Trying to learn to adjust chemicals

[Watermom]

To answer your questions ---

Yes, you always want the CC to be zero, although if it is 0.5 at times, that is no big deal. In regards to maintaining your other levels --- you want to make sure the pH never drops below 7.0 as any reading lower than that is acidic and will damage your pool. Since you never close the pool, just test cl and pH once in awhile and keep them in check. Everything else should be fine until swim season next year.

Glad you are still around! Merry Christmas!

Lisa

[waterbear]

where in FL do you live? If you are in the northern part of the state that gets fairly cold weather then you can cut your filter run time down to about 4-6 hours a day and check your levels every two weeks. If you are getting the chance of a hard freeze (like my area expects in a few days in NE Florida nearJax) then run your pump 24/7 until it passes to prevent the pipes from freezing.

If you live in the southern part of the state (I grew up and also lived part of my adult life in Miami then lived in Lauderdale for many years before moving to the St. Augustine area) then maintain the pool as usual since what is 'too chilly for swimming' down there are normal swimming temperatures, both air and water, in the northern parts of our country in the summer (I vacation in Cape Code and New Hampshire in the summer and it's a true fact!)

Hope this helps.

[onemsmom]

Thanks very much! Now I won't freak out and send DH to the store for bleach when I see .5 CC.

I'm in the middle of the state, so I'll tone down the filter time a bit, but keep things mostly normal until it's warmer.

It's too cold to swim now, but I do remember years when I was in the pool in January!

Have a wonderful Christmas (or any other holiday you celbrate!),

Jennifer

[onemsmom]

I've been going along fine all of this time & then missed a few days, so I'm seeing green and need to do the shock thing again.

I did my CYA and it doesn't get cloudy enough to cover the dot almost at all - even up to the tippy top, so my CYA is way less than 30.

So, how do I know how much ppm I should keep the bleach at to shock the pool until there's no more than 1ppm drop, no green, etc.?

It used to be 15, but that was when my CYA was 30ish.

Since my CYA is so low - can I throw a few pucks in? I was hoping that would help me keep the ppm up while I'm shocking. If that would work, that would help soooo much. This shocking thing is so hard for me due to my hectic life - I'm not around the house so much to keep checking and adding, checking and adding, checking and adding.........

Thanks so much,

Jennifer

[onemsmom]

If it helps to know - my ph is very high - it needed 6 drops in the "acid demand" test. I haven't added the muriatic acid yet. Wanted to hear what you guys said about the pucks first.

Jenn

[Watermom]

It would actually help if you could post a complete set of current water testing results.

I would shock it up to around 12 with bleach. Once your pool is clear, you can use some trichlor pucks for awhile since your cya is low but keep an eye on it. It can quickly get too high if you don't. But, pucks aren't going to help you clear the pool. It will not take the cl high enough. Save them for after you clear the green.

[onemsmom]

OK, here it is:

FC: 9 (I added a jug of bleach to raise that)
CC: 0
Ph: 8.0 + Acid demand test to 6 drops to get to 7.4
TA: 240-250
CA: 370
CYA: wasn't cloudy at all even at tippy top - so way less than 30

I didn't do anything yesterday other than add bleach over night - I added 3 jugs last night, so boy, it went way down by this morning!

BTW, I knew pucks wouldn't raise my FC enough to shock - I meant - would adding the pucks WHILE I'm shocking with bleach help to keep the FC up more easily - not so much fluctuation?

Thanks so much for your help.

Jennifer

[Watermom]

I would just hold off on using the pucks for now. After it is clear, you can use them for awhile until your cya gets to where you want it. Keep hitting it with bleach until you can go from sundown one night to sunup the next day without losing more than 1ppm. Also, run the pump 24/7 while you are trying to clear it. What kind of filter do you have? Do you still have that big pump on this pool? Is the water still green? Any improvement?

[onemsmom]

Yes, the big pump. Not much chance of my husband letting me change it until it explodes or doesn't work any more.

The water wasn't green, it was just starting to grow green on the bottom. I've been bleaching and I just vacuumed/swept sides. NOW the water looks a little green and quite cloudy.

I'll keep the bleach going until I get it cleared up as I did before.

Consistancy is not a strong point of mine, nor is my life condusive to it, but I am trying my very best. Now that the outside temp is heating up, I'm going to need to tackle the consistency thing, or I'm going to be seeing a lot of green and making a lot of trips out for bleach.

This might help - once my pool is clear & balanced again - do the chemicals & additives HAVE to be done at night? If I could do them in the a.m. or afternoon - that would work much better for me. I have so many evening activities with the kids and making/cleaning up dinner, reading, putting them to bed, etc.! The pool just doesn't get delt with before I collapse sometimes - and then by the next day - it's TOO LATE! BLEACH CITY! fyi, I live it blistering hot Florida if that affects answer.

Also, should I try to adjust pH now, or just deal with the algae bloom for now?

Jenn

Thanks,

Jenn

[onemsmom]

Nice and blue this morning. A little cloudy. Much improved.

Still shocking till I hit all of the goals,

Jennifer