Too Much Chlorine!!

[pkhall]

Hubby decided he knew how to clean up the pool. Did not cover our 16x32 inground vinyl pool. It was a deep dark green when we started trying to clear it. Over the course of four days he put 10lb hth shock and 26 gallons of 8.25 bleach. I ordered a Taylor test kit that you recommended hoping to be able to post some numbers for you to help me. However, it is still apparently so high that the test kit won't work. I can't get the pink to turn colorless on the chlorine test. Is there anything we can do? or just wait for chlorine levels to go down? Our pool is now a light shade of green. We have about 23,000 gallons of water in the pool and using a Hayward S244t filter and a 1.5 hp water ace pump.

[Leehicks79]

Using the bleach calculator, the 26 gallons of bleach alone would have your FC near 100ppm! You would need 200 drops from the test kit to get it to turn clear (again, not factoring in the chlorine added from the shock product). Water should be clearing up...I would test again in a couple days. If you know your CYA level you can use the best guess chart in bens signature to know where normal and shock levels for your pool should be once the high levels dissipate.

[kelemvor]

On the positive side, the chlorine will drop on it's own. Some will be consumed eating up algae or anything else that was in the water. Some will be broken down by the sun. If your liner was colored or had a pattern, there's a good chance it's going to fade. I'm not sure I'd swim in it for a day or two.

[pkhall]

Free Chlorine 23
PH 7.4
Alkalinity 140
Calcium Hardness 100
CYA I cannot get a good reading on that. Its over 100 even when I tried diluting with 1/2 distilled water.

Any ideas on what I can do? Pool is still a light shade of green. Still cannot see the bottom. There is lots of white sudsy looking stuff on the top of the water.

[Watermom]

Try diluting your CYA test down further. One part pool water, two parts distilled water and multiply the results by 3. See what that does for you.

[kelemvor]

Free Chlorine 23
PH 7.4
Alkalinity 140
Calcium Hardness 100
CYA I cannot get a good reading on that. Its over 100 even when I tried diluting with 1/2 distilled water.

Any ideas on what I can do? Pool is still a light shade of green. Still cannot see the bottom. There is lots of white sudsy looking stuff on the top of the water.

Well that's a horse of a different color. FC of 23 is not all that high for a cya of over 200. In fact, you need to get it to at LEAST 25 just to shock the pool with a CYA of 100. http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/best-guess-swimming-pool-chlorine-chart.html#a You need to consistently maintain a FC of 25 (minimum, since you don't really know your CYA level). Thank hubby for dumping all that chlorine in. Given the CYA level it was probably a good thing.

If it were me, I'd start doing a PARTIAL drain and refil. Say 25% of the water at a time. Draining all the water from an inground pool can damage it, so don't drain it all at once. Keep doing that until you get that CYA under 100. You can manage a pool with a high CYA but it will likely be a lot more difficult.

DO NOT use any more Dichlor or Trichlor (hth shock). Both of those contain CYA, and are likely the reason it's so high. It will have to be straight bleach or liquid chlorine for you.

Get more chlorine in there, dilute, be mindful of your chlorine source.

[pkhall]

Free Chlorine 20
PH 7.2
Alkalinity 110
CYA 180 (I used the method suggested of diluting and using 1 part pool water 2 parts distilled and multiplying by 3)

We have ran the filter day and night for over a week. We started with a deep, dark, swampy green. It didn't take long to turn to a lighter color green but still can't see the bottom. You can't see more than a couple inches into the water. It's now a light shade of green but very cloudy.

[Watermom]

With a CYA reading of 180, your shock level will be 25ppm. Since your pool is still green, go ahead and add enough bleach to get back to 25. In your pool, each quart of 8.25% bleach will add about 1ppm of chlorine and each of the 121-oz bottles will add about 3.5ppm. Use those as a reference to help you figure out how much bleach to add.

While you are working to clear this up, test your pool each evening after the sun is off the pool. Add enough bleach to take the chlorine level back up to 25ppm. Run your pump 24/7 right now and backwash the filter as needed. Also, brush the pool while the chlorine is high.

Continue to keep your pool at shock level until two conditions are met:
1) You can go from sundown one evening to within an hour of sunrise the next morning without losing more than 1ppm of chlorine. AND --
2) You have no more than 0.5ppm of CC.

Then, you can let the chlorine drift down but always keep it between 8-15ppm after that or else you'll get algae again. (Did you look at the chart that Kevin linked for you in post #6 above?) Only use bleach from now. No trichlor pucks or dichlor shock powder. Both contain CYA and you certainly don't want any more in there!

Your pH is ok at 7.2 but keep an eye on it and if it drops any further, use some Borax to bump it back up. (Never let it drop below 7.0.)

Keep us posted how your progress is going.

[pkhall]

Free Chlorine 27
Combined Chlorine 1
PH 7.4
Alkalinity 110
CYA 120 (I diluted with 1/2 distilled water x 2) We have drained drained a little water at a time and refilling. It is slowly helping.
Calcium Hardness 100

Over the period of 2 1/2 weeks we have went from a deep dark green to a blue. Our water is now a bluish color. You can finally see the jets on the side of the pool and some shades on the bottom where there are a few patches of dirt. But, it is still extremely cloudy. We have kept filter running 24/7. I have added bleach each evening to keep the chlorine up to 25ppm after you told me that was our shock level with our CYA. It still does not seem to be clearing up. I'm starting to give up hope....any other ideas? Do I need to add more bleach and get it up higher than the 25ppm?

[Watermom]

Are you diluting your water sample before running the pH test? With the K2006 kit, if your chlorine level is higher than 10ppm, your pH test will be inaccurate. (With other kits besides the Taylors, the pH test is inaccurate when chlorine levels are higher than 5ppm.) If you haven't been, do so by mixing a 1/4 cup pool water with 1/4 cup distilled water. Then, use that to run the pH test but you don't have to multiply the results by anything. Just read it.

Let's do a test on your filter to make sure that it is working properly. Get a small bag of DE. Add a small amount to the skimmer and watch the return jet to see if any white powder is shooting back out. Report back with your result. If you see it coming out of the jet, then your filter needs work. If not, the DE may actually help you sand filter catch some of the stuff better. More about it here:> http://pool9.net/de-test/

[pkhall]

When I diluted with distilled water the PH still appears to be about 7.4. I've not been able to go get any DE yet to try that.