New member, pool owner for 10+ years

[Straightleg]

Been fighting algae for 8 years. So here I am to try the BBB. I did the phosphate thing, worked ok but very expensive. Did just about everything in the past.

So here I am. Closed my pool last year like this forum suggested. I bought a very expensive winter cover and a cheap blue tarp and double covered my pool. The pool this year is the cleanest I have ever saw it when I took the cover off
Here is my pool and supplies. Getting ready to open it.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/uplandhunter/002_zps34aeebc6.jpg (http://s74.photobucket.com/user/uplandhunter/media/002_zps34aeebc6.jpg.html)
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/uplandhunter/001_zps89ce78b1.jpg (http://s74.photobucket.com/user/uplandhunter/media/001_zps89ce78b1.jpg.html)
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/uplandhunter/003_zpsb2c579a7.jpg (http://s74.photobucket.com/user/uplandhunter/media/003_zpsb2c579a7.jpg.html)
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/uplandhunter/004_zps9ede04e8.jpg (http://s74.photobucket.com/user/uplandhunter/media/004_zps9ede04e8.jpg.html)

I was going to hook up the inline automatic chorinator.
Besides just pouring bleach in can I fill this with some kind of product to just maintain what I have???

Will start with some bleach circulate and test the water when my taylor 2006 shows up.

Thanks
SL

[Themadczar]

I think you will also be pleased with the results throughout the season. I wouldn't mess with the auto chlorinator... The only chlorine you can use in it will also add other components to your pool (like stabilizer). It's fine to add stabilizer to a point, but you won't know if you've reached/exceeded that point until you have your Taylor kit and test for CYA. And even if you do want to add some, the easiest way to do so is dichlor from Sam's Club. Post your test results here when you get them and we can advise you further. Test for FC, CC, PH, TA, CH, and CYA when you get your kit. Also test your fill water so you know what you are altering when you add water (for example, TA in my fill water is very high, so I always have to keep an eye on it after I fill.)
A couple of tips about your tests...
For chlorine, the 10 ML sample is sufficient (accurate to 0.5 ppm which is fine). This will help you conserve reagents. Also, if the sample turns pink after adding 1 dipper of the dpd powder, you do not need to add the second dipper. Doing so will not change your results, but it will use more of the expensive powder than necessary.
For PH, I always read the results in bright light against a white or light colored background (a cloud in an otherwise clear sky works great). And you should read the results within 15 seconds.
CYA is a little tricky... Be sure you shake the solution vigorously for at least 30 seconds... And you want bright, indirect light to read the results. Again, outside in sunlight, hold the comparator at your waist with your back to the sun (so the comparator is in your shadow). This will yield the best results. Good luck!

[Tom.B]

Good tips. THANKS!

[Straightleg]

So what do I do with the brand new chlorinator? Dont hook it up and sell it?


SL

[Themadczar]

That would be my recommendation. I know that Ben (PoolDoc) dislikes most chlorinators... He would have to go into details about why. But based on his (and others') suggestions I have never used mine. So when it broke this winter, I plugged the lines and disconnected it.

[Straightleg]

Thanks. Will replumb today before I hook up everything


SL

[Straightleg]

Sent wife to Sams to get dichlor...She came back with this...Said that is all she could find
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/uplandhunter/002_zpsb8c506b6.jpg (http://s74.photobucket.com/user/uplandhunter/media/002_zpsb8c506b6.jpg.html)
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/uplandhunter/001_zps809cce4d.jpg (http://s74.photobucket.com/user/uplandhunter/media/001_zps809cce4d.jpg.html)


SL

[Themadczar]

Yep. That's the right kind...
Just use to chlorinate instead of bleach until you reach the desired level of cya... Probably will take a few weeks. I use poolcalculator.com to figure out the effect of adding chemicals. Never add all at once... Incremental doses of course.

[Straightleg]

Yep. That's the right kind...
Just use to chlorinate instead of bleach until you reach the desired level of cya... Probably will take a few weeks. I use poolcalculator.com to figure out the effect of adding chemicals. Never add all at once... Incremental doses of course.


2 gallons of bleach when I first took the cover off....4 gallons when I got my pump running 24 hours later.
On a test stick, no chlorine and it said ph low, cya low and ak low.
I guess I started wrong all ready...
Taylor Test kit not here yet, just bottle of test strips.

What should I do from this point on.



SL

[Watermom]

Pick up a cheap OTO/Phenol Red kit (yellow and red drops) to use in the meantime. Actually, even after you get your good kit, the OTO kit can be used for quick daily checks of chlorine and pH. Or, see if they have the HTH 6-Way kit instead of the OTO. It is pretty cheap and includes a CYA test in it. If you haven't yet opened the dichlor, I wouldn't until you have a CYA reading. It may be the your CYA is ok and you don't want to add more and thus would be better off just using bleach. I know your test strip said low but we don't really trust test strips.

[Straightleg]

Did a couple of tests
ph 7.1
ta 140 - 150
fc 0
tc 0
cya almost .30 I would say .25


what now
Thanks

[Watermom]

What kit did you use?

Add a little Borax and bring your pH up some. Also, get some chlorine in there before an algae bloom starts! Your volume is around 26,000. In a pool this size, each 121 oz. jug of 8.25% bleach will add about 3ppm of chlorine. Since your CYA is so low, your chlorine isn't gonna stick around through a day. In addition, your chlorine dropped to zero. If it were my pool, I would probably add 3 of those jugs of bleach this evening. That will help you hold some chlorine through the day tomorrow, plus it should hopefully knock out any impending algae that may be trying to start as a result of no chlorine in the pool. Alternately, you could use some more dichlor to raise your chlorine level and also add a bit more CYA.

Regarding your CYA readings, you surely mean 25 or 30. It is not possible to get a reading of .25 or .30.

[Straightleg]

What kit did you use?

Add a little Borax and bring your pH up some. Also, get some chlorine in there before an algae bloom starts! Your volume is around 26,000. In a pool this size, each 121 oz. jug of 8.25% bleach will add about 3ppm of chlorine. Since your CYA is so low, your chlorine isn't gonna stick around through a day. In addition, your chlorine dropped to zero. If it were my pool, I would probably add 3 of those jugs of bleach this evening. That will help you hold some chlorine through the day tomorrow, plus it should hopefully knock out any impending algae that may be trying to start as a result of no chlorine in the pool. Alternately, you could use some more dichlor to raise your chlorine level and also add a bit more CYA.

Regarding your CYA readings, you surely mean 25 or 30. It is not possible to get a reading of .25 or .30.



Just learning, will get on that tonight....

[Straightleg]

I added 3 gallons of bleach....2lbs of stabilizer....1 box of borax....
Added 2 1 lb bags of dichlor
Will retest tommorow

Did I add the right things?


SL

[Watermom]

I assume that you meant 3 jugs (121 oz. each) rather than 3 gallons. That was fine to add. Also adding dichlor as well is probably going to make your chlorine pretty high. If you still haven't received your Taylor K2006 kit, your 6-way kit isn't going to be able to register that high. However, since the 6-Way kit has an OTO chlorine test in it, you can use this chart to kinda estimate what reading it is showing.

http://pool9.net/oto-chart/

Also, with chlorine above 5ppm, you won't get an accurate pH reading, so don't bother testing it right now. (When you are using the K2006 kit, the pH test is valid as long as the chlorine isn't above 10ppm.)

How did you add the stabilizer? Don't run the CYA test today. CYA takes awhile to fully dissolve and show up in a reading so you'll just be wasting your reagents if you test again too soon. The amount you added should have increased your CYA by about 10ppm. That, plus the dichlor you added, may put you at just about the right place for your CYA level. For now, don't add any more CYA or dichlor until we get a good reading on it in a few days.

You're on the right track! :)

[Straightleg]

I added stabilizer granular through the skimmer. Yes added 3.75 quarts of bleach to pool. Thats lame they just dont sell a gallon of it.
Just tested chlorine and it was 2ppm

In the past I believe ph was always low and the pucks would not keep the algae away when it gets into july

SL

[Watermom]

I'm surprised your chlorine is that low after adding 3 jugs of bleach and also some dichlor last night. It makes me wonder if you are fighting something in the water. Is your pool cloudy or clear?

Did you get your K2006 yet or are you testing with the 6-way drops-based kit?

[Straightleg]

Pool is really clear...I feel my chlorine levels and ph levels are always low. I know you dont like the test strips but they were always low on that for 10 years. I always had to add and bring things up, never down.
Any thoughts on were to go from here? I have my 2006 test kit. That is what numbers i posted in my other thread..I also bought the oto. 2 part tester.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/uplandhunter/002_zps1f5ecfba.jpg (http://s74.photobucket.com/user/uplandhunter/media/002_zps1f5ecfba.jpg.html)



Thanks
SL

[Watermom]

Your pool and water look nice!
I'm still a little concerned about the low chlorine level today after adding quite a bit last night. So, let's do one more thing to make sure there is nothing going on other than chlorine loss to the sun due to low CYA. (Which will soon be coming up with the addition of your dichlor.)

Go ahead and test this evening after the sun is off the pool. Add enough chlorine to take your chlorine level up to around 6 or 7ppm. An hour later, test your chlorine with your K2006. Then, in the morning, within an hour of sunrise, test again (FC and CC). If you lose no more than 1ppm of FC overnight from sundown to sunrise and have no higher than 0.5CC, then we'll know that you don't have a chlorine demand from something going on in your water.

Also, retest your pH in the morning and report that level also.

(How come nobody is swimming in that pretty pool! At least where I live, today is a great pool day! ;))

[Straightleg]

Will add 2.5-3 gallons of bleach and wait an hour then test.
One of my Daughters had my 2 labs in it an hour ago, I just got in and cleaned it...Pool is really clean. Sure would be nice to have it like this all summer.

Will test and report back.

Thanks

[Straightleg]

fc 14
cc 1

This done at dusk

[Watermom]

CC of 1 is not good. That right there tells us why you are using so much chlorine. You are definitely fighting something in the water. (Assuming that is not an error.) With that CC reading, I think it is very likely that you will lose more than 1ppm of chlorine overnight. If that is the case, you need to keep the chlorine high until you can pass the overnight test. Post your FC, CC and pH in the morning.

[Straightleg]

Tested before the sun came up on the pool....
fc 11.5
cc 0
ph 7.7

do I keep pouring the bleach in and keep it high or use other products. i have not added any more dichlor just bleach

thanks
SL

[Watermom]

Glad to see CC of 0 but since you lost more than 1ppm of chlorine overnight, you need to continue to keep your chlorine levels up. Keep using bleach. Do the overnight test again tonight and post your results in the morning.

By the way, it is ok to swim. You just might want to wear old swimsuits. Chlorine at this level won't hurt you but it might be a little hard on your suit.

[Straightleg]

Nothing added tonight. No sun on pool
fc 7.5
cc 0

[Watermom]

Ok. Check FC and CC again in morning and report readings. You should also test your pH daily or at the very least, every other day.

[Straightleg]

Light drizzle all night. Just ran an oto this moring before work. Read in the 5-10ppm on that scale for chlorine.
I am thinking even with the rain it stayed up.
It is supposed to rain all day today?

Will recheck all numbers tonight...See what the rain did


SL

[Watermom]

To check for overnight loss, we really need more accurate numbers than a range of 5-10ppm. Use the K2006 this evening (per the directions given in post #19 above) and in the morning so you can get an FC and CC reading both times for comparison.

[Straightleg]

fc 8.5
cc 0
ph 8
cya 50

1 hour ago added 1 gallon of bleach and 1 box of borax


Thanks
SL

[Watermom]

Hopefully, you'll have good numbers in the morning.

[Straightleg]

Cool, light rain last night. Test was before sunrise 6:10 am
fc 8.5
cc 0

I keep my ph between 7.5 - 8.0 add borax as needed. got that part
Not sure how much or how often to add bleach. CHlorine levels should be kept at 3ppm? Is that optimal
I bought a new 2 speed pump through the amazon store... Can you tell me optimal times to run it and for how long.

Just need your best guess program to try and stick with.

Thanks and will buy some more stuff through the amazon link in the future


SL

[Watermom]

Good deal on the morning numbers. No chlorine loss and no CC.

Why are you keeping your pH between 7.5-8.0? That's ok but it is not necessary to keep it so high. I like 7.4-7.6 best but don't chase numbers. Most pools kinda have a place where the pH likes to stay. As long as it is between 7.0-8.0, you're fine.

With a CYA of 50, you want to try and keep your chlorine between 3-6 all the time. Here is what to do. Each evening, test the chlorine. Add enough bleach to take your chlorine back up to 6ppm. The next evening, if you find that your chlorine has dipped below 3ppm, take it up to 7ppm when you dose with bleach. The goal is to find out how high you need to take it so that it never drops below the minimum by the next evening. You will soon learn your pool's pattern. In case you need the Best Guess Chart again, it is here: http://pool9.net/cl-cya/

You want to run your pump long enough to turn your pool's volume over at least once per day. I typically just turn my pump on late morning and off an hour or so after I add bleach in the evenings. (Maybe around 8pm.) Some people run the pump twice a day for about 4 hours each time. There is no set way to do it.

Hope this helps. You're doing great!

[Watermom]

I just recalculated your volume. Since you have 54" walls, your water level is probably about 50" or 4'2" (4.17 feet.) So, your volume is more like 26,700 gallons. It would be helpful if you could edit your signature and put that volume in so that when people are helping you, they have an accurate volume to work with. You can edit your signature by clicking on the tab in my signature. Thanks! :)

[Straightleg]

I read here somewhere if you keep level between 7.5 - 8.0 you would be less likely for algae. Maybe I am mistaken. I used to get algae ever year. I hope this year will be the change

So ideally.
Run pump 8-12 hrs a day.
PH between 7.0 - 8.0 7.5 ideal
Chlorine betwwen 3-6 at all times.
What cya number do yo like best?


Thanks
SL

[Watermom]

Keeping chlorine level between 3-6 at all times was suggested based on your CYA reading of 50ppm, which is a great reading. If your CYA was at some other level, the suggested chlorine level would be different. Can't remember if we linked this for you somewhere up in this thread or not, but here it is again if I did. Our "Best Guess Chlorine Chart" explains the connection between CYA and chlorine levels. http://pool9.net/cl-cya/. (By the way, this chart is also found in my and Ben's blue signature blocks.)

[Tom.B]

Each evening, test the chlorine. Add enough bleach to take your chlorine back up to 6ppm.

So you test it TWICE each evening? If so, how long after adding bleech do you test again? If not, I am confused about how to calculate what volume of bleech adds how many ppm to my pool.

[Watermom]

Only test once. Then, add a dose that will take you up to where you need it. (Doses are based on your volume.) Remember that your range for needed chlorine is based on your CYA reading so what StraightLeg needs in his pool may not be what level you need for your pool. (I can't remember what your CYA reading is, Tom.)

For example, in Tom.B's pool, each 121 oz jug of 8.25% bleach will add about 3ppm of chlorine and each quart will add 1ppm.

In StraightLeg's pool, each 121 oz jug will add just slightly under 3ppm. (You both have nearly the same volume.)

Here is a bleach calculator that you may be interested in. http://pool9.net/bleach/. It actually is more than a bleach calculator. There is a drop-down in the upper left corner with other calculators you can use.

[Straightleg]

Ok
I tested this morning. It has been 36 hours since I put anything in.
fc 5.0
c 0
ph 7.8

I think I will start with 1/2 a jug of bleach tonight. Will test first to see how far it dropped in 48 hours. Will report findings before and after the 1/2 of jug.
If not high enough then will add the whole jug



SL

[Straightleg]

48 hours since I added anything.
fc 3
Just added 1/2 gallon will wait an hour and retest


SL

[Straightleg]

Retested
fc 5.5

So this test for me.
2 days of no chemicals. FC dropped 5.5 ppm. I also got 1 1/2 inches water added to pool height from rain, it also was running over the skimmer top.

After 2 days added 1/2 gallon of bleach, it took it up 2.5 ppm.

So as of now I am thinking I will have to add 1/2 a jug of bleach daily to maintain my levels.
Can I get some response on what other people do daily with my size pool. Does this sound right?

Just got my new pump in the mail. 2 speed. Will see how much water it turns over and set it to a timer to turn my water over once daily. Does this also sound like the right plan.

Water very clear at the moment...


Thanks
SL

[Straightleg]

So far Have perfect water with this system. I add 1/2 gallon of bleach each night. I run the 2 speed pump 3 times a day for a total of 3.5 hours. So far so good.

One question. Does anyone ever have to add more stabilizer during the pool season?


Straightleg



http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/uplandhunter/002_zps1f5ecfba.jpg (http://s74.photobucket.com/user/uplandhunter/media/002_zps1f5ecfba.jpg.html)

[Watermom]

Typically not. But, test it once every month or 6 wks or so and you'll be able to tell if it needs any added. Your pool looks nice!

[Straightleg]

Thanks
Best pool water I have ever had for so long with no algae..

[JimK]

So far Have perfect water with this system. I add 1/2 gallon of bleach each night. I run the 2 speed pump 3 times a day for a total of 3.5 hours. So far so good.

One question. Does anyone ever have to add more stabilizer during the pool season?


Straightleg



I usually have to add CYA a couple times during the season to maintain proper CYA level for my SWCG due to the amount of rain we usually get.