Do I need to change anything?

[versstef1]

Hi there! Hard to know where to start, but let me say I've read Pool Solutions as well as the Pool School, and both main pool forums forever. My situation: moved into a house with a 10 year old pool. Since then, I've followed the previous owners instructions, and it's been just fine, and I thought I had this figured out, and, oh, how easy it all is, no problems even in the hot, humid, and rainy Florida summer I had NO problems whatsoever- but after reading all day yesterday, I'm starting to worry that while everything seems fine, I'm doomed long-term (keyword stabilizer?!).

My specs are (water amount is based on what Pinch had on file, but I wonder if that's not too small, hard to measure it's freeform) 10,400g gunite pool, solar panel heated, Hayward Pump, Hayward Cartridge Filter, Hayward Auto-Cleaner, Hayward Inline Chlorine Feeder.

Here's what I do, based on prev owners advice. Every two weeks I add 4 Trichlor from Pinch A Penny and shock it with 2.5 gallons of sodium hypochlorite 10.5 % also from Pinch, only about 5 bucks for that. Brush the walls a little, check the filter (usually rinse it out once a month). Have been running pump at 7.5 hours all summer.

I have been taking about 5 samples to Pinch for a test, usually toward the end of the two-week cleaning cycle. Ech time, everything was within parameters. Last result was

TC and FC, 4.0
CC 0
pH 7.6
TA 85
CH 340
CYA 100
TDS 2,200

This is from Sep 6, as I have been busy and not taking in anything to test since then, and everything looks fine. Remember, I thought I was doing swell and the water looks OK to me. The prev owner told me he never got it tested because "by now we just know this works." Plus, when I first read the Pool Solutions guide, I remember reading that you focus on CL and pH and the rest falls in line, so since that's always totally stable and in range, I've not worried about it at all - was pretty smug about it, in fact. I have to add, however, that I would not consider my water "sparkling" - it's clean, yes, for sure, but it's not magical.

I guess I'm not concerned with a number of things. That stabilizer test probably tops out at 100, so what if it's sky high? Should I switch to BBB? I'm not good at reading colored tests, and it seems a lot of work to test every day, plus handling the chlorine each day. In getting a test kit like the Taylor 2006, is cost a factor in doing so much testing? How come my pH isn't lower and stable from test to test when the CYA is supposed to do that? Does the bi-weekly shocking help with that in any way? Am I just a time bomb waiting to go green? If I decided to stop using the tablets, will the CYA eventually come down just due to rain, replacement of evaporation water, etc? Could it be that there is enough rain and evaporation to keep this in check, as we are in Florida? Even after reading so much, I guess I still don't trust my skills in going totally liquid, even though it seems to make so much sense. CarlD says a couple times Trichlor can be used if you do it right, so that's what I was looking for (HOPING) but couldn't find the answer I was looking for - that being, just keep doing what I'm doing it's fine.

Pool service is a huge business here, and these guys come weekly - I've been wondering how they do. Obviously they all have to use some kind of stabilized CL, so are they all ruining everyone's water? Would make sense, then they can get paid to clean it up.

Thanks for any answers to this initial rambling!!!

[PoolDoc]

OK. 2.5 gallons @ 10% in 11,000 of pool water => 25 ppm chlorine.

Dude! You are *already* running pretty much BBB, or rather, following the "Best Guess" guide.

BBB means different things to different people, but I guess, since it's was my idea (CarlD's *name* but my idea) I can define it and pretty much claim that that is the OFFICIAL meaning.

A lot of folks focus on the ingredients -- bleach, borax, baking soda -- which is reasonable enough, since those often ARE key ingredients. But for me, it was always about the best, easiest, cheapest way. Bleach has fewer side effects than other forms of chlorine, and USED TO BE cheaper. But, I've used bleach, trichlor, diclor, cal hypo and chlorine gas.

BBB is really about using what you need, only what you need, and only when you need it.

You do need to find out where your stabilizer really is -- 25 ppm is OK with 100 ppm, but is marginally low with 200 ppm. If you don't want to test it yourself, and if P-a-P is doing accurate testing, just take in a sample of your pool water, diluted 50:50 with *DISTILLED* water (from Walmart) and then double their CYA reading.

If it's 100, you're probably fine. If it's 200, you probably want to go to 3.5 gallons of bleach + 1 gallon midway during the interval and skip the trichlor, till it drops.

BTW, your domain name has expired, and your PoolForum account will go dead when the mail forwarding drops. So, you probably either want to rescue your domain, or change the email address in your PF profile.

[waterbear]

I'm not good at reading colored tests, and it seems a lot of work to test every day, plus handling the chlorine each day. In getting a test kit like the Taylor 2006, is cost a factor in doing so much testing?
Not when you look at the money you save in the long run.
How come my pH isn't lower and stable from test to test when the CYA is supposed to do that?
No, CYA stabilizes chlorine. It has nothing to do with pH. (However, you might be confused by CYA's role in a salt pool. If you have a salt water chlorine generator running the CYA at the recommended maximum will allow for a lower cell on time which means less outgassing of carbon dioxide, the primary cause of pH rise in salt pools, which means a slower pH rise but in a pool that you are adding a chemical form of chlorine to CYA level has NO effect pn the pH. TA and the amount of aeration the pool gets will have an effect on the pH as will what chemicals you are adding on a regular basis since some forms of chlorine (and also MPS--non chlorine shock) are acidic while others are basically pH neutral.
Does the bi-weekly shocking help with that in any way?
The biweekly shocking is basically BBB as Ben said!
Am I just a time bomb waiting to go green? If I decided to stop using the tablets, will the CYA eventually come down just due to rain, replacement of evaporation water, etc?
Water replacement will lower CYA. Evaproation will not since it is just a concentration and then dilution.
Could it be that there is enough rain and evaporation to keep this in check, as we are in Florida?
IF the rain either overflows the pool or causes you to need to drain water then eventually it will lower the CYA IF you stop adding more. Ditto for backwashing. It will lower CYA IF you are not adding more.
Even after reading so much, I guess I still don't trust my skills in going totally liquid, even though it seems to make so much sense. CarlD says a couple times Trichlor can be used if you do it right, so that's what I was looking for (HOPING) but couldn't find the answer I was looking for - that being, just keep doing what I'm doing it's fine.
IMHO, using trichlor correctly means knowing when to STOP using it when your CYA is getting too high for where you are keeping your FC or when you need to do a partial drain and refill. Also, trichlor does not play well with cartridge filters or non backwashing DE filters (bump filters) since there is no dilution from backwashing the filter and CYA will rise quickly! For every 10 ppm FC added by trichlor you are also adding 6 ppm of CYA. Once the chlorine is used the CYA stays in the water!
All that being said I have seen many pools that use a combination of trichlor and liquid that do well when the chlorine levels provided by the trichlor are more of a 'background level; and the weekly 'shocking' with the liquid is what is really maintaining the chlorine high enough for the CYA.
Pool service is a huge business here, and these guys come weekly - I've been wondering how they do. Obviously they all have to use some kind of stabilized CL, so are they all ruining everyone's water?
No, I am in Florida also and in my area many run a higher CYA and dose with liquid weekly to shock level (for the CYA level ) and then let it drop over the week. It is basically BBB! IT really depends on the pool service.
Would make sense, then they can get paid to clean it up.

Thanks for any answers to this initial rambling!!!

Hope this answers some of your questions.