Lost 3.5ppm of FC last night - this was over the course of 11 hours (from 8pm to 7am). Still waiting for the loss to be no more than 1ppm overnight, but the CC was only 0.5 and that's encouraging!

After adding bleach to bring it up to 25 ppm, I spot-vacummed up the visible dirt in the areas where it tends to gather - in deep end valleys, scattered over the shallow end, and in indents that pock the slopes. Then I brushed the bottom and walls to suspend the finer sediments.

Even with the brushing action stirring up plumes, the visibility is so clear I can count the bristles on the brush even while it is on the very bottom - 8 feet down. Just a week ago, I was excited because I could just make out a faint dark blob that was my pool brush head on the bottom. A week or so before that, the brush head would disappear completely within 10 inches of the surface!

The shape of the pool is an extended hopper design by Spartan. It has steel walls with a sand bottom - we built it in 1968. After 13 years, the current liner has a number of smooth craters from swimmers heels and toes hitting hard from jumping in, or pushing off in a frantic escape from marco polo. These craters cause mini-eddies in the circulation and the tiny specks accumulate - like debris colonies. For a quick vacuum like today, I use a vacuum head that has no brushes - it is made to be used on concrete pools, but it works well for a quick cleaning.

This is my third liner - the first lasted 17 years, the 2nd 13 years, and this one is in its 14th season so I'm resigned to its scalloped subterrainian landscape. Hope I can stretch a few more years out of it.

I'll post again tomorrow morning with the new numbers. Happy fourth of July everyone!