chlorine levels

[CarlD]

You are right: It should feel really strong at the return, whatEVER the pressure is! Here's a case where you know your pool best. If I saw 13psi, I'd be worried something was blocking my drains. If I saw 7psi, I'd be sure of it. But that's because for me, 20psi is normal and 25psi is when the force of the return flow drops---same 5psi increase as you have.

Now, we still don't know what you consider a "high" chlorine level. Nor do we know your CYA (stabilizer) level. The CYA level affects what the ideal Chlorine level is, both for shocking and for maintenance.

You can increase the range (but not the accuracy) of your OTO test kit with distilled water--only steam distilled, not ionized. Chain drug stores and supermarkets have it by the gallon. You can search our forum for the CarlD Shot Glass method, but here's how it works.
mix one shot glass of pool water with one shot glass of distilled.
Mix and pour into your test cell (the gadget with the scale). Whatever the chlorine reading is, double it.
Or, you can use 2 shots of distilled to one of pool water. Now whatever the chlorine reads, TRIPLE it! If the scale reads to 5, you can now measure to 15.
3 shot: You can measure to 20ppm!

But.....you MUST be careful measuring and mixing as your accuracy goes down with each level of dilution.

And, yes, you really do need to keep your chlorine level at (probably) at least 15ppm if you want the pool to clear. Now I opened to lime green "jello" on Saturday. It was disgusting Today's Wednesday and my water is clear. Why? I hammered it with chlorine immediately and kept at it, intending first to kill the algae, THEN clean it up. I'm now using Tri-chlor (gasp!) that I had left around because my pH is a tad high and my CYA (stabilizer) was non-existent. As a temporary fix, GIVEN MY POOL'S CHEMISTRY, they are ideal. The tabs keep a constant level of chlorine, are increasing my CYA (which I need), and lowering my pH, which I also need. So I'm not bothering to add baking soda or borax at this time, sticking with chlorine.

For another poster with CYA of 60 and a pH of 7.0, I STRONGLY recommended they stay away from Tri-chlor tabs and Di-chlor powder. They don't need a lower pH and a higher CYA level, it will make things worse. Yet it's still simple to do.

All the best,

Carl

[fhorta]

I have been adding 8 lbs of granular tri-chlor to pool (20k gal) in the evening and 4 lbs in am. Started doing this on 5/10. in the morning cl reads dark orange (before adding 4lbs). in the evening before adding 8lbs cl reads dark yellow. pump beein going 24/7. psi at 10 after adding about 1/8 cup of de.

i can only brush in the am and the evening when get home from work. dont want to get too excited but seems algae clearing just a tad bit.

just a little worried about alll the cya in this granular chlorine. ph reads dark purple but since cl is so high, ph is not reliable, right? hopefully progress will continue.

[Watermom]

Unless I missed it, I didn't see what your cya reading is. Do you have it?

[madwil]

If you've been adding triclor, you've been adding CYA; to much will make it harder to kill algae!
Recommend you use straight bleach or liquid chlorine, at least til you kill the algae and find out what your CYA level is

[fhorta]

i dont have a current cya reading. havent had the chance to get a water test. i just been keeping cl dark orange to dark yellow.

last night when i got home psi was at 12. felt return jet pressure and felt little weak. i backwashed and light blue-ish stuff came out. psi went down to 7 and return jet pressure felt stronger . added de again and this morning psi at 9. and jet pressure still strong.

the color of the stuff i'm dealing with has definitely changed from a noticeable brown for the most part. now when i brush i see a whitish cloud rise up from the pool floor. so there is definitely stuff still on the floor. i am wondering if its the residue of the granular chlorine i been putting in.

what i plan on doing is doubling the clorine this evening (16lbs) because i thought about cya levels increasing meaning cl levels need to increase too to have affect. going to leave pump on one more night. tomorrow will take water sample and tested. plan on vacuuming to waste after wards. can't think of anything else to do.

i will be taking some distiilled water home tonight and will do a cl range read as instructed. if i do get a reading between 15-25ppm, which is recommended to fight this stuff, will this be the actual cl reading regardless of the cya levels? in other words, a cl level of 15ppm is exactly that regardless of the cya levels? my T2006 test kit is on the way. thanks

[aylad]

Yes, your chlorine level is what it reads, regardless of the CYA level. However, with all the trichlor you're adding, you are also greatly increasing your CYA. You would really be doing yourself a favor to switch to bleach or liquid chlorine. Remember that you're going to have to keep a higher level of chlorine in the pool the higher your CYA is. Eventually you're going to have to switch chlorine sources so your CYA doesnt get so high you can't compensate for it--now would be a good time to do that so there's one less problem to deal with

Janet

[fhorta]

sorry if i'm posting twice. didnt see my last reply posted.

i will try to get some liquid cl/bleach. kind of hard right now. if i'm not able to can i do partial drain and refill with fresh water to bring cya down? this off course would be after dealing with this algae.

also, if i am able to get some liquid cl, how much would i use? again, 20k gal inground pool. never used liquid before.

well i would imagine instructions would be on container of liquied cl. but what if i get store bleach. how many gallons of that stuff would i throw in? thanks again.

[fhorta]

the amazon link does not show amato industries as the seller for the k2006 test kit. it shows it for the k2006c kit. should i still buy from the non-amato sellers?

[Watermom]

I would buy the K2006C from Amato Industries if it were me. That is the same kit as the 2006 but just has a larger bottle of some of the reagents. (I'll let Ben know that the 2006 is not shown as from Amato at this time like it was and hopefully will be again. Maybe they have just sold all they had in stock since we have been referring so many people to buy that kit!)

Regarding the distilled water ------ distilled water should have NOTHING in it. Tap water has fluoride in it, but distilled does not.

Lastly, regarding the pool ---- can you turn off the pump and let everything settle and then slowly vacuum to see if you can pick up whatever the silt is?