First appearance of Algae

[pgeifert]

Janet,

I will shock the pool with the Lithochlor and get a test kit. I have been using bleach up to now and had great results. I guess i need to get the level up to 25ppm and then maintain it at 8.

Thanks,

Paul

[aylad]

Sounds like a plan.

Maintaining your chlorine levels "that high" will not be irritating to swimmers. A pool with CYA of 100 and a chlorine of 8 ppm is no more irritating that a CYA of 30 with chlorine of 3. The CYA makes the chlorine less aggressive (hence the need to up the chlorine levels when the CYA levels go up). You can even swim at shock level if you want...it might irritate the eyes a little, and I certainly wouldn't wear new, or Lycra, suits, but it wouldn't hurt you. The elastic in the newer fashion suits doesn't hold up well to high chlorine, though, so wear an old suit.

As far as your CYA level goes, you can drain/refill part of the water if you want to, to lower the CYA levels--it would allow you to run lower chlorine levels. However, I run my pool at 90-100 CYA on purpose because I lose substantially less chlorine to the sun that way than I do at lower levels. It also allows me to dose the pool every 2 or 3 days, instead of everyday and still keep my chlorine where it needs to be. As long as you keep it in the ranges per the chart, for me, the higher CYA pool is easier to run. The only downside is if you have an algae bloom--it takes an immense amount of chlorine to clear up, but I find it easier to keep the algae blooms away with the slower-disappearing chlorine from the higher CYA levels.

Your choice.

Janet

[PoolDoc]

membership upgraded. -ben