Chlorine fall/shock

[GolfTop]

For 10 days or so, I had kept my pool at shock level for more than a week to kill what appeared to be white mold.

It is gone, but in the process, my chlorine level had soared to 27. Long story short, kit I was using was way off. I have Ben's P234 now and it has recorded these levels of chlorine:
4/29: 27
5/1: 18.5
5/3: 12.5

Other #s are fine and have been. CYA is 20.

Question: Today (5/3), I had a cc of .5. Now, to get rid of that, you must shock, correct? Should I shock with such high reading? According to best guess chart, 12.5 would be right at shock level now.

Thanks in advance. Trying to stay ahead of my water.

[JohnT]

Most folks accept that anything 0.5 and below for CC is okay. I don't have Ben's kit (on the way), so I can't say for certain.

[GolfTop]

Thanks for the response. I will keep monitoring it. Love the new kit, by the way.

[PoolDoc]

Question: Today (5/3), I had a cc of .5. Now, to get rid of that, you must shock, correct? Should I shock with such high reading? According to best guess chart, 12.5 would be right at shock level now.

Actually, when you test to the 10ml level on the sample tube, a reading of 0.5 simply indicates that your CC is not absolutely zero. Put another way, your CC is "0.0 < CC < 0.5", if you can follow that.

If you really have to know how much CC there is, test from the 25ml mark. Then, the first increment is "0.0 < CC < 0.2".

But, really, most of the time, I wish people wouldn't test for CC. Shocking does NOT work to remove CC's most of the time, nor do most of the other chemical rain-dances recommended by pool stores. If you simply operate the pool correctly, and maintain consistently chlorinated, algae free water, and don't add pool store goop, your pool will become -- and remain -- practically CC free.

If you test for them, you will see CC spikes after parties, especially if the parties include members of the "leaky bladder" set or the "mommie, I have to go NOW!" set, or really sweaty big guys. Shocking before or after heavy bather loads is a good idea.

But it's better to treat your pool properly, than to pay too much attention to CC's. The only time when CC levels really *need* to be considered is when you are deliberately using monochloramine (via the Yellow OUT or clone route), or have dosed your pool with some seriously messed-up pool store goo, and have to clean it up, or are cleaning up a bad CYA biodegradation mess in the spring time. The rest of the time, you'd be better off not testing.

Heck, I may even *hide* the CHL #3 (R-0003) in the PS235!

Ben

"PoolDoc"

[ChuckD]

or really sweaty big guys.

Hey, I resemble that comment!
(Nothing I like better than mowing the lawn on a hot summer day, then falling in the deep end. But it's my pool!)

C.

[GolfTop]

Learn something every day. Thanks Ben.

I've learned to shun the pool store like it was my ex-wife.