eric

[ericorlisa]

i almost forgot about the CC. CC 0ppm. the FC reading as well as all the other reading was 1 hour ago.

[Watermom]

Good deal. One more test and then I think you are home free. I would go ahead and add just a little more bleach now if you can and get it up to 6ppm. If you're gonna be up for awhile, test it an hour after you add it. Then, test in the morning before the sun really gets on the pool. (Definitely within 2 hours of sunrise.) If you lose no more than 1ppm of cl overnight then you are good to go and can then just maintain proper levels and you'll be fine. Keep your chlorine between 3-6 all the time. If you find that by evening, you are dropping lower than 3pm, then you should take it a little higher that evening. You don't want to go below 3ppm.

[Watermom]

How are things going?

[ericorlisa]

so far so good. when do i need to add algaecide? i've read that it's a good preventative.

[Watermom]

You don't ever HAVE to. I never do. I don't think any of the other mods do either. If you maintain your chemistry, you really don't need it.

[ericorlisa]

you told me to wait 3-4 days to re-test CYA and i'm following your lead because i'm new to the pool care club. i still have much to learn and i keep reading info on this forum. what are good number ranges for Cl, PH, TA & CYA. i live in north Alabama-hot and lots of humidity and we live in the valley so we get all the pollen and crud that settles all around which is why we get plenty of head colds-sinus infectionville.

[Watermom]

Hi, Eric,

Good ranges:
cl --- depends on your CYA level. If you haven't already done so, look at the Best Guess table in my signature.
pH -- anywhere 7.2-7.8 is ok. I prefer 7.4-7.6
TA -- 80-120
CYA -- I like 40-50. One of my co-mods, Aylad (Janet), lives in Louisiana where she receives full sun all day long and very hot temps. She deliberately runs her CYA 70-80ish because it helps her keep chlorine in her pool better. If I was you, I would try 40-50 first and if you find that you cannot make it through a day without losing all FC by evening, you can always decide to bump it up some. Easier to bump it up than to remove it.

[ericorlisa]

do you suggest using stabilizer as my source for CYA or Chlorine Tablets? i have 3 lbs of walmart stabilizer on hand. how long should i wait to test CYA after installing stabilizer? i plan to check my CYA tomorrow before adding any stabilizer though.

[Watermom]

I would wait 5-7 days before testing CYA after adding it. If you already have the granular cyanuric acid, use it but not until you retest first.

[ericorlisa]

i've retested 1 hour ago: CYA 20-25 (the test tube is cloudier this time but i had to fill my taylor test kit past the 30ppm mark before the black dot would completely disappear) FC 7 ( after adding half gallon of 6% bleach and i waited 1 hr before checking) CC 0 PH 7.8 TA 100. i think i remember testing for the FC drop over night two days ago and it was 1-1.5 drop from the night before. we're ready to do whatever we need to do next. what's next? thank you so much for your help btw.

eric and lisa