; high Alkalinity will tend to contribute to CO2 outgassing and the pH rise seen in many SWCG pools. The fix for High Alk. and high pH is the same: add acid. Both pH and Alk. will drop. pH will rise on it's own through aeration and SWCG use. When it gets higher again, add acid again and so on until your Alk is where you want it.

Also to add to aylad's sanitary advice; you have a tiny pool. A little is alot in 1,200 gallons of water. Any sort of "dirty" especially from poo-sickness, I'd shock and close the pool for a couple days.

[SafetyBob]

Ok, thanks for replies. I am retesting right now as I write and I will put testing comments down as I test....

Chlorine Test:
Using 25mL for now for absolute accuracy while I get used to this stuff. Right off the bat, tonight, found part of my problem. I thought earlier my sample was initially a very light pink. I made sure two complete, even dippers were added. Much much more color now.

FC is 11ppm
CC is 1.6

Checked my fill water, it tested 180 ppm for total alkanlinity. Got 190 ppm this time for pool water.

So, everyone is out right now for the night. I will give it a bit of shock (again, my 1/4 cup) and see how she goes.

Janet, I will dial down my SWCG from 2 hours to 1 hour a day. Hopefully that should bring down the FC, which means that's why my pool today for the first time this season that I can recall, actually had a chlorine smell about it. The big question is, if CC really is 1.6 ppm, wouldn't it come down too when I dial back production from the SWCG? I don't understand exactly what you mean by saying that a high CC level of 2.0 indicates that what, there is an infection (algea or whatever) in the pool?

Also, is Aquachem stabilizer OK? I got it before really finding and digesting the info in the website. It does say 100% cyanuric acid.

And, one last thing, BigDave mentions acid to bring down Alkalinity and pH.....that does mean muratic acid, right? Is there a dry mixture I could use instead of the liquid. Not that I cannot control the chemicals, but I have a couple of small children and would prefer dry if at all possible......it's not like I am going to use it every day, right? I can store it safely, it will be at a distance, not close by the pool area. No problem, just asking if dry is ok, and if so, is it worth it (again, I am small, small scale compared to 99% of you), and what stuff do I need to purchase.

Thanks again,

Bob E.

[Watermom]

To save on your reagents, use the 10ml sample instead of the 25ml. Readings within 0.5ppm are good enough.

If you have a CC reading greater than 0.5, you need to shock your pool. (CC is Combined Chloromines. Basically, this means chlorine that is engaged in metabolizing something like algae, bacteria, etc. It gives chlorine its characteristic odor and can irritate eyes. The best way to get rid of it is to increase your FC (Free Chlorine), the good stuff. The ideal level of CC is 0.) So, with a CYA reading of 32 (not sure how you got 32??), the shock level for your pool would be 15ppm. You need to keep your chlorine at shock level until you can go from sundown one evening to within two hours or sunrise the next day without losing more than 1ppm of chlorine and without having more than 0.5ppm of CC. (By the way -- you don't want to use a SWCG to shock a pool. If you truly do have that much of a CC reading and need to shock, turn the SWCG off and just use bleach. This will increase the life of your cell.)

OR -- maybe you don't really have a CC reading of 1.6. You might want to try that test again and report back.

Regarding dippers full of powder --- you don't need to use 2. If one scoop turns it pink, that is all you need. No need to use more powder than necessary.

Lastly, the stabilizer is OK.
You can use dry acid (PH Down) if you prefer to use that instead of muriatic acid.

[SafetyBob]

Will test tommorrow again and pay close, close attention to everything again.

I got 32 ppm on the CYA test by interpolating the distance between the 30 and 40 mark. I did not report it again tonight, but I did another CYA test and this time it ran closer to the 45 ppm level (again, right between the 40 and 50 marks on the tester is were the black dot simply disappeared).

Again, practice makes perfect. Thanks for the hint on adding the correct dipper amount.

I did turn the SWCG down from 2 hours to 1 hour.

Bob E.

[Watermom]

Don't test the CYA too often or you'll run out of the testing reagent.

[SafetyBob]

Thank you all for the advice. Last night I shocked the pool with my "normal" amount using "Re-fresh +" which has 73% Calcium Hypochlorite and 27% Other Ingredients. I think before I found this sight, a recommendation was to only get a shock with Calcium Hypochlorite for small plastic pools. I think at this point I could use a good recommendation for a good shock to use. However, it does seem to be working because here are tonight's numbers....

FC - 19.5 ppm

CC - 0.50 or less (one drop and it went clear in a hurry)

pH - 7.6

I did not do CYA but did put the sock in to desolve the CYA I have....

So I guess my "infection" hopefully is over, will start testing morning and afternoon from here on out. Created spreadsheet to keep absolute track of all this.

Thanks for everyone's help!!

Bob E.

[Watermom]

How about just using bleach for your shock and for everyday chlorination?

[SafetyBob]

Watermom, I have a SWCG system on my little pool.

Bob E.

[Watermom]

Ok, then. SWCG for everyday chlorination and bleach for shocking. How about that plan?

[aylad]

Perfect!! :)

[SafetyBob]

Ok, I will get a gallon of good old plain, simple Clorox for shocking.......I am so sorry to sound like a complete and utter idiot, but I don't seem to be able to find much of anything that will simply give me a guide as to how much bleach I need to add. I know I have approximately 1200 gallons of water, I know the bleach is roughly 6%......I know I have seen it on this forum you guys doing the math, I can't seem to find it now. HELP!!

This morning: FC was 18 ppm and CC was less than or equal to 0.5 ppm.

Bob E.

[Watermom]

For reference, in your small pool, each cup of 6% bleach will add approximately 3ppm of chlorine. Use that to help figure out your dosing.

[SafetyBob]

Thank you Watermom!! I will write that down where I can always reference it next to the pool.

Tonight when I checked FC was 16 ppm and CC was still at or below 0.5 ppm.

I also noticed that our young 4 year old swimmer didn't have the normal really red eyes that she normally has after splashing around and under the water for good 3 hours she was in the pool. I am hoping that as my knowledge and skills improve, we all will have even better time in the pool.

Thanks again Watermom, I appreciate your help.

Bob E.

[Watermom]

You are welcome!

[SafetyBob]

One last general question. Today as in this morning and when the pool was closed and covered after around 6 hours of fun in the sun at 6pm tonight, I had FC readings of 10.5 in the morning and 9.5 when I closed it. CYA is right at 50. So the question is, as I look at the Best Guess Chart, for my 50ppm CYA, it says 3ppm FC minimum and 6ppm maxium. So if I let nature takes it's course, my FC's should continue to go down.....I should let it continue to go down to 3 to 6 ppm and I should be perfect, correct?

Then, when it hits 3ppm FC, one cup of Clorox should bump it up to 6ppm and I am perfect again. I guess my other option would be to "up" the SWCG by one hour to two hours production and see if that keeps me there. At this point, what could be simpler than adding a cup of bleach to the pool?

Oh, salt level remains the same as last reporting close to a week ago.....

Bob E.

[Watermom]

You've got it! Keep the chlorine between 3-6 ALL the time, and you should not have any issues with algae. Also, test your pH every day. Pools with SWCG have a tendency to have rising pH.

Enjoy the pool!

[SafetyBob]

Glad it's only taken a good week for me to actually have the light bulb inside my head finally come on. Thank you so much for your encouragement.

My pH has not increased, however, at 7.6, I would like to get it down more to 7.4 to help extend my SWCG equipment life (fortunately the Intex system isn't horribly expensive like the in-ground stuff is). I got a 1/4 cup of dry acid today, mixed it up in my normal mix bucket and poured it into the pool. You can be sure I read with great interest the warnings to take it SLOW when trying to mess with the pH and acid thing. I also pointed the return jet up to slightly break the water to my numbers down too. Hopefully I will see a small change in pH and alkalinity in a day or so. Does that sound like a good plan?

Bob E.

[Watermom]

Yeah, but I don't think your pH at 7.6 was a problem. But, it is ok that you are trying to drop it to 7.4. By the way, aiming the return jet up to aerate the water is used to raise pH, not lower it.