Newbie to Forum...Looking for help

[fairfieldmania]

I am using ortex algae pool shock...68% calcium hypochlorite (provides 68% available chlorine)...
doubt it was the dupont treatment....as I was exclusively adding bleach when the stains showed up (stains showed up same day pool co had added the alk and CYA, coincidence???)..

i had grabbed the dupont thinking it was shock...only after I had drained the pool and refilled it...meaning within the last few days...

[fairfieldmania]

ok, checked pool this morning with test strips (I know, I know)...and the pool held wonderfully the chlorine level over night...now I just need some guidance on the ph and alk and hardness...I believe the recommendation is to wait until I have the Taylor test kit...so I will wait to report test results until then..and keep an eye on chlorine levels....

[PoolDoc]

One caution: usually people overestimate their pool's volume, but if your dimensions are correct (25 x 50 x 4 + 12' deep end) your volume is closer to 42,000 gallons, with a PF:3

That means one gallon of plain 6% household bleach only adds 1.5 ppm of chlorine to your pool, and that one pound of stabilizer only increases your CYA level by 3 ppm.

[fairfieldmania]

sorry...rushed those in yesterday....dimensions

41 L x 22 W (long part of L)
20 L x 18 W (short part of L)
3' deep at shallow
8' deep at deep end

[PoolDoc]

OK; 38,500 gallons.

[fairfieldmania]

ok...we seem to be on two different pages....I am using this website....

http://www.poolandspachemicals.co.uk/volcalc.htm

take each part of the pool as two rectangles....

first rectangle...21 x 22 x 3 (LXWXD) = 10367 us gallons
second rectangle....20 X 18 X 8 (starts at 6 ends at 8) = 18850 us gallons

total- 29,000 gallons...take out the steps...curves of walls, etc...about 27,500 gallons...can you walk me through your calcs....in the mean time, I will try to find the pool info through the packet we were given from previous owner...

[PoolDoc]

I'm not sure what you are measuring; you'll need to submit a sketch, for me to be clear.

[fairfieldmania]

the pool is a L shaped....

_________L_______
| 2 |
|_________ | W
| 1 |
|________|

If you extend the vertical line between sections 1 and 2, it would separate the shallow end from the deep end and in essence create two rectangles. Rectangle 1 representing the shallow end and rectangle 2 representing the deep end. The diving board is along the left vertical lines

rectangle 1 - 21 x 22 x 3 (LXWXD)
rectangle 2 - 20 X 18 X 8 (starts at 6' ends at 8' deep) the 6' section (more or less) runs along the vertical line between rectangle 1 and 2

[fairfieldmania]

Ok, got the Talyor test kit yesterday in the mail...I have been in the habit of adding two bags of calcium hypochlorite every other day at night...alternating with 6% bleach....Monday night - two bags...Wednesday night - two 1.42 gallons of 6% bleach...Friday night - two bags...etc...

I added two bags of cal-hypo last night....Onto my results

FC 5.8 (29 drops *0.2 using 25 mL)
CC 0.4 (2 drops * 0.2 using 25 mL)
pH 8.0
TA 90
CH 190
CA N/A didn't register..not sure if I did it wrong
SI 0.35
Temp 82

[Watermom]

Those numbers look pretty good other than the pH being a little high. You can use some muriatic acid to lower it. Read the muriatic link in my signature below.

The way you do the test is to fill the little bottle to the 7ml level with pool water and then fill to the 14ml line with the R-0013. Cap it and mix it and then wait at least 30 seconds. Then, holding the test block at waist level in natural light, slowly squeeze the contents of the bottle into the tube, noting when you can no longer see the black dot. If it doesn't get cloudy, then your CYA level is less than 30.

How long has it been since you used dichlor, added CYA separately and used trichlor pucks? You'll want 40-50ppm of CYA in there. So, you'll need to use one of the three mentioned to bring it up some.

By the way, use the 10ml testing sample instead of the 25ml. It will save on your reagents.