Please help...adding CYA/chlorine question

We have 0ppm stabilizer in our pool right now. Just got over a huge algae problem and the water is finally clear. I'm adding stabilizer tonight to get our level somewhere around 50 ppm.

TC=3-5ppm
pH=~7.8

My question is...what should I have my Chlorine level at right now? I don't have a kit to test for FC yet(using OTO test). I know 4ppm is ok to maintain with 0 CYA, but I don't want the 4ppm to disappear while the stabilizer is trying to dissolve for days. I'm able to test 2 times per day if necessary. Pool is 12,000gal IG concrete. We use the 10% sodium hypo. Should I just keep adding little amounts of bleach to keep the level at 4 or 5? Problem is, we're going away Saturday and Sunday, so I won't be able to add anything on those days. Is it time to break out the trichlor for our inline chlorinator?

I'm adding acid tonight as well to get the pH down.

Any advice??

You will consume Cl on a daily basis whether or not you have stabilizer....most pools seem to consume 1-3ppm daily.

So, you must add it daily (for now). I would add it at dusk and the 3-5 level you're considering is ideal.

It'll take a few days for the CYA to appear. I'd skip the pucks.

For now, test a couple times a day and each time add enough bleach to get back to 5ppm. When you add the stabilizer tonight, I wouldn't aim for 50. Aim for 30 for now. That will give you a little room for it to increase when you need to use trichlor - like this weekend. You might want to take the cl up to 8 Saturday morning or Friday night if you are leaving too early to mess with it Saturday. That should probably make it work out fine for this weekend. Hope this helps.

How about this?

Since you have pucks, no CYA, and a high pH why not take advantage of the inline chlorinator while you are away for the weekend?

This will allow you to keep the CL level up over the weekend and will bring your pH down a bit due to the acidity of the pucks.

The only negative I can imagine would only be if the pucks contained copper. If so I wouldn't use them.

Well, my husband decided to take matters into his own hands...he added 4lbs of stabilizer, 6 cups of acid, and one trichlor puck. I told him not to add the puck, and to not put the whole 4lbs of CYA in, but he didn't listen to me. I would have done it myself, but I wasn't home. So, I'll test the Chlorine/pH tomorrow and deal with whatever situation we have.

I hope we don't end up with a CYA of like 100 or something crazy. I think I'll just try to keep the chlorine at 5ppm, and maybe bring it up to 8-10 Saturday morning before we leave. I don't have enough experience with the pool to know about how much chlorine we'll lose in a day. I'll get there eventually.

Thanks for all your suggestions...I hope we didn't screw up too bad. :o

Your husband sounds like me....headstrong and impatient but frequently lucky!!:D

You'll get to about 40 for CYA, pH will be fine, and one puck will be irrelevant. Your pool will be fine.

He will need some remedial domestic training, however. My wife is quite accomplished at it if you need some tips :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by duraleigh

He will need some remedial domestic training, however. My wife is quite accomplished at it if you need some tips :D

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HAHA.

We need a new forum sectioned:
Domestic Training
wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, significant other overtaking your pool duties? :D

Henrys514 enjoy your weekend getaway... your pool will be fine :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by duraleigh

Your husband sounds like me....headstrong and impatient but frequently lucky!!:D

You'll get to about 40 for CYA, pH will be fine, and one puck will be irrelevant. Your pool will be fine.

He will need some remedial domestic training, however. My wife is quite accomplished at it if you need some tips :D

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Hehe...that made me laugh. We've only been married for 13months, so I'm still working on "put your dirty laundry IN the washbasket...not on the floor next to it". I'm trying to take over the pool duties...he's still in the "do what the pool store says, dump chlorine in once a week, use trichlor pucks all the time, why test our own water" mode.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ScottS

HAHA.

We need a new forum sectioned:
Domestic Training
wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, significant other overtaking your pool duties? :D

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I love that idea! :)

Oh, duh. I tested my water this morning. ;)

TC-3-5ppm (same)
pH-~7.6 (yay!)

I think my alk might be high. Pool store test said 120ppm, but my test said 230ppm??

My Calcium Hardness is also low. Pool store said 185ppm, my test said 0ppm(water didn't turn purple, so hardness "wasn't present" according to the instructions). I have the chemical to fix that, so I may do it today.

I'm also going to test TC this evening to see if I need to add to keep at 3-5ppm. Any advice about the weird TA numbers?? The alk and hardness reagents are older than the rest...could that be a problem?