Losing chlorine

[joecus]

The water looks great. My cl and fr cl are both at the max on the scale in the taylor kit. I must be using the kit wrong since I only see a 5 at the top of the "cl" and "10" under the bromine column.. You mention keeping the levels higher, how do I do this with the kit? How do I differentiate the higher numbers?

[aylad]

The "shotglass" method is here: Take one part pool water and one equal part distilled water and mix these together. Run your test with this water and then multiply your result by 2. If that doesn't take it high enough for you to get a reading, use one part pool water and two parts distilled and then multiply by 3, etc. (The dilution method does lose accuracy with each dilution but it is better than nothing when you have no other way to get a reading with such a high cl.)


This will help you force your kit to test higher chlorine numbers than 5 ppm. I agree with Watermom, if you've already replaced 1/2 your water and STILL have a CYA of 100+, there's no telling how high it actually was. Rather than drain it all, just drain another 1/3-1/2 like Watermom suggested, just to drop it down into manageable ranges.

Or, as an alternative, you can just run your normal chlorine no lower than 8 ppm, staying in the 8-15 ppm range. It's hard to do, though, consistently.

I absolutely would not use anymore trichlor pucks or dichlor to shock--definitely only bleach if it were my pool!!

Janet

[joecus]

Hello all, today I emptied and replaced 1/3 of water, cya didn't move and is still way above 100. Is there anything else that could be causing this? I've been using bleach only. How much water can I safely remove without destroying my liner? Thanks

============================================

Hello all, I'm really baffled. Like I said, I've been using bleach instead of chlorine and my cya is still going up. I just looked at the bleach bottle and it is brand name "Home Basics". I can't find any percentages to determine the strength. However, I did notice something I found suspicious. It states, "contains sodium hypochlorite", "contains no phosphorus". Can that sodium hypochlorite be raising my cya? Please help. Thank you very much.

============================================

OK, sorry for the previous post. Bleach = sodium hypochlorite. So, I will push forward with another partial drain. What is the ideal cya? Can anyone recommend a place to get refills for my test kit? I'm going to need r013 soon.

[PoolDoc]

Hi Joe;

Sodium hypochlorite adds sodium and chlorine to the pool, but no stabilizer (cyanuric acid, CYA). However, you need to find a bleach that shows % -- should be around 6% sodium hypochlorite. Some highly dilute bleaches are sold 'cheap', but are actually a rather bad deal.

Regarding CYA and draining, with most kits it's very hard to accurately measure CYA levels above 100. In other words, your level could have been 300 ppm and you may have now reduced it to 200 ppm . . . but it would 'test' the same. If you do a 1/3 drain again, you'll reduce (hypothetically) that 200 to 130 or so, and STILL look pretty much the same.

As to how far you can safely go, without knowing more about your pool, I can't tell. If you want to take some pictures and email them to me, I'll post them and reply. (poolforum AT gmail DOT com)

Ben
"PoolDoc"

[joecus]

The pool is crystal clear and I'm keeping the chlorine up high. I know my ph will change when I do a refill but why else would it go down. I'm having trouble keeping the ph up, it drops to low 7's, I add borax and it goes up to good range. Still losing a lot of chlorine. If I have an algae trying to bloom, would the high cya reduce the effectiveness in the bleach killing the algea?

[Watermom]

You'll have to shock really high if your cya is high to do the same job as a lower chlorine level in a lower cya pool. But, as long as you get to shock level, the chlorine will kill the algae. Not sure why your pH is dropping. Have you added anything other than bleach to the pool?

[joecus]

You'll have to shock really high if your cya is high to do the same job as a lower chlorine level in a lower cya pool. But, as long as you get to shock level, the chlorine will kill the algae. Not sure why your pH is dropping. Have you added anything other than bleach to the pool?

Wow, it's so hot. My power just came back after 24 hours out. No sleep last night. I was in the pool at midnight, 3am and 5am. Today, my ph is 7.8. I am not doing the refill until the weather breaks here in NYC. I will keep the CL high to compensate for the high cya. I will let you know if the PH drops again. Does the filter play a role in killing the algae? I've been running it about 12 hours a day.