Pool wont register chlorine.

[NJpool22]

Thanks for the response and advise, i havent had a chance to add the 10 gal of bleach, due to the heavy rains in NJ. I bought an hth 3 way kit from walmart. They didnt have the 6 way. My results were clorine=0, ph=7. I also purchased an amonia kit from walmart. My pool registered 2.0. Please advise what my next step(s) should be. I am finished with the pool store, they told me they never heard of testing for amonia in a pool. Thanks in advance for any and all help that you can provide.

[Watermom]

Rain or no rain, you've got to get some chlorine in that pool or it is going to turn a beautiful shade of green right before your eyes! Also, add some Borax to get your pH up some. Add a half a box, let it circulate a couple of hours, then retest and redose as needed to get it somewhere 7.2-7.8 with 7.4-7.6 being best. You need to do this before your pH drops below 7.0 as readings below that are acidic and can damage a pool.

[NJpool22]

Is the amonia level (2.0) something i have to be concerned about? Will the 10 gal of bleach register a chlorine reading? 8.5 gals regstered nothing on Sunday. Thanks again for you help.

[Watermom]

The only way to rid the pool of ammonia is lots of chlorine. It takes time, but it will eventually break it down. You may be not showing a chlorine reading because you may be bleaching out the test strips. Until your Taylor kit arrives, go to Walmart and see if they have the HTH 6-Way kit or at the very least, pick up a cheap OTO/Phenol Red kit (yellow and red drops). Those two kits are not too expensive and will hold you until the good kit arrives. They will not read chlorine levels past 5, however, so you'll need to use a dilution method to force them to go higher. With dilution, you do lose accuracy, but it is better than nothing.

Testing Without a Good Kit

[NJpool22]

I have the 3 way kit from walmart, the 6 way was out of stock. I will hit it with the 10 gals, and borax
. I dont know what a dilution method is. Wish me luck.

[Watermom]

The dilution method is explained in the link in my previous post called "testing without a good kit."

[NJpool22]

Thanks for the advise, my pool is regstering a chlrine reading, around 3. Im still waiting for my taylor kit to arrive. My ph is a little high though (7.8). Alkilinity is fine. And CYA is holding at apprx 50.