Free chlorine is non existent

[Mdpools]

Thanks for the posts. User name means I live in MD and have a pool. Not very original, I know.

Pool is in ground. 30k gallons. DE filter.

Ok results from test 1.

CYA is 10
Tot chlorine is 3.1
Free chlorine is 0.8
ph is 6.9
Alk is 87
Hardness is 265
That is all they listed.

Put in 16 lbs of Balance pak 100 to bring up alk
Put in 2 lbs of ph up
Put in 6 lbs of CYA

Put in 15 bags of burn out extreme (calcium hypochlorite)
38 oz of algaecide

Do not have CYA from last fall. Pool water is crystal clear.



==============================
5 days later.

Sat index is minus 0.7 no change from previous
TDS is 1700 (was 1600)
Tot chlorine is 1
Free chlorine is 0
Ph is 7
Alk is 78 (went down)
Hardness is 246

Put in 22 lbs of alk up (balance pak 100)
1 lb of ph up
8 bags of calcium hypo (granular shock)

Using test strips. Showing no free chlorine.


[ combined multiple posts - moderator ]

[PoolDoc]

Ok, that's enough for a start.

#1 - Stop trusting your dealer (BioGuard?); stop worrying about alkalinity or pool "balance", at least for now.
#2 - ignore your TDS results.
#3 - get a cheap OTO / phenol red test kit (Walmart, whatever)
#4 - get 20 gallons of plain 6% household bleach; start adding them 5 gallons at a time IN THE EVENING within 2 hours of sunset.
#5 - use your OTO kit to test 1 hour after adding bleach, and again in the AM, but no more than 2 hours after sunrise.
#6 - report results here.
#7 - keep your pH between 7 and 7.8, but do not use any other chemicals.
#8 - if it can fit your budget, get a K2006 or 2006C kit for future testing (Amazon links below)

Ben

[CarlD]

I have good news and bad news for you.
1) The good news is you can replace pH Up and Balance Pak 100 cheaply.
2) The bad news is pH Up is EXACTLY the same chemical as Arm&Hammer Washing Soda (in the yellow box) for $.80lb and Balance Pak 100 is EXACTLY the same chemical as Arm&Hammer Baking Soda in the orange box, also about $.80/lb. And both are in your supermarket.
3) More good news: Ben is always right, unless we disagree, in which case I'm right (JUST KIDDING, BEN!) You can't go wrong following his advice. Ben left out that to raise your pH, which he told you to do, you should use Borax (20 Mule Team Borax). Borax is usually right next to washing soda in the supermarket. If Ben wants you to raise pH by alternate means he'll update this.

Carl

[Mdpools]

Having a hard time replying to thread from iPad. Anyway I completed steps 1-5. The first reading after the initial 5 gallons of bleach was 7.2 ph and 1.5 chlorine. I will update this thread as things progress. Thank you guys.

[PoolDoc]

Sounds good. -ben

[Mdpools]

Night 2. Five more gallons of bleach. Reading 1 hour later are ph 7.2 and chlorine 1.0.

Next day chlorine is still very low. Will continue for 2 more days.

Question, any idea what is eating up all the chlorine? Going back to the 20 plus bags I put in last week? Very curious about that. Thanks.

[PoolDoc]

Without stabilizer, you can lose 90% of the chlorine in your pool (regardless of how much is there) in 2 hours of full sun. There are lots of variables here -- how clear is your water, how "full" is the sun, how deep is the pool -- but you get the idea, I hope.

Also, if you HAD stabilizer in your pool last year and didn't, when you opened this year, and did NOT drain your pool, you may be WORSE than unstabilized: you may have no stabilizer AND have ammonia left over which bacteria 'pooped' out after eating your stabilizer.

Best way to check: add chlorine late in the day; test levels an hour later and then again in the morning within 2 hours of sunrise. If there's a big difference, you have some sort of goo in the pool that's using up your chlorine.

In general: lose chlorine at night = goo; lose chlorine during day = many things but often, no/low stabilizer.

Ben