1st Test, 1st steps

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

It does.

BTW, I think I know what you mean, but free chlorine plus combined chlorine equals total chlorine.

So, hopefully this is what you mean.

FC-5.5
CC-0.0
TC-5.5

No reason to report TC here. Most of us can do the math.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

Once you pass the OCLT, follow Gene's advice from yesterday and raise CYA to 50 ppm. Yo will need a bit more chlorine to reach the target, and you'll have to maintain a higher FC according to the FC/CYA Levels, but daily FC loss will be less. You can expect to lose between 2-4 ppm per day.

A couple recommendations moving foward:

1. Water softener: Do you have a whole-home water softener. Connecting your fill line to a WS will prevent rising CH levels. When water evaporates, it leaves behind calcium. When you top off, you add more CH. With hard water, this accelerates CH rise and you may need to exchange water annually. Use of softened water and avoidance of calhypo (and other solid forms of chlorine) means you may never need to drain again.
2. SWG: During swim season, you'll need to add liquid chlorine each day. With an SWG, there's an initial investment, but it pays for itself within a couple years. The primary benefit is no more lugging jugs around. You set the SWG and test every couple to few days to make sure its taking care of daily FC loss.

Let us know if you need/want recommendations. Lots of threads here on SWGs.

 

[ramahon]

Water softener: Do you have a whole-home water softener.

We do but I don’t think there is any reasonable way to connect them without an unsightly line across the property. It would be a 120ft run, minimum, with lots of obstructions.

SWG: During swim season, you'll need to add liquid chlorine each day

Does FC loss become stable enough where I can move to testing every couple of days and rely on a standard add? Or are the swings as aggressive as 2ppm one day and 4ppm the next?

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

We do but I don’t think there is any reasonable way to connect them without an unsightly line across the property. It would be a 120ft run, minimum, with lots of obstructions.

Do you have a fill line plumbed to the pool? If so, where on the property is the water connected? You can consider a standalone unit like the one below. You would need some sort of shelter, a water source, an electrical connection, and access to sewer to drain the effluent. The other option is an RV water softener. You could see the link in my signature. It's not the best method as it does require frequent manual regeneration/flushing.

Rheem 32,000 Grain Preferred Home Water Softener for Hard Water and Iron Reduction RHS32 - The Home Depot

The Rheem PREFERRED 32,000 Grain Water Softening System provides households of up to 4 people with the high-quality water you expect for your home. The built-in Rheem Learning Technology learns your water

www.homedepot.com

Does FC loss become stable enough where I can move to testing every couple of days and rely on a standard add? Or are the swings as aggressive as 2ppm one day and 4ppm the next?

Daily FC loss should remain fairly stable throughout the swim season. It will increase a bit towards the middle of the season and then decrease towards the end. Bather load and other environmental factors may occasionally drive up FC needs. Once you get a grasp on your pool's needs, you'll find there's no need for daily testing. I generally test FC and pH every 2-3 days, TA every week, and CH and CYA monthly.

 

[ramahon]

Do you have a fill line plumbed to the pool? If so, where on the property is the water connected? You can consider a standalone unit like the one below. You would need some sort of shelter, a water source, an electrical connection, and access to sewer to drain the effluent.

Yup, have a plumbed auto fill. Source of water is t’d off the main in the front of the house and run specifically for pool and irrigation through a separate regulator / backflow. I could do a standalone unit as I have power readily available but we’re on septic, no tie in nearby. Will check out the RV solution.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

but we’re on septic, no tie in nearby

This is my problem too.

 

[ramahon]

Test from this morning. Hadn't touched MA yet until after these test results. Applied ~40oz of MA to drop pH to 7.4 range. Will test against tonight.

FC - 7
pH - 8.2+
TA - 140
CH - 175
CYA - 25
CSI .63

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

Looks good. Don't allow pH to get above 8.0. Try to get to a slightly negative CSI. This will be easier to achieve with time, as TA drops.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

I should have also mentioned, we round CYA to the next 10 so call it 30. It may be a good idea to raise CYA to 50 ppm.

 

[ramahon]

Will be getting CYA to 50 in the next day or two, pending purchase.

Don't allow pH to get above 8.0

Copy on pH - was a little surprised to see the .4+ gain. The only thing I can think of is my spa spillover into the pool during the pump / cleaning cycle, otherwise zero aeration right now. Is it recommended or even possible to disable that? I have reduced my pump time to 6 hours vs. my previous of 10.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

Your TA is higher than recommended. That contributes to accelerated pH rise. Your TA will come down each time you add MA. The spillover is helping you to lower TA by also accelerating pH rise (through aeration). Keep it as is and see if things stabilize as TA drops. The only thing that is working against you now is the higher TA of your top off water. My chemistry is very similar to yours, and I use my spillover to help keep Ta stable.

 

[ramahon]

Pool Math tells me I need 11lbs of Calcium Chloride to take me from 175ppm -> 250ppm. I'll split applications of it over today and tomorrow. Any concerns with me adding CYA via sock at the same time?

I've been averaging 3ppm FC drop per day - pool gets 100% sun. Hoping taking CYA to 50 will cut that in half!

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

Go easy on the calcium chloride. I wouldn't target over 225. Your CH level will increase quickly with evaporation. I'm not aware of any issues with adding CYA and calcium chloride at the same time.