Cannot hold chlorine! New pool owner.

[Broncos Freak]

My water is 30 according to the kit?

[PoolDoc]

30 what? Calcium?

[Broncos Freak]

Yes, the calcium reading for my tap water or what I add to the pool when it needs more water.

[PoolDoc]

Ok. Well, your tap water is not the source of your high calcium, which means it's most likely the shock you've been using. The calcium change may be a testing error, but there are other possibilities as well. However, you don't need to focus on that just yet.

You mentioned your pool being fine on opening, but now rough and stained. Can you elaborate? Even better, can you send pictures to poolforum AT gmail DOT com, so I can post them?

For now, do all the following:

#1 - Add 1 gallon of bleach every evening, till you are holding 3 ppm of chlorine by the following evening. (And stop using calcium based chlorine or shock.)
#2 - Test your FC *and* your CC levels.
#3 - Test your CYA again (stabilizer, cyanuric acid) to confirm
#4 - Begin adding acid, to take your pH down to 7.0 - 7.2. Use muriatic acid from Lowes or a hardware. (Gloves, glasses, add with pump ON, submerge bottle partly into pool to allow you to pour close to the water, watch the fumes.) Use 1/4 gallon doses.
#5 - Run your pump 24/7, and adjust a return eyeball to 'ruffle' the water.
#6 - Don't use other chemicals, for now.