Super low pH (and other problems)

[PoolDoc]

Post full HTH test results: chlorine, pH, alk, calcium, stabilizer!

[wildweasel]

pH = 6.8 (this has actually been making progress - the mixture color now matches the 6.8 color on the kit, instead of being way yellower)
Cl = 2 ppm
TA = 80 ppm
Hardness = 110 ppm
CYA = 95 ppm

Post full HTH test results: chlorine, pH, alk, calcium, stabilizer!

[PoolDoc]

Good deal.

But, with a CYA=95, you need to raise your chlorine level to AT LEAST 5 ppm, and if there's the slightest bit of algae, to 10 or 15 ppm. You'll need the K-2006 to measure those levels accurately, but you can approximate with the OTO test, where orange-y yellow = ~15 ppm, and orange = ~ 30 ppm

[wildweasel]

After firing in 6-7 gals of bleach in every night for almost a week, my chlorine, which was holding at 2-3 ppm (but never getting above that) dropped to 0.5 today. Water is blue (with a hint of green) and cloudy. My k2006c arrives tomorrow. Should I have upped the bleach dosage while waiting?

[Watermom]

Yes. As Ben stated in post #7 above, with a CYA reading of 95, you needed to keep your chlorine at LEAST 5ppm. Since yours was 2-3ppm, that wasn't high enough to keep algae at bay and it sounds like you may have an impending algae bloom. So, now you need to shock the pool up to about 20ppm (per the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature below).

Run a full set of numbers when your kit arrives tomorrow and post them. You'll want to do this before you shock the pool, especially the pH test because it won't be accurate at a chlorine level of 20ppm.

[wildweasel]

I got the kit, started the new chlorine test, and couldn't get the water to turn pink - I check with the old HTH kit, and got 0 total chlorine and a pH of 6.8. (strangely enough, the pool was noticably clearer though)

So I added 4 boxes of borax, 9 gals of chlorine (per The Pool Calculator) and waited 5 hours.
Then I got the following k2006c results:

FC: 3 ppm
CC: 1.5 ppm
CYA: 110 ppm (slightly more than 100?)
pH: 7.2
Alk: 80 ppm
Cal: 100 ppm (I do have a plaster pool)

So more chlorine? 8 gals by the calculator (3 -> 20 ppm)?
More borax too?

[Watermom]

If you add 2 scoops of powder and it does not turn pink, then you have no chlorine.

Yes to adding more bleach and keep an eye on the pH. You are ok at 7.2 but don't want it lower.

Can you dilute a water sample (1 part pool water, 1 part distilled water) and then run the CYA test with that mixture and multiply the result by 2. Then, post with that result.