Need help on first time results

[Aggie 88]

Haven't been able to keep chlorine all summer long in 2 yr old pool. Leslie's was having me spend lots of money "trying" different methods and no results, so that is how I found this website.

Here are the details:

16K IG Gunite w/colored plaster, gas heat, Hayword cartridge filter, In-line chlorinator with an additional floating chlorinator using pucks. Moss rock extends below the water line(high cal). I run the pump for 8 hrs nightly. No visable mustard, green or black algae.

In the past week, I have averaged 3 gal/ ultra bleach daily. Since I didn't have my kit, I couldn't tell how much cl I was losing daily, but will test tonight/tomorrow.

FC 7.5
CC .5
TC 8.0
ph 7.2
Alk 200
Cal 600
CYA ~120 (Leslies said 100)
Temp 82
Phospates 200(Down from 300 with the Phosfree from Leslies a couple of weeks back)

Do I just need to keep it above shock level until the cl holds? Should I be concerned with the high CYA? Is the high Alk a problem?

Thanks for the help

[duraleigh]

Aggie,

How does your water look? Any Clarity problems?

Your CYA is very high but can be managed. Alk needs to come down some....80 - 120 is ideal. Calcium is quite high but probably livable if your water looks good. Whether or not you shock depends on the appearance of your water.

[Aggie 88]

Water looks great - probably the best ever. I dropped in 4.5 gals of ultra last night and the cl went from 7.5 to 18. According to the calculator on here, it should have taken it up to 25PPM, which was my target. Either Wal-Mart has some weak Ultra Bleach, or my pool is larger than I think. Any suggestions?

Last night.
FC = 18
This morning
FC 13.5

Picture from this morning.

Pool.jpg

[BogeyGolfer]

Nice picture! Can I come over to your house to swim?

[duraleigh]

I would discount weak bleach and probably the size of your pool....but you can doublecheck.

What I would count on is that you never got to 25 because the organics in your water were consuming the Cl as you introduced it. So (probably) what should've been 25ppm and ends up 13.5ppm is from organics in your pool. You need to shock it again.

In the evening, test and target more than 25ppm (Say about 30-35). That should ensure you reach breakpoint (shock)and get the CC's and organics out of your pool. The next morning....test again. If you've still lost a lot of Cl overnight, I would do it a third time. Only when you can hold Cl overnight with somewhere around a 10% loss or less would I consider backing then Cl down and keeping it around 8-15ppm

PS - ditch the pucks...your high CYA and Ca (no Cal Hypo, either) indicate you should use only bleach the rest of the Summer.....or do a partial drain.

[Aggie 88]

I'll dump more cl in tonight and attempt to get to 35PPM. I'll trash the pucks, but we are in stage 3 drought water restrictions, so draining some of the pool will be last resort.

Thanks and I'll post results tomorrow.

BTW, Duraleigh, I lived in Hillsboro, NC in 2000/2001. Beautiful area

[Aggie 88]

I put in 6.5g of 6% CL last night and that brought me up to 26PPM. AM it was down to 17 so I but in 2.6g (didn't have time to wait and test). PM and I am down to 12.5 PPM and 0 CC. I am going out of town for 10 days on Wednesday. My neighbor can drop bleach in for me, but is there any harm to jack it up to ~50PPM so I won't be seesaw'ing around shock level?

[duraleigh]

50ppm is your call....I think it will cause some testing issues and may have some negative effects I'm not aware of. The only reason I suggested 35 was because I was fairly confidant you wouldn't get there. Now, because, you've killed many of the organics, you may well be able to get to 50ppm and I would not recommend it. I'd shoot for 30-35 max and lower still as your water clears. Others may disagree.

[Aggie 88]

Back from being out of town for 10 days, but had someone putting 3 gal bleach daily after I held at shock level(25PPM) for 5 days. Here are my readings from yesterday.

FC 18
CC 0-.5
TC 18-18.5
PH 8.2
Alk 230
Cal 610
CYA 120
Temp 82

Today FC is 14 w/no bleach added. Water is clear as always and no visable algae. Where do I go from here?

Do I keep cl in between 8 and 15 due to the high CYA? Do I need to do a partial drain to lower CYA?

PH jumped up dramatically from first tests. I'm in between 7.8 and 8.2 today. Should I be concerned with that?

Also, I have a slick white chalky substance on my plaster. Could that be calcium buildup? Should I be concerned with high calcium?

Sorry for all the questions.

[duraleigh]

Good work on the chlorine. Let it drift down on it's own and then keep it in an 8-15 or so range for the rest of the Summer.

Now, you need to get your pH down right away. Get some muriatic acid, use the bleachcalc, and bring it down into a 7.2 - 7.4 range...sooner rather than later. That chalky substance just may be calcium precipitating out and lowering your pH (sooner rather than later) is the solution.

You can't do anything about your high calcium for this Summer so it becomes imperative that you monitor your pH. Keep the muriatic on hand since bleach has a pH around 12 and it's your only logical chlorine source.

In the rainy season, (or when they lift the drought restrictions) you need to drain half of your pool and refill to get your CYA and Calcium at more manageable levels.

Meanwhile, Happy Swimming!