How much chlorine is too much??

[chili]

Hi all,
almost time to start swimming again... I hate winter
Anyway I opened my pool last week and the water looked pretty good, a little cloudy but otherwise good. I put in 2 gallons of 12% and 4 lbs of baking soda and 16lbs (yes 16) of Borax. I have a 22k gallon IG vinyl
My #s are
FC 24
CC 0
PH <6.8
TA 110
CYA 90

The CYA was over 100 so I drained about 1-1/2' of water and refilled
I also got the water tested at 2 pool stores one said the cya was 100 the other said 0 I guess I need to just trust my testing. I am using the PS234 kit but it is over a year old

I guess my main questions are
1)The chlorine does not seem to be dissipating How long before it is safe to swim in?
2) Why is the ph not going up?

Sorry, I feel like Im rambling

TIA for any insight

Kevin

[aylad]

With a CYA of 100, it'll take a few days for the chlorine to dissipate. If the CYA were lower, it wouldn't take quite so long. I would recommend a series of drain/refills to lower the CYA to around 40 or so, then stop using the trichlor tabs to keep it from getting that high again. Also keep in mind that the CYA test is a turbidity test, so cloudy water can make it test higher than it actually is. Might want to shock your pool and clear it up, THEN retest for CYA.

Also, your pH result is usually falsely high when chlorine levels are high, so the fact that it's that low after additions of Borax means it was probably VERY low when you started adding the Borax. How long did you wait after adding the Borax, and did you broadcast it or put it into your filter? If you put it in the filter, did you backwash, maybe backwashing it out before it had a chance to get to your pool? Using trichlor tabs will drive your pH way, way down if you don't keep an eye on it--that's why we recommend it only for vacations, establishing baseline pH and CYA levels, etc. and using bleach for routine chlorination and shocking.

Janet

[chili]

Thanks for the reply,
I used The tri chlor tabs all last year but I wont be any more, I had a problem keeping the ph up last year so now I know why. The pool is really clear now so I will check the cya again, I think I am out of the solution but will check it as soon as I get some more. To answer your question I broadcasted (is that a word?) the first box and put the last 3 thru the skimmer and I have not backwashed yet. Should I keep adding more Borax ??

Thanks Again

Kevin

[aylad]

Yes, if it's still below 7.0, I would continue to add Borax until you get to at least 7.0. Even if you overshoot it, slightly high pH is much less of a problem and causes less damage than very low pH, which can ruin your liner.

I would keep the filter running 24/7 for a few days, too--it's entirely possible that the amount of baking soda and borax powders you added are what is making your pool cloudy.

Janet

[chem geek]

24 ppm FC with 90 ppm CYA (at pH 6.8) is technically equivalent to 0.5 ppm FC with no CYA (at pH 7.5) so isn't as strong as most indoor pools. It's safe to swim in in terms of the chlorine level as long as you don't drink lots of pool water (the FC is the relevant number in that case). However, the low pH is not good and since we don't know how low it actually is, I wouldn't swim in it until it gets to at least 7.0 (even then this will sting the eyes).

Richard

[chili]

OK Thanks I am draining it some now and then I will refill it and start over
Thank You