chlorine disapearing

[vinper]

last week I had no chlorine even though been adding ,having to scrub at algea patches everday.My ph is low I have 4 pucks in the skimmer 6 in an inline and I shocked it yesterday. I think I am getting to much acid and not enough stabilizer..... The sun is beating down hard , Houston in a drought , it 99 degrees everyday.....readings FC 1.0 PH 7.2 CC1.0 TA100 those are my only tests on my kit .......think I need stabilizer

[aylad]

If you have algae patches, then you need to shock the pool. Take a sample to the pool store, have them run a set of tests, and come back and post your readings...just don't buy all the stuff they try to sell you, except maybe stabilizer (and it's cheaper at WalMart). Once we get your CYA level, we can tell you how high to take your chlorine to (recommend using plain, unscented bleach for this) and you'll need to hold that shock level until the algae is dead.

I also strongly encourage you to get a good test kit so you don't have to depend on the pool store or spend the summer fighting your pool. We recommend the K-2006 or K-2006C (same kit, larger reagent sizes) that can be found at the Amazon link in my sig.


Janet

[Watermom]

Get your CYA checked by a reputable pool store if you don't have a kit that can test for it. Give us some info about your pool. What type, it's volume, what kind of filter, size of pump. Also, tell us exactly what all you have added to the pool, meaning ingredients, not just "shock." How much chlorine at a time do you add and how often?

[vinper]

IG ,diamond brite plaster, 2hp DE , 3/4hp vacumm ,18,000 gallon ,2 skimmers.... I have inline chlorinator .... I only run 2hr morning 3 hr evening . longer on weekends.... I have been adding an algeside from home depot says 3 X the stregth...3-4 oz every few days... Moss rock fall and 2 inserts.. I was the GC

[aylad]

With a current CYA level, we can tell you what level you need to raise the chlorine to in order to get rid of the algae.

Since you have an inline chlorinator, I'm guessing that you already have very high levels of stabilizer in the pool and just haven't been keeping the chlorine level high enough to compensate, so algae grows. It's a very common situation and can be overcome, but we need a CYA level first.

Janet

[Watermom]

Don't add any more algaecide. The only algaecide we recommend is Polyquat 60%. It's a pretty good preventative, but not so great at eradicating an existing bloom. You just need lots of bleach right now.

[vinper]

I will get it tested today. I did add a gallon of bleach yesterday , this morning chlorine was at 2.0 . I want to check it when get home after this 100 degree full sun day

[aylad]

We need a stabilizer level to be able to help you any with this....

Janet

[vinper]

I ordered a cya test kit and waiting for that. But in mean time Sunday I found that I had some test strips with cya test .... On Friday I purchased 4 gallons of bleach. I added a gallon Friday ,Saterday, Sunday just to keep 2.0 FC. Sunday strip test said zero cya. I added 1 pound stabilizer. This morning zero FC and I added 1/2 gallon of bleach.. I know I need to wait on stabilizer... And not risk raising it to high...

[Watermom]

I wouldn't rely on the CYA test strip. If you have been using a chlorinator with pucks for any length of time, you would have some CYA in there. The problem is if your test strip is inaccurate and you go ahead and add stabilizer at this point, your level could get too high and the only way to get rid of excess CYA is to do a partial drain and refill. So, if your CYA test kit is more than a few days away, maybe a reliable pool store can test your CYA for you this one time.

Is your water still green?

Adding one gallon of bleach is only going to take your chlorine level up to about 3.3ppm which is not enough to kill algae. If it is still green, go ahead and add 4 gallons at a time. That should take it up to about 13ppm. Try and test several times a day and each time add enough bleach to get back up to 12 or so. (Use the 1 gallon adds 3.3 ppm as a reference to help you determine how much bleach to add each time you test.) Run the pump 24/7 and backwash as needed. Once we know for sure what your CYA level is, we can tweak the suggested bleach amounts.