Need Help with Numbers

[AnnaK]

Using bleach for chlorine isn't necessarily cheaper than other options, but if you stay ahead of your pool, it is much cheaper as it doesn't have the side affects of other standard options (broadcasting dichlor or trichlor puck feeders) . . .

What are some of the side effects of dichlor/trichlor? I know they add CYA and acidity. What else do they do that might not be desirable?

Anna

[mbar]

The downside of trichlor and dichlor are that they add cya, and are acidic.

Hszwil, You need to add calcium. In a pebletec pool you need to have your calcium level between 200-400. Alkalinity should be 80-120, ph 7.2-7.6, and cya 30-50, Your chlorine level should be in conjunction with the amount of cya you have. It does seem that you are losing a lot of water. You can put a bucket of water beside the pool and measure if the water in the bucket goes down as fast as the water in the pool. If it doesn't, then you have a leak somewhere. That could be how you lost cya (cya can take up to a week to show up after you add it though)

Here is the "best guess chart" to see where your chlorine should be. You should shock your pool if it gets more than .5 combined chlorine.


Use the info in this chart to help you figure out what levels of chlorine you need to maintain in your pool based on the amount of CYA (cyanuric acid, also called stabilizer) that you have in your pool. (FC = free chlorine)

Stabilizer . . . . . . Min. FC . . . . Max FC . . . 'Shock' FC
=> 0 ppm . . . . . . . 1 ppm . . . . . 3 ppm . . . . 10 ppm
=> 10 - 20 ppm . . . . 2 ppm . . . . . 5 ppm . . . . 12 ppm
=> 30 - 50 ppm . . . . 3 ppm . . . . . 6 ppm . . . . 15 ppm
=> 60 - 90 ppm . . . . 5 ppm . . . . . 10 ppm . . .. 20 ppm
=> 100 - 200 ppm . . . 8 ppm . . . . . 15 ppm . . .. 25 ppm

[Hszwill]

Thank you Marie and Rangeball.

I now realize that I haven't ever truely "shocked" my pool--ever . I will attempt to raise the FC to somewhere between 12-15 ppm this weekend. Once I get to that point, should I always maintain a steady FC range between 2-6 ppm since my cya averages between 25-30 ppm?

It is good to know that at least my pH and alk are in normal ranges. But, how do I double my calcium numbers?

I forgot to mention something I have noticed this entire swim season that leaves me clueless. On the deep end of my pool I have a retaining wall that has carter stone mortered on for decoration. It is basically a mini cliff for the kids to jump off of instead of a diving board. Anyway, the tile on the deep end has white stuff all over it and it doesn't seem to want to be scraped off with my nails or the pool brush. Is it calcium? This white stuff on tile is only on the deep end tile, below the mortered stone wall.

Thanks again,
Shannon