Bleach not staying in pool?

[waste]

Just 'from the hip', I'm thinking the 'yellow out' had bromine as it's key ingredient. (I'll try to remember to check the store room at work tomorow) If that is the case, then the low reading is caused by your checking a bromine pool for chlorine - see Evan's link to Ben's take on "once a bromine..." topic.

[KurtV]

Re-reading Ben's article that Evan linked to makes me doubt that the single dose of Yellow Out is the culprit, especially if bromine is the primary ingredient. Ben refers to "repeated or excessive doses" which a single, normal dose of yellow out wouldn't seem to be. Also, when testing with DPD, doesn't bromine show up just as chlorine would? In other words, wouldn't every ppm of bromide ion that was converted by the chlorine into free bromide, thus "consuming" the free chlorine, show up on on a DPD test just like free chlorine?


Just a thought.

[waterbear]

Not really because the bromine reading is 2.something of the chlorine reading (I think it's 2.25 but don't hold me to that!) so if he was showing 1 to 2 ppm chlorine in the pool and was actually testing bromine it would have been over 2ppm to over 4 ppm bromine level.

[h20man]

so my question is , is my current low test result for CL level accurate or is it false possibly due to the Yellow out...in other words is the Yellow Out consuming the bleach I add , or is there really alot of hidden CL in my pool when I read 1-2PPM? thanks 4 the help guys & if I remember correctly Bromine is the main ingriedient , I put in the proper amount for 20k gallons > 2 bags

also, is it necessary to clean out the Bromine pool w/ bleach , or does it just return to normal soon?
thanks

[KurtV]

Not really because the bromine reading is 2.something of the chlorine reading (I think it's 2.25 but don't hold me to that!) so if he was showing 1 to 2 ppm chlorine in the pool and was actually testing bromine it would have been over 2ppm to over 4 ppm bromine level.

Evan, So it's probably not bromine, right? It would be showing up on the tests at a much higher level if it was there, wouldn't it? (Excuse my ignorance if I'm misreading your post.)

If it was ammonia based, wouldn't it already have been consumed by the relatively high doses of chlorine he's been using?

You may, of course, yet be right (as you usually are), but I'm guessing Dave was on to something with his lurking organic theory.

Waterman, I don't think anyone is saying that the Yellow Out, whether bromine or ammonia based, is falsely supressing your chlorine test readings. Rather something is consuming your chlorine.

Read the 2nd of Ben's articles that Evan linked to; it should answer your question on getting the bromine out.

As to what you should do, absent some other revalation, I think going back to the basics of keeping your chlorine at shock levels, until it holds over night, is your best bet. According to Ben's Best Guess chart, for a CYA level of 60-70, that would be 20 ppm (http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365)

Best of luck.

[waterbear]

Evan, So it's probably not bromine, right? It would be showing up on the tests at a much higher level if it was there, wouldn't it? (Excuse my ignorance if I'm misreading your post.)
Not unless the tester is also calibrated for bromine readings and you use that scale!
If it was ammonia based, wouldn't it already have been consumed by the relatively high doses of chlorine he's been using?
maybe, maybe not...depend on how much is there and how much chlorine has been added.
You may, of course, yet be right (as you usually are), but I'm guessing Dave was on to something with his lurking organic theory.
one of the organics in the water is possibly ammonia or urea...same effect as adding a non organic form of ammonia...creates a huge clorine demand. either way chlorine is the answer.
Waterman, I don't think anyone is saying that the Yellow Out, whether bromine or ammonia based, is falsely supressing your chlorine test readings. Rather something is consuming your chlorine.

Read the 2nd of Ben's articles that Evan linked to; it should answer your question on getting the bromine out.

As to what you should do, absent some other revalation, I think going back to the basics of keeping your chlorine at shock levels, until it holds over night, is your best bet. According to Ben's Best Guess chart, for a CYA level of 60-70, that would be 20 ppm (http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365)

Best of luck.

Hope this is helpful!
Perhaps Ben will add his expert knowledge to this thread. I've reached the extent of my limited knowledge!

Edit: just reread the posts and noticed that h2Oman is keeping the pool covered. Don't know if that is part of the problem but it might be.

[KurtV]

Me: "Evan, So it's probably not bromine, right? It would be showing up on the tests at a much higher level if it was there, wouldn't it? (Excuse my ignorance if I'm misreading your post.)"
Waterbear: "Not unless the tester is also calibrated for bromine readings and you use that scale!"

Me again: I was under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that with the Tayor DPD test you couldn't really tell if you had chlorine, bromine, or a combination of the two. Further, that you only multiplied by the bromine factor (2.25) when you knew you had bromine sanitized water; otherwise you just assume it's chlorine. Am I way off here?

[waterbear]

Me: "Evan, So it's probably not bromine, right? It would be showing up on the tests at a much higher level if it was there, wouldn't it? (Excuse my ignorance if I'm misreading your post.)"
Waterbear: "Not unless the tester is also calibrated for bromine readings and you use that scale!"

Me again: I was under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that with the Tayor DPD test you couldn't really tell if you had chlorine, bromine, or a combination of the two. Further, that you only multiplied by the bromine factor (2.25) when you knew you had bromine sanitized water; otherwise you just assume it's chlorine. Am I way off here?

The taylor comparators have separate scales on them for bromine and chlorine and the taylor FAS-DPD test uses a different reagent (I assume it's the concentration that is different) for bromine and chlorine to take this into account. The actual test will not tell you which is in the water. You need to know so you know what scale to read or what correction factor you need to get the reading. As far as my understanding goes, if you have ANY active bromine in the water you have a bromine pool.