New Pool Chemical Help Needed

[Watermom]

The dot will totally go away. Your ph and alk look fine. Your cl is a little low. For a cya reading of 50, you need to keep it between 3-6 all the time or you risk an algae bloom.

[klondrie]

Thanks WaterMom, Should I add more bleach to get my cl level up then retest for CYA? Then if my CYA still is too low do I go ahead and add more? I don't want to risk getting too much but I don't think I have enough yet.

I have been adding bleach and my level does go up but it is eaten up rather fast and hard to maintain a higher level. Is this because I don't have enough CYA yet?

Thanks,
Klondrie

[brent.roberts]

I would suggest you do NOT add any more CYA. Most folks on this forum think that the ideal range is betwen 30 and 50 and you're already at the high end of that.

Over time with rain and topping off then backwashing, the CYA will creep down, but only very very slowly. Check it again in a week to see if it's still near 50. The I would suggest you only need to check it once a month or so.

Now that the CYA is up your chlorine levels will stabilize somewhat. They will go down more during the day with sunlight being the biggest factor, and swimmer load the other. Because it gets blown away by the sunlight, top up the chlorine in the evening, after the sun is off the pool and that will keep the levels pretty much where you want them all night an into the morning hours of sun a bit. Then it will slide through the day, till you top it up in the evening again. You will see the cycle. After a while you'll see that on a normal day you need a half gallon of bleach or whatever.

good luck and enjoy