What chlorine level to shock -- now that half my CYA is gone

[JimK]

I've pretty much given up explaining everything I see happen in pools. Sometimes, years later, I find out what was going on, but mostly not. Weird stuff happens from time to time in pools, and unless your goal in life is to be an amateur chemical detective, it's better to let it go UNLESS it's causing a real problem. Who knows, if you have a dog, maybe this:

is the explanation.

If you are regularly adding Jacks Magic, you may want to get and use some CuLator packs. They are not effective for quick clean-up, but they do continuously remove metals from the water, unlike products like Jacks Magic which work temporarily to keep it soluble. If you do get some, do NOT throw them away monthly, like the company encourages. They are not 'used up' till badly discolored OR fouled with goop. Keep one in your skimmer, but use a skimmer sock on top to protect the pack from 'goo'. You can also just chuck them in the pool. The more you have, the more effective they'll be. Just don't put them where they will get ruined with greasy dirt. (So, don't put them in a chlorine floater, where lotion and suntan oil can foul them.)

1 ppm Culator
1.5 ppm Culator, sold by Amazon
4 ppm Culator, sold by Amazon
Poolmaster 16242 Poolmaster Skimmer Basket Liner

Thanks Ben. There's no sign of algae or anything, so as you suggest I'll just write it off as a quirk and move on.

LOL.....no dog here. 99.99% of the time it's just the two of us using the pool.

Once I get CL levels stabilized and the SWCG set, I'll look at addressing the metal issue. BTW, last year you had me do the bucket test for metals. Despite the results being negative for metals, the stairs starting staining again when I stopped adding sequest (6 oz a week after the initial does of 2 qts does the trick).

My hesitation with the Culator is cost. At least if used as recommended, it costs more to use the Culator than the sequest, not to mention that for some time I'd have to use the sequest and the Culator together, increasing cost further. Then add the cost of the skimmer socks, which would likely get clogged quickly and require frequent replacement due to all the nearby trees. So it seems that going with the Culator would cost more and add more maintenance than just adding the sequest once a week. I would like to persue this discussion further, but I'll start another thread for that at a later date when I'm ready to tackle it.

I bet it was the polyquat that caused the drop in FC.

Now that you mention it, I do think I remember reading that polyquat increases CL demand? If so, I think that may be it. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Watermom]

Sequestrants keep metal in suspension, the Culator will remove the metals. Also, skimmer socks can be rinsed out and reused over and over again. Just a little info.

[JimK]

Sequestrants keep metal in suspension, the Culator will remove the metals. Also, skimmer socks can be rinsed out and reused over and over again. Just a little info.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind when I'm ready to tackle that.

[PoolDoc]

@Watermom: good catch; thanks!

[JimK]

Ugh...still losing too much FC overnight (about 6ppm).

Although there is no sign of algae, my concern is if I set my SWCG to maintain 5-6ppm during the day like I normally do, then when the system shuts off in the evening (I normally run the pump about 10hrs a day) all the FC will be gone by morning.

So this evening I hit it with another 7 jugs of CL bringing FC back up to a little over 30ppm. Hopefully this will knock out whatever is eating up the FC. I'll keep checking CL levels twice a day (morning and evening) to see if this does the trick.

[PoolDoc]

I think we need to do a better job of explaining to pool owners the options for avoiding any bacterial growth over the winter! It doesn't effect everyone equally, but for many it causes some painful start-up problems.

Hopefully, we can help you avoid this next year!

[JimK]

I think we need to do a better job of explaining to pool owners the options for avoiding any bacterial growth over the winter! It doesn't effect everyone equally, but for many it causes some painful start-up problems.

Hopefully, we can help you avoid this next year!

Most years it hasn't been a problem. But now and then the issue pops up.

A quick update:

Last night after checking FC level I shut down the pump (up until now it's been running 24/7). This morning's test showed no FC loss overnight.....yea! I don't know if that last shock treatment did the trick or turning the pump off last night had something to do with it. Does aggitation cause FC loss?? I know in another thread some time back there was a discussion about whether using one of those magnetic stirrers when testing CL altered the results as apposed to just swirling by hand. Was there any conclusion on that?

Btw, the first night after the last shock it lost 11ppm overnight.....however we did get some heavy rains, so that may have contributed to the loss.

So once the FC drops to normal levels, I'll start up the SWCG again and see if FC stays steady, day and night.