just got good test kit. HELP PLEASE

[PoolDoc]

Shub,

When you lose chlorine like that -- especially overnight -- it means you have something in your pool that shouldn't be there. In your case, it's almost certainly algae. Once you start battling algae with chlorine, until it's gone, your pool is in one of 3 possible states:

#1 - Losing
In this state, your pool's chlorine levels will diminish rapidly -- even if you add small doses more -- and the algae will get worse.

#2 - Stalemate.
In this state, you may be able to maintain chlorine IF you keep adding large doses of chlorine, and the algae doesn't get worse . . . but it doesn't really get better, either. This state tends to be an temporary one, on the way to State #1 for a simple reason: the algae never gives up or takes a break, but people do!

#3 - Winning.
In this state, you have high chlorine -- which may STILL be consumed overnight, but you are adding sufficient dose to MAINTAIN high chlorine, and the algae is rapidly dying.

What you have to understand is that, if the algae is NOT dying NOW, you are in state #2 or even #1!

To put it another way, if you are not winning, you are losing!

What you also have to understand is that "winning" does NOT equal "won". You have not "WON", till all the algae is dead, all the algae dust and spores has been filtered or vacuumed away, and all metabolic residue from the algae has been oxidized. You will have achieved this when all the algae is gone, the pool is clear and clean, and chlorine levels 'hold' overnight. Till then, you are either "winning" or "losing", but if you take a break, you lose!

Tonight, add 8 gallons of plain 6% household bleach. Brush the pool in the AM. If the chlorine level tomorrow is below 30 ppm, add enough to take it back above 30 ppm, and brush again in the AM. Continue till every trace of algae is gone, and you have removed all algae dust and debris.

Then test your pool in the PM, and again in the AM, to see if it's stable overnight. If it's not, dose to 35+ ppm again.

[shub_31]

Thanks so much for that awesome answer. Makes perfect sense. Im brushing but see no residue or dust. Ill keep doing it til my level holds. I just got my kit thursday and due to the frequent testing I am running out of fas dp . Its taking me 60 drops to get to my level. What can I do to get me through til I receive more. Thanks

[PoolDoc]

If you've got a children's medicine syringe, you can drop the sample size to 5ml, and then each drop will be 1 ppm, instead of 0.5 ppm.

[shub_31]

Im not following. Fill the syringe(sp?) to 5 then drops. Do i add 2 scoops of powder. Why cant I fill the test tube halfway to 10ml.

============

Sorry. IM stressing. Fill the syringe to 5m. squirt in test vial. I do need to know how many scoops of powder. Thank for your time.

[PoolDoc]

Filling 1/2 way to 10 ml is OK. You'll just be more accurate with a syringe. You need enough powder to get pink - that's all. It's just a dye indicator; if you have pink, you have enough.

[shub_31]

Thanks again. Just went to bed with FC 29 Woke up to 24ppm. Wow im going through alot of bleach. before i started this i used about 60 gallons just trying to keep my pool clear not relizing that i wasnt solving any problems. last year i did the same thing. Many moirnings of waking up to a cloudy pool. I posted another problem with no replies. I know i shouldnt worry about this yet but my concrete deck is pitting like crazy. Many kids dumping water on deck. No calcium at all. Should i eventually add some for my concretes sake and not my vinyl liners sake.thanks

[drband]

You need to test your CYA in the manner Ben instructed in post #2 (see above). The CYA test is tricky to read at best and levels showing approx. 100 could easily be much much higher. Please let us know when you have done the 1:1 dilution CYA test and what level you get. Reason: If your CYA is much higher than 100, (or even right at 100) you may need to take measures to reduce it. It is quite difficult to maintain high enough chlorine to prevent algae and sanitize in a pool with that much CYA. (Been there myself before finding this forum). You will use ridiculous amounts of bleach to keep a high enough chlorine level (see Ben's Best Guess chart) to be effective in a high CYA pool. But first, most importantly, you must know how much CYA is REALLY there.

I had bloom after bloom after bloom when my CYA got in the 100 range years ago... the pool store man just said to keep shocking! Used dichlor shock! Raised my CYA even more!!! Water turned a beautiful transparent emerald green. Thought it was metals... Wrong! It was just algae. My problem did not go away 'til draining a lot of water to dilute CYA, stopping trichlor pucks, and balancing everything properly with the BBB method. You can fix this... easily, but may take a little time. Everybody here will help.

Let us know what your true CYA level is and folks will be ready to help.

[shub_31]

thanks for the info.
I tested my CYA with dilution and its at 100. However i kinda can still see the black with the white ring around it. But barely. So if i need to add more that means my CYA is lower. I have been shocking to 25 to 30ppm.. I do know i have to drain. But given the mid 90s my only option now is to kill the algae and maintain fc of 10 to 15ppm until later in the summer. My alk. is very high at 250ish so I know that needs to be lowered. I did it once last year with the method here. Comments. Thanks

[PoolDoc]

Yeah, just hold the FC at 30 ppm, and brush away at any spots.

Adding borax sufficient to take your borates to 60 ppm will help some too, and will create a certain amount of permanent algae 'resistance' in your pool. You'll need 15 boxes of borax and probably 5 gallons of muriatic acid to compensate, and have a bit left over to lower your pH to 7.0. If you START with the acid and cycle the pH to below 6.8 and then add borax till it's back to 7.2, you'll also tend to remove the excess TA which 'feeds' algae somewhat, too.

By the way, IF you use the DPD-FAS kit, you can run perfectly OK at high CYA. There are some adjustments, and you want to stop using anything but bleach so you don't add MORE CYA.

You can still drain if you like, but you have another option.