Moblaine's pool

[moblaine]

I will try it tonight or tomorrow night. In earlier post you said "If you lose more than 1 ppm of FC overnight., you probably STILL need to shock. If you do NOT, you can probably move on to just enjoying your pool." whereas, in your most recent post, you mentioned the 12% raising FC by 18 ppm and whether chlorine is below 10 ppm in the morning. Am I to be concerned if I lose 1 ppm overnight or 8 ppm overnight? Can you clarify so I'm sure to understand?

If I add the 4 gallons of 12.% tonight, wait one hour and test and the FC is somewhere around 18 ppm, that means the liquid is still good and not stale? Then I test in the morning and if I'm below 10 ppm FC then I have a problem?

We are scheduled for some sunshine over the weekend and into next week after having quite a bit rain lately. Will sunshine possibly help me get rid of some of the chloramines?

[PoolDoc]

Am I to be concerned if I lose 1 ppm overnight or 8 ppm overnight? Can you clarify so I'm sure to understand?

1 ppm. It sounded like you did NOT have an 8PM test, with with to compare the 8AM test, but I was pretty sure if you added chlorine as you said, you would get at least 12 - 15 ppm in the pool . . . and if it dropped 2 - 5 by 8AM, you definitely had a problem.

If I add the 4 gallons of 12.% tonight, wait one hour and test and the FC is somewhere around 18 ppm, that means the liquid is still good and not stale?

Probably. If your pool gallon figure is correct (and mostly, they are not!).

Then I test in the morning and if I'm below 10 ppm FC then I have a problem?

Dose in the evening. Test 1 hour later. Retest in the AM. If the PM test is greater than the AM test by more than 2 ppm or more, you need to keep shocking at night. If the difference is 1 ppm or less, you can stop.

We are scheduled for some sunshine over the weekend and into next week after having quite a bit rain lately. Will sunshine possibly help me get rid of some of the chloramines?

Yes.

[moblaine]

At 7 p.m. tonight, I added 4 gallons of 12.5%. One hour later I tested using the Taylor K-2006 and got FC of 7.5 and CC of 2.0. Was a bit surprised that FC was only 7.5. Will test again around 7 a.m. and see what has changed. Any thoughts about the pool store liquid only bringing me up to 7.5 FC?

[PoolDoc]

Just looked for your pool chart entry, and didn't see it. If you would, please complete our new Pool Chart form -- it takes about 30 seconds, but will save much more than that. This is not the same as the chemistry log.

Pool Chart Entry Form
Pool Chart Results

However, based on a 4 gal dose of 12% bleach, you'd expect about 18 ppm FC. The fact that you are showing 7.5 could mean:

• You have ammonia in the pool which can be VERY rapidly oxidized by chlorine, consuming a lot of chlorine in the process, OR
• You have old bleach, or bleach that was stored hot, and is now only about 5% bleach (quite common!), OR
• Your pool store has fresh bleach, but is diluting it. (Very easy to do, if they have their own bleach tank.)

[moblaine]

I filled out the chart right before I did my post. It was a complete set of testing as or mid-day. For the evening test one hour after putting in 4 gallons 12.5%, I only did FC and CC so didn't enter it. Should I have?

[PoolDoc]

There are two charts; one that's a 1-time record of what your pool is like, equipment, dimensions and so forth. The other is a continuous record of your pool test results. You've done the pool test chart; not the pool equipment record.

[moblaine]

Gotcha. Chart is now filled in.
Just did my "within 2 hours of sunrise" test. Results were 1.0 FC and 0.5 CC. I liked your advice from the other day about maybe not worrying about CC any more and it has been low, around 0.5 or 1.0 ppm. But clearly something adverse is going on if FC fell from 7.5 to 1.0 ppm during the 12 overnight hours. My #1 concern at this point is to maintain sufficient FC to avoid algae. In prior years when I ran my Frog in-line feeder all the way open, I would have had higher FC readings than I do now (seems to hover between 0.4 to 1.0 ppm and only goes higher if I pour in 12.5% LC or 6% bleach). My fear is that without pouring in additional liquids, I am not maintaining a high enough FC level and not sure what I can do about that without resorting to nightly shocking. Driving my family crazy with this!