Liner question??

[Waterdragon]

Ok, got a question for all of you...I read that I should get my chlorine level to 15 ppm but does that hurt the liner?? I was told by the "pool guy" that chlorine that high would make my liner "brittle". After I told him why I needed a test kit that goes to 15. Is this true?? What about liner fade?

I have been having a rough go at my conversion:

I started ONE week ago today. I started with one gallon "liquid shock". This was before I found this forum. Then tuesday I added one in the morning, then one in the evening then one more Wednesday. I let it go after I found this fourm then Between Saturday afternoon and Sunday night I poured in 6 - 1.42 galloin jugs of generic bleach from Kmart. I still have VERY cloudy water it is like somone poured several cows full of milk in the water.

That being said I very stupidly did not vacuum the pool before I started (VERY cold water) and now I have dead algae everywhere. I brushed the walls yesterday. I have "bits" floating everywhere and I know that is at least part of my milky problem. My chlorine level is at 5 right now. What do I do next?? How do I know when my conversion is complete? I cannot find a test kit that measures past 10. I am a bit "hazy" pardon the pun on the whole dilute the sample thing.

Sorry if these seem like stupid or repetative questions,

My PH is 7.4
My Alk is 110
and my hardness is 150

Thanks everyone

[mbar]

How many gallons is your pool? Do you have any stabalizer (cya) in the water? These are important questions to answer to see how high your chlorine should be in the pool to get rid of the cloudiness. Your other numbers are good. Here is a chart that shows why the stabalizer is important in your water to see what your chlorine needs to be:


Stabilizer . . . . . . Min. FC . . . . Max FC . . . 'Shock' FC
=> 0 ppm . . . . . . . 1 ppm . . . . . 3 ppm . . . . 10 ppm
=> 10 - 20 ppm . . . . 2 ppm . . . . . 5 ppm . . . . 12 ppm
=> 30 - 50 ppm . . . . 3 ppm . . . . . 6 ppm . . . . 15 ppm
=> 60 - 90 ppm . . . . 5 ppm . . . . . 10 ppm . . .. 20 ppm
=> 100 - 200 ppm . . . 8 ppm . . . . . 15 ppm . . .. 25 ppm

We also need to know how many gallons you have, so that we can see how much chlorine you need to raise your ppm. You said that you poured in 6 1.42 jugs of bleach - that much bleach in a pool that holds 10,000 gal. is much different than in a pool that is 30,000 gal. You need enough chlorine to eat up whatever is making your pool cloudy. You also didn't test for combined chlorine - this is what shows if the chlorine is working to kill stuff in your pool. So that's why you need some more numbers - it all depends on the numbers for us to tell you what to do next. Once you learn how to read the numbers, you will be able to take care of your pool with ease. Welcome to the forum.

[CarlD]

To add to Marie's comments: 15ppm is the max you should add to a vinyl liner with NO CYA(stabilizer) or you risk fading the liner. But the higher levels of CYA likewise increase the ceiling for chlorine for your liner. If your CYA was over 100ppm, you could safely go to 25ppm of chlorine with no damage.

For the test kit. Specifically ask for a FAS-DPD chlorine test. DPD is NOT the same thing. I don't know if anyone but Ben or Taylor have them, but Leslie's web site sells Taylor chems and they have a single FAS-DPD test kit, just for chlorine.

[Waterdragon]

Oh, sorry.

I have a 24ft ag pool, which they tell me is 13,000 gals. I noticed my pool is a bit clearer today. My cya is ZERO according to the "look at the black dot test".

I have the 15 dollar Wal Mart test kit. There is only one test for chlorine in the test kit.

I will have to obtain the other kit mentioned above.

Again, forgive my ignorance I am a bit overwhelmed LOL

If not for you all and this forum, I would be pulling my hair out.

Does that void the Rogaine Warranty????

[mbar]

Ha, Ha - no - because as soon as you fix your problem with the pool, your hair will grow back nice and thick!

First, You need to get enough chlorine to reach 10 ppm. In your pool starting at 5 you would need 1.3 gal to take you up to 10. I used the bleach calc, here is the link:
http://www.hal-pc.org/~mwsmith2/BleachCalc262.exe

I used 0 cya. You will need to add some stabalizer to your pool - use as directed on the container to take you to 30 to 40. You can put it in the skimmer, but then you can't backwash, so I suggest you put it in a sock, tie it onto something and let it slowly disolve in the pool - it can take a week for it to dissolve in the filter. While your cya is disolving (it could take a few days for the cya to register) so you will have to check your chlorine and raise it up to 10 at least 2 x a day - three time is better. The best way to clear your pool is to keep it at "shock" level until the chlorine is holding overnight. I know it is hard , but patience and bleach will clear up almost anything! Don't put anything else in your pool but the cya and bleach for now. Keep the filter running 24/7, and backwash everyday, or vacuum to waste if you can. You won't be sorry if you invest in the testkit - it will pay for itself over and over, and you will have peace of mind because you will be able to test and care for your own pool.

[aylad]

You're getting good advice so far, I just differ in one area--I would not add the stabilizer until after your conversion is complete (i.e., you can hold a chlorine residual overnight). You want your chlorine to be at its most effective while you're burning off the Baq. So take your Cl back up to 10-15 ppm, and hold it there until it doesn't drop overnight.

As far as the dilution goes, you take one part (CarlD's shotglass!) pool water, and one part distilled water, mix thoroughly, run your test from that, read the results, and multiply by 2 to get your Cl reading.

Janet

[CarlD]

Sorry, no "Rogaine" forum here!