Re: Cant Get FC To Increase
Something is consuming your chlorine. You should only need one scoop of the powder, two at most and it then turns pink. If two doesn't do it, you have no free chlorine.
You are going to need a lot of chlorine. If you have a pool store that sells 5 gallon carboys of 12.5% liquid chlorine, I'd get a couple of those--and a nozzle (about another 5 bucks). You didn't say how many gallons your pool is but you need to hammer it and calculate how much LC you need to shock it. I think your shock level is 20ppm, but if you cannot reach that, you need more chlorine.
Let's start with that.
Don't go to a pool store for advice or they'll start loading you up with "shock" which will raise your CH or lower your pH and raise your CYA. Then they'll try to sell you phosphate remover. What you need is chlorine and lots of it, either as bleach or Liquid Chlorine (same thing, only stronger).
Carl
Re: Cant Get FC To Increase
Just a note. He said his pool is 18,300 gallons.
According to the pool calculator, you'll need either:
4 gallons 3 quarts or 6.3 (96 oz) jugs of 6% bleach or
5 gallons 2 quarts or 7.2 (96 oz) jugs of 5.25% bleach or
2 gallons 1 quart or 3 (96 oz) jugs of 12.5% liquid chlorine
to get to a shock level of 16 ppm
or
6 gallons 3 quarts or 9 (96 oz) jugs of 5.25% bleach or
6 gallons or 7.9 (96 oz) jugs of 6% bleach or
2 gallons 3 quarts or 3.8 (96 oz) jugs of 12.5% liquid chlorine
to get to a shock level of 20 ppm
The CYA/Chlorine table from Ben recommends shock level of 15 ppm for CYA between 30 and 50 and the table from the pool calculator site recommends shock level of 16 for CYA of 40 and 20 for CYA of 50.
But, since I'm new, and something is obviously consuming your chlorine, I can't be of much help to tell you how much it'll take to get a reading for FC.
Carl, please correct me if I misspoke on anything.
Re: Cant Get FC To Increase
I get exactly 3 gallons of 12.5% to reach FC=20 (2.96gals)
Instead of a long list, start with either 3 gallons of 12.5 % or 7 gallons of 6%
If something's consuming the chlorine, going over the recommended shock level won't hurt--it will drop quickly anyway.