Filter and Bleach

[jpbogart]

Thanks for all of your help Janet. I appreciate it! When I'm adding my doses of bleach, how much should I use for each? I've been adding around 3-4 gallons per day. Should I divide that up and add 1 1/2 gallon in the morning and then another 1 1/2 at night? Sorry if some of the questions seem silly, but I want to make sure I'm doing this the right way.

[Watermom]

Are you able to add bleach both morning and evening? If so, great! Since you don't have any CYA right now, a good shock level for you would be around 10ppm. In your pool, each quart of 6% bleach will add a little over 1ppm of chlorine. So, each time you test, add enough bleach to get the chlorine back up to around 10ppm.

What kind of test kit are you using? If you haven't already done so, order a Taylor K-2006 or 2006C from the Amazon link in either mine, Ben's or Janet's signatures.

By the way --- no question is silly. If you don't know something, the only way to find out is to ask.

[jpbogart]

I last added about 10ppm of bleach last night around 9:00 after using the tube socks to add the stabalizer a few hours earlier. There wasn't much sun today, so when I checked the chlorine level after work, it's still reading close to 10ppm. The water is still a milky blue, but hopefully, the chlorine level staying up is a good sign.

I've only had my pool for 4 years, but I've always used the Bac Pac chlorine system, shocked the water every week or so, and added algaecide weekly. Can I substitute adding the bleach as needed for the Bac Pac system?? It seems as if that would definitely save a little money doing it that way.

I have a 6 way test kit for my pool, but I will probably wind up ordering one of the Taylor kits from your Amazon signature.

I really appreciate all of the help I am receiving. It makes me feel a little more comfortable trying something different when trying to balance the pool water.

[PoolDoc]

Looks like "Bac Pac" is just a high-priced trichlor cartridge used in conjunction with a Frog 'mineral' ( = copper) system.

For now, you can use bleach. BUT, you need to know what your chlorine levels are AND what your stabilizer levels are. You can get a good idea on chlorine, even high levels, with an OTO kit. But the CYA pad on test strips isn't accurate enough to provide useful information . . . so you either need a K-2006 or a K-1721 CYA only kit. I'll paste links in tonight or in the morning -- I'm still working on them.

By the way, you do NOT have to 'balance' your water in a vinyl above-ground. The only thing carbonate alkalinity does for you is help stabilize your pH. But, cyanurates and borates ALSO do that. Fix those first, and THEN, if you find your pH is unstable, you can worry about adding alkalinity. Otherwise, don't.

AND . . . you don't need calcium at all. Period. Even a little. If you have it, it's not hurting anything, but it's not helping, either.

1. Get rid of the algae, while
2. Making sure your pH is between 7 and 8, then
3. Decide on a sanitizer method: bleach, dichlor, trichlor, AND
4. Adjust your CYA and borate level accordingly.
5. Finally, do any other tweeking . . . IF it's needed.

[PoolDoc]

Here you go on the kit options. None of these are likely to be available locally, but you can buy them at various places online, besides Amazon which is were the links below go.

Complete K-2006 kits; the 'C' model has 2oz bottles instead of 3/4 oz, so it has almost 3x the # of tests for 1.5x the cost.

<-- K-2006 /===============/ K2006C -->

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You can use these to supplement your existing kit:

<-- K-1515 FAS-DPD /==/ Taylor K-1721 CYA test -->