Test results on new pool in Tucson

[Watermom]

At sunrise, or no more than 1/2 hour after sunrise, test FC and CC.

Actually, as long as you test within an hour of sunrise, you are ok.

[Wilco]

So at this rate I'm doing about a gallon of bleach a day. That seems unsustainable.

[FormerBromineUser]

I am in meetings all day with only short breaks so hopefully someone will jump in here. Since you lost about 6ppm FC overnight, you have a chlorine demand that will take time, energy, and faith to get rid of.

But, if you commit to the process, eventually you will get to the point where you only have to use about 2 jugs a week, not a jug/day.

For now, keep putting in bleach and raise that FC. I will check in later.

[Watermom]

Keep your chlorine at shock level (which is based on your CYA level) until you meet three criteria:

1) You can go from sundown one evening to within an hour of sunrise the next morning without losing more than 1ppm of FC
2) You have no greater than 0.5ppm of CC
3) Your pool shows no signs of algae

At that point, let the chlorine drift down but keep it in the range between minimum and maximum ALL the time.

This process may take a few days but you have to be diligent about it. Eventually, your chlorine demand will decrease.

This chart shows the relationship between CYA and chlorine:> http://pool9.net/cl-cya/

[PoolDoc]

Maybe I've missed it, but I haven't seen a chlorine level reading in the late PM, followed by another reading the next early AM.

Those two readings TOGETHER are what gives indication of what's happening. A chlorine reading -- with no time stamp -- followed by a chlorine dose -- with no time stamp -- followed by another reading the next day -- still with no time stamp -- is not particularly informative.

Also, you write that a gallon per day is not sustainable. At Walmart, fresh bleach is under $3/gallon in most locations. For a 120 day season, that's $360, which is much LESS than most pool owners spend on their pools during a 120 day season, when following pool store recommendations. So while I'm not advocating a gallon per day as normal, a whole lot of pool owners sustain even higher expenses.

Let me be more specific.

1. Raise your chlorine level to a tested 15 ppm or higher at 7 pm.
2. Add nothing else. Make sure your pump is on all night.
3. Test again after sunrise, but before 8 am.
4. Report BOTH results.

[Wilco]

This is the first time I have seen the timing of the pump come into play. Is it better to run it at night? - from a cl standpoint? Sorry about not time stamping posts, I thought the server was doing that. So in general, try to do the chlorine adding at dusk, retest an hour later, and then first thing in am as the routine? Going to need more of that powder soon.

[FormerBromineUser]

Wow. Lots of responses here. Told you that you would get support!

Run pump 24/7 during shock process. Before you order more powder, check other supplies, especially 0871. Amato Industries (usePoolDoc/WaterMom's amazon link in their signatures) will discount shipping the more you buy. It won't look like it as you add to cart, but will be reflected at check-out.

[Watermom]

Sorry about not time stamping posts, I thought the server was doing that.

It's not the time stamping on the posts that is important but the time you tested along with the results that we need to see. Being able to see the change from sundown to sunup is particularly telling when trying to diagnose what is going on in a pool with chlorine demand. As Ben noted in an earlier post, losing chlorine during the day could mean that your CYA is low. But, losing chlorine overnight when you take sunlight out of the equation, tells us that something is going on in your water.

Once you get past this chlorine demand issue, it is not necessary to test in the evening AND in the morning. At that point, testing just in the evening is enough. In fact, once everything gets stable and you better learn your pool's behavior, you may even be able to go to testing every other day. But, not just yet.

You do need to run the pump 24/7 right now. When you aren't fighting something in the water, the time of day that you have the pump on is not as critical. But, it is always best to test and add chemicals (especially chlorine) in the evening. The only exception to this is if your chlorine is too low during the day. In that case, you wouldn't want to wait until evening to bring it up.