Normal bleach consumption?

[ShelleyAnn]

Temps have been getting warmer and warmer here, currently air temp is 88 and pool temp is 86--ahhhhhhhhhhh. With this warm, sunny weather came having to add bleach more and more often. Makes sense, but I haven't received Ben's kit yet and don't want to get into trouble before it gets here. When my little OTO kit reads in the 3-6 range after adding 2 quarts of bleach at 9:00 this morning and now at 3:19 is just a tad under the 2-4, am I experiencing normal bleach reduction for hot sunny weather or am I fighting something? I caught a few wifs of "chlorine" last night at 9:00pm and added 2 quarts of bleach which took it up to the 3-6 range, and it did need a little boost this morning to get back up to that level. I would rather stay ahead of the water than have to shock it. Any advice?

CYA: around 30 (per bleach calc, waiting for Ben's kit)
PH:7.5 and falling (so I add borax every now and again
Total Alk - 80

Shelley

[aylad]

If you got a few "whiffs" of chlorine, then I think you need to shock your pool. A chlorine drop of 2-3 ppm during a hot, sunny day really is fairly normal, but just to be sure, I'd shock it up to about 15 ppm for overnight.

Janet

[ShelleyAnn]

Janet - Can the kids swim in it the next day?

[Simmons99]

shelley-

I would wait until the chlorine drops below 10ppm before swimming.

[aylad]

I agree with Simmons99 that the chlorine should drop below 10, and probably closer to 6 or 7 before swimming, but with a CYA of 30, that should happen with no problem by the next afternoon.

Janet

[ShelleyAnn]

I just did the shot glass method and my results were between 3-6 and 5-10, that means my ppm can be anywhere between 6 and 30.

[ShelleyAnn]

OK, only 2 grackel poops on the bottom of the pool this afternoon, yes, I can see the babu birds in the bushes around the bottom of the tree. :) So, now at 5:30pm doing the shot glass method I'm back to the 2-4 range meaning 4-8ppm. Should I bring it back up to 15 again tonight seeing as it fell so far in just one day?

[Simmons99]

You can add bleach in the evening to bring back up to 15-18ppm if you want and then test in the morning before the sun rises. If you have held the chlorine overnight, then there is nothing in your pool that is using the chlorine. If you have a drop overnight, then there is something in the pool that needs to be sanitized - at which point you would keep your chlorine at 15ppm-18ppm until the level held overnight and then let it drop to maintenance levels.