Orange color in Chlorine test

This week my pool got cloudy. I do have dirt on the bottom lately which i haven't done anything about since I don't have a vacuum. I borrowed one and will use today or tomorrow. That is just a background, my problem/question is that I tested the water chlorine and pH with the hth tester and this is the first time the chlorine turned orange in color. Sometimes I have a high chlorine reading, but i don't know how to read this. I've been using the chlorine and borax daily and, up to this week, all was good. Any thoughts what I messed up?

I have an Intex 18' x 48" with a A cartridge filter system. I leave the system on 6 hours a day typically.

Thank you.

Rich

An orange reading just means the chlorine is really high. This chart can help you to interpret off the scale OTO readings:> http://pool9.net/oto-chart/

Do you need to add Borax daily? That seems very unlikely. With a chlorine reading over 5ppm, (over 10ppm with a Taylor kit), pH readings will be inaccurate. But, you can dilute the sample. Mix one part pool water with an equal part of distilled water and then run the pH test with that mix.

Thank you. I will lay off the chlorine and vacuum the pool.
I thought I read that chlorine and borax were one for one. I'll lay off the borax until as needed.

Please report your pH results after following WaterMom's dilution instructions. Your pH may be very high.

I tested the pH with the distiller water. It was between 6.8 and 7.2. I than tested the chlorine and it was dark yellow, almost orange again. I haven't added anything in a few days, should I be holding off still?

Not quite sure about part of your message above --- beach pics/sending to each family separately, etc.

At any rate, if your chlorine is still dark yellow to orange, you don't need more chlorine right now.

Thanks, Watermom. My next question will be how to edit posts....

Click on edit button in lower right corner. ;)

Btw, if you post and catch an error later, you only have 2 hours to edit before it is permanent. I use "advanced reply" so I can preview the post before clicking submit.

Mods can edit anything with no time restrictions so I edited for you. :)