Chlorine Locked?

[Watermom]

How much bleach are you putting in at a time? How often are you adding it? Keep an eye on that pH. Don't let it drop below 7.0.

[aylad]

You're not quite finished until uou can go from sundown to sunup without losing more than 1 ppm chlorine. Even though the ppool is clear you may still have a little more time left before you achieve that step....

Janet

[reesie]

Okay, I received the Taylor kit 2 days ago. I tested last night at 9:00pm
fcl 6
tcl 25
ccl 19
alk 160
ch 250
ph 7.8
cya 50
I tested again this morning at 6:00 am:
fcl 6
tcl 19
ccl 19
I didn't lose any from sundown to sunup but I lost a lot from 5:00 pm til 9:00 pm. I put 4 gallons bleach in at 5:00 pm.
Now what do I need to do to lower the fcl & tcl and get rid of the ccl? Do I need to lower the ph to below 7.6? Is that the next step? Would I go back to putting a non chlorine shock in?

[CarlD]

For the moment, don't worry about pH. Yeah, it's high, but that may be due to the TC being so high and it's falsely elevating the reading.

Do not, not, NOT add anything but bleach/Liquid Chlorine at this point unless Ben, and ONLY Ben, AKA PoolDoc says to do so!


In my opinion, you need to raise your FC to 15, minimum, and keep it there. Given that your CYA is 50, at the top end of the 30-50 scale, you could even take FC to 20ppm safely.

You still have stuff you have to get rid of in your water even if the Bacquagoop reading is zero. It's still all over your system, and you have to get rid of it.
That is why, I think, you have such high CC levels. You should see, after a few days, the CC reading come down. When it's zero and stays there, you are finally done with your conversion.

At that time, you'll have to clean out your filter. If it's a sand filter you'll need to replace the sand, absolutely. If it's DE, you'll have to clean the grids, maybe even soak them in Muriatic Acid (I'm not the DE or cartridge whiz). If it's a cart, I don't know if you can clean the element or have to replace it, but if you can I expect at a minimum you'll have to soak it for a day or two in electric dishwasher detergent. Any cart users out there that have done the Baq to Chlorine conversion?

Carl

[PoolDoc]

These two threads:

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...hlorine-Locked
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...il-to-chlorine

seem to be both products of an issue I don't remember dealing with before: pools with a LONG history of Baquacil use, before conversion.

I talked with "Aciam" at length last night, and agreed upon the following:

#1 - Test with OTO ; ignore FC / CC differientiation
#2 - Dose to dark yellow (~10ppm); allow it to drop to medium yellow (~2 ppm)
#3 - Continue filtering 24/7
(Aciam's water is clear, but some sort of surface debris is forming continuously and being collected on her skimmer sox)
#4 - Dose with polyquat that the FIRST signs of algae (slippery sides on Aciam's vinyl AG pool)
#5 - If no resolution after a few days, consider drain and refill (AG pools ONLY!)

My **guess** is that there's a huge accumulation of Baqua-goo from the years of Baquacil use, and that -- whatever else Baqua-goo is, chemically speaking -- it is very resistant to chlorine oxidation. The high CC levels are a result of slow (but sure) oxidation by chlorine.

What's weird is that her FAS-DPD readings did NOT match her OTO test results at all. I trust OTO more than DPD, so I made the recommendation above. However, I had to tell her I really have no idea how cleanup will take. I've emailed Chem_Geek to see if he's collected any info on this.

Ben

PS: It sounds like "reesie" is in the same situation. Ben

[reesie]

I tested again when I got off work:
fcl 2.5
tcl 25
ccl 22.5
alk 160
ph 7.6
cya 50
I added 4 gallons bleach at 8:30 pm. Will test again in 1 hour.
I didn't quite understand Pooldoc's instructions. I'm new to all this chlorine stuff. Do I need to go get another different kind of test kit for #1?
Could you explain #2 more? Is that part of the OTO test kit colors?
I understand 3. My water is crystal clear, also. No algae. My 9 year old is also upset she can't swim. She was swimming when we first opened it, before we started adding all the large amounts of bleach.
I also understand 4 & 5.
I hope it deosn't come to #5. I live in a small town with a municipal water system and they absolutely forbid filling swimming pools.
Thank you all for your help.

[CarlD]

The simplest kind of drop testing is the kit that has a plastic cell marked for chlorine/bromine on the left with a yellow background and pH on the right, with a red background. It's sold in pool stores and K-Mart, WalMart and other places. It can run $5-$15 depending on the brand and features. WalMart used to have a GREAT one by HTH that also did total alk, hardness, and CYA testing, that ran about $12-$15. But the typical inexpensive kit is fine as long as it says OTO or OTO/pH
The chlorine test (forget about the bromine--that's for bromine pools) is called OTO. You fill to the line, add 4 or 5 drops (depending the brand) and compare the color of the water to the yellow background to read the total chlorine level.
pH on the other side is just the same.

What Ben is saying is that he doesn't trust the reading you are getting (not that it's your fault or you are doing anything wrong) but that he wants you to test the water with the OTO test instead. The dark yellow color he's talking about is much darker than the range of the background on the test tube (called a test CELL). That water color should be dark yellow. After yellow, as the chlorine gets more concentrated, it goes orange then brown.
It's not very precise, but it's very simple and very rigorous, in other words it pretty much always works.

So...if the water is NOT dark yellow in the OTO cell, add bleach to the pool until it comes out that way. If it IS dark yellow (as I said, much yellower than the cell's background) it's already where Ben wants it. Then just let time pass and don't add any bleach, letting the color go to medium yellow (this all may take a day or two).

What I don't know is how much Polyquat Ben wants you to use. Usually 1-2 ounces is enough--if your pool is clear. But what is clear is to do it if the pool sides feel slippery.

I THINK, but don't know, that if the water "behaves" it will be safe to swim.

I hope this helps clear up Ben's instructions.

Carl