New to BBB

[rkelly]

Yes, I was referring to CYA. I will check chlorine again. For some reason I dumped about 1/2 gal. of clorox in and then checked????? I will wait till tomorrow to check again.

Thanks.......

[rkelly]

How often do you shock with the BBB method. I usually did every Sunday night using shock. Do I need to shock the same way?

[Watermom]

Honestly, if you are diligent about keeping your water levels in check, you don't routinely have to shock the pool at all. Or, at least not very often. I seldom shock my pool because I spend the 5 minutes per day (at most) testing and adding bleach or Borax if necessary. Since I don't let the cl level in my pool get too low, I know there is nothing growing in there. Thus, I do not routinely need to shock. I might shock if we have had a lot of rain that dumped a lot debris in my pool (leaves, dirt, etc.) or if I have had a bunch of kids swimming.

But --- if you feel more comfortable routinely shocking the pool, go ahead. It isn't gonna hurt anything to do so.

[aylad]

. I usually did every Sunday night using shock. need to

Remember, shock is something you do TO your pool, not an ingredient you put in it. If the "shock" you're talking about is pre-packaged dichlor, then I would stop using it, because everytime you use it, it raises your CYA....it won't be long before you're going to have to up your base chlorine level to compensate for the higher CYA levels. That's one of the problems with the pool-store version of shock--they sell you packaged "shock", which raises CYA, which raises base chlorine requirements, but they don't tell you that--so when your pool gets cloudy and green because the chlorine is too low, they sell you more "shock", and raise the CYA further. After several cycles of this, people usually find their way to this forum and realize that the "shock" they keep adding is the problem. (It also contributes to low pH problems). If you'll use bleach or liquid chlorine both for shocking and for regular chlorination, it will not drive up your CYA,will not drive down your pH, and will save you lots of time and aggravation in the long run!

Janet

[chem geek]

In effect, when one has an appropriate Free Chlorine (FC) level relative to the Cyanuric Acid (CYA) level based on Ben's Best Guess CYA chart, then you are continually oxidizing bather waste and other organics and preventing algae growth with no need to shock the pool (i.e. no need to periodically raise the FC level).

The main reason shocking is needed in non-BBB pool care is that the CYA level climbs and the FC level is too low so that you need to periodically raise the FC level weekly to try and catch up. Eventually, you fall behind anyway and get mysterious chlorine demand or dull/cloudy water or visible green algae. All of this is avoided with BBB by simply maintaining a consistent and appropriate FC/CYA ratio. So simple, yet so effective.

Richard

[rkelly]

Thanks so much for all your help and advice.....