Can't hold FC

[nepsa]

I opened my pool two weeks ago and my water is very clear, however, I can not get my FC to remain after shocking it about 10 times. My pool store told me to use 8 lbs. to shock that I had a chlorine block. I did so at 6PM that night, however the next morning, I had no FC.
I have an inground pool with 30, 000 gals. My Cyanuric acids are high so I stopped using and products with stabilizers two season ago. I am using a product called Poollife/Calcium Hypocholrite. The odd thing is I had a higher level of CYA last year and had no problem in maintaining FC levels. Listed below are my last test by the pool store. Their suggestion is to keep shocking , but after about 50 lbs of shock, I am not sure that will correct the problem. I did get some 6% liquid chlorine but I have no idea how much to use to shock .

FC .04
TC 1.69
CC 1.65
Tot Alkalinty (Adjusted) 81
pH 7.4
calcium hardness 484
CYA 94
copper 0
iron 0
tot disolved solids 1900
sat. index 0.1

[PoolDoc]

. . . use 8 lbs. to shock that I had a chlorine block. I did so at 6PM that night, however the next morning, I had no FC.

. . . . The odd thing is I had a higher level of CYA last year and had no problem in maintaining FC levels.

Nothing odd about it.

I'm guessing your pool opened 'slimey' -- maybe not green, but with slimey sides?

Regardless what has almost certainly happened is that much of your missing CYA is now ammonia. When you add chlorine, it combines with the ammonia and forms chloramines, including monochloramine. The mono-c is the reason your pool is so clear -- mono-c is what you get when you use Yellow OUT or Green to Clean. But once you get the CC's and add more chlorine, you then oxidized the CCs to salt + nitrogen gas.

There are three options:
#1 - Buy a lot of bleach, and add X gallons each evening, till you stop loosing chlorine overnight, and have CCs of 1 ppm or less.
#2 - Buy an ammonia test kit (or strips), see how much ammonia you have and THEN do either #1 above or #3 below. You may be able to buy ammonia strips at a pet store in the aquarium section.
#3 - Drain and refill. (Of course, you usually can't drain a IG liner pool safely; draining AG pools can be risky, but draining concrete pools is usually a problem only when the pool is in low wet ground.)

[nepsa]

On option number one, any suggestions on the amount of bleach I should add. I read that 1 gal of 6% would raise my ppm by 2. If that is true with 30,000 gal. how high should I shock it? I like the first option as a start. I will get the test strips to test the ammonia.

[PoolDoc]

+ 2 gallons of 6% bleach will add 2 ppm of chlorine to a 30,000 gallon pool.
+ Given your situation, I would start with a 10 gallon dose each evening. If your chlorine levels (OTO after 1 minute) the following evening is 3 ppm or less, repeat. If it's more than 3 ppm, use 5 gallons. If it's orange in color, skip it.

Ben

[nepsa]

Thanks, I will start tonight. I did get an ammonia test kit. The reading was .50 ppm. What reading do i want to get to?
Also, I have ordered a Taylor test kit, but it will not be here until July 15th.

[PoolDoc]

Once you get to a zero ammonia level, you will likely no longer lose chlorine overnight.

By the way, many strips are not very accurate. You might want to test your tap water -- which should be zero ammonia -- just to make sure the strips you got can actually tell the difference between 0.0 and 0.5 ppm.

But, otherwise, the instructions I gave you earlier still hold.

Ben

[CarlD]

Slight correction: 1 gallon of bleach adds 2ppm to 30,000 gallons, not 2 gallons, which would add 4ppm. Just a typo.

HOWEVER, as recommended, the 10 gallons adds 20ppm of chlorine to 30,000 gallons and that is EXACTLY how much you need to shock your pool with its high CYA level of 94.

Carl

[nepsa]

Thanks for the correction. Good progress after two nights of 10 gallons. After the first night, i was able to hold between .65 and 1.3 for 24 hrs.according to my liquid test kit. This morning (8 hrs later) I am testing 10 plus (Taylor Kit not arrived yet).

Question on the ammonia test. First, I purchased the liquid test kit from Pet Smart. It has a excellent color chart with a white background that allows you to get a true color comparison. My question is should I use the chart for fresh water or salt water.
I read somewhere that bleach does add salt. If it is freah water, I have gone from .50 to .25. If it is salt water, I am .0

I feel good about the progress. I am sure my recycle guy will wonder what I am doing with all the bleach.

[PoolDoc]

Your use of bleach wouldn't be enough to make the water "salt".

Regarding bleach bottles, I've seem some pictures of them stacked WAY high when folks had to clean up a swamp on a large pool.

In a few places you can buy fresh industrial bleach (10 - 15%) in 3 - 5 gallon containers.

[chem geek]

For every 10 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) added by ANY source of chlorine, the chlorine when consumed/used will result in 8 ppm salt. For bleach or chlorinating liquid, they add an additional 8 ppm salt upon addition. With 2 ppm FC per day chlorine usage, this means that bleach or chlorinating liquid will add around 100 ppm salt per month if there were no water dilution, so not very much given that salt water chlorine generator pools are 3000 ppm.

[nepsa]

I think the FC issue has been resolved. I now have no ammonia. I used 10 gals of 6% bleach two night and 5 gals the third night. 33 hours later I have a FC 8.67 and TC 9.19 and combined .52

I'm I correct in thinking I need to stay with bleach rather than continue using the Poollife/Calcium Hypocholrite since my Calcium Hardness 475 and my Cyanuric Acid is 68?

[Yeggim]

...I'm I correct in thinking I need to stay with bleach rather than continue using the Poollife/Calcium Hypocholrite since my Calcium Hardness 475 and my Cyanuric Acid is 68?Yes, you are correct. Your thinking is very good and on the right track. :)

I imagine it must sound like a broken record sometimes. Bleach, bleach, bleach. But it's the safest thing to add when chlorine is needed. It just adds chlorine, water and a minute amount of salt. Until new posters come back with water test results, liquid chlorine (bleach) is recommended for just that reason.

Then there's situations like yours. Liquid chlorine then becomes the only chlorine source that should be used. Looks like you done your homework.

[nepsa]

Thanks so much for your help. By the way, I went to the pool store to get a test from them. They were clueless to the ammonia issue. When I started to share about the bleach, he tried to change the subject, but I did not let him off the hook.

Now that I have my problem corrected, I have the time to start reading the very value information your forum provides.
Until the next time---have a good one!