Trying to Swim More and do less work

[szampino]

Morning Reading.

FC - 13 (Held over night - Yippee)
CC - 0
TC - 13
PH - 7.2 (Went up a bit)
Alk - 120 (Went up a bit)
**Water still appears crystal clear with the exception of the ugly bottom of the pool.

I'm at a Crossroad, and could use some advice.

My plan was to let the FC go down on its own today and then I would begin dealing with my metals. However, The weather reports say it is going to Rain.

Q1. Should I continue to keep the FC at Shock level to get past the rain and then start working on my metals? (i'm leaning to yes)

Q2. Under normal pool maintenance, do you bring your FC to shock level after a rainstorm? And if you do, how long do you keep it there?

Q3. Am I the only one on this forum that has this problem?

[Watermom]

Q1. Should I continue to keep the FC at Shock level to get past the rain and then start working on my metals? (i'm leaning to yes)

I think you are right, get past the rain and then work on the metals. And, hopefully by then Marie will have had a chance to take a look at this thread. (I asked her to do so.)

Q2. Under normal pool maintenance, do you bring your FC to shock level after a rainstorm? And if you do, how long do you keep it there?

I don't always shock after rain unless a bunch of debris has gotten into the pool. As a matter of fact, I rarely shock my pool unless a whole bunch of kids have been in there swimming which doesn't happen often. As long as you monitor your chlorine readings consistenly and don't let it drop below what your minimum should be, you really don't need to shock. Of course, if you are having water problems you are trying to clear or have a CC reading, then you should shock.

Q3. Am I the only one on this forum that has this problem?

Most certainly not!


Hang in there!

[szampino]

Update:

Around 12pm earlier this afternoon I added a little more bleach to keep my FC up, I added about 1qt just to get a 10(+-) reading during the rain. I checked my PH and it appeared to be creeping up a little Alk was still between 110 - 120.

At 8pm, I did another check and PH creeped a little above 7.2 however FC was right about where I wanted it. (10+-) (Still haven't put any CYA in yet. Since I am planning to begin my metal treatment tomorrow I wanted to keep the PH around 7 so I added 1/2 cup of Muratic Acid. Waited about 45 minutes and took another full reading:

FC = 9.5
CC = 0
TC = 9.5
PH = 7.0 (scaring myself a little because I got the MA measurement right)
ALK = 110-120

Q1. How do I drop the FC? I will need to bring it way down to deal with my metals?

Q2. Do I need to check the CYA even if I haven't added any through Tri-tabs or directly? Does it just get created from a natural process, or from the BBB method?

[Watermom]

The FC will come down on its own especially on a hot sunny day. If you haven't added any trichlor tabs or any cya directly, then you do not need to test for it.