My water test results

[kingbud]

Hey all, how's this look?

CYA 80, TA 170, Ph 7.4, chlorine over 5

The guy at the pool store said that my initial opening shock of 4 lbs of di-chlor is probably the reason the chlorine is so high, and it should eventually dissipate- dichlor takes longer. Maybe there's nothing wrong with the feeder after all... Also my initial algae treatment was Leslies Algae Control, which is poly-ethelyne dichloride, so there's di-chlor again. He didn't act like the CYA of 80 was that big a deal... just lower the TA a bit and should be in good shape.

What do ya think? I know one thing, I like the idea of liquid chlorine for sanitation.

Thanks, and come on over!! Beach Party!!! Beer, brats, and blue blue lips! (water temp is hovering around 60°F)

[ivyleager]

Bud,

What's your pool type and volume?

Ph and alk look great, don't see calcium listed (not important for vinyl pools unless you use a heater).

I'd stay away from any more di-chlo or tri-chlor products (granules or pucks). They will add more CYA to your pool, which will diminish chlorine's effectiveness. Your chorine level of 5 is not too high, with a CYA of 80, it needs to run smidge on the higher end. Stick with bleach and you'll be fine.

CaryB

[Sherra]

With a CYA reading of 80, you need to have a MINIMUM chlorine reading of 5 to keep algae at bay anyway, so a reading above 5 is where you want to be!

What type of pool do you have? Vinyl liner? Gunite? Fiberglass?

[waterbear]

Hey all, how's this look?

CYA 80, TA 170, Ph 7.4, chlorine over 5

Also my initial algae treatment was Leslies Algae Control, which is poly-ethelyne dichloride, so there's di-chlor again.

Poly-ethelyne dichloride is polyquat (actually poly [oxyethylene (dimethyliminio) ethylene (dimethyliminio) ethylene dichloride] ), not di-chlor It is actually the only algecide really recommended on this forum. Di-chlor is Sodium Dichloro-s-triazinetrione Dilhydrate.

your cya level of 80 is not something to loose sleep over but IMHO, I would stop using any form of stabilized chorine (di-chor or tri-chlor) now and use bleach or another form of unstabilized chlorine and adjust my levels according to the chart on this thread
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365

[kingbud]

This forum is GREAT! Excellent, informed commentary from all sides!

(Myself, I'm runnin about 18,500 give or take, in an inground vinyl Polynesian installed circa 1978. This will be our 10th year and it has been wonderful- don't see how I ever lived without one. Looking forward to another semester of dream state manatee emulation and experimental buoyancy exercises.)

But I digress. I started having trouble with "high chlorine" last year and suspected that my brand new Hayward CL200 was defective, ie, the control valve or O-rings: wide swings from zero to wide open, or so it seemed, with no in-between. Now I am becoming persaded that the problem stemmed from the use of stabilized chlorine, and associated buildup of CYA. I of course used 3" tri-chlor tablets with occasional supplemental hits of di-chlor granules.

How refreshing and liberating, to learn that plain old regular bleach is the preferred method of chlorination!

I'm forever blowing bubbles...