Question about shock and chlorine

[donovan.lambright]

Your PF user ID is your screen name...

Well, so it is. Somehow, I got it into my head that it was asking for a number. I have now filled the form out.

I also picked up the hth 6-way test kit and have run all the tests:
Chlorine 2
Bromine 4
pH 7.8
Alkalinity 260 ppm
Hardness 310 ppm
CYA 30+ ppm (I have to add the plus because the black dot in the test vial had not disappeared yet when I reached 30 and couldn't add any more liquid)

[aylad]

Your numbers don't look too bad...you don't have a bromine pool, so you can ignore that one. And your CYA is less than 30, if you ran out of room in the tube before the dot disappeared, so you're ok with chlorine at 1-3 ppm. Your hardness is a bit high but shouldn't cause you any problems unless you chlorinate with cal-hypo, and then you're asking for milky water problems, so I would avoid using that form of chlorine. Your alk is high too, but if that's the same as your fill water, then there's not much to be gained from trying to lower it.

It would be interesting for you to test the water at night for chlorine, and then test it again in the morning before the sun hits the pool, to see if you're losing chlorine overnight. If so, then it's possible that the CC resulting from the chlorine fight going on in the pool might have caused the rash that you saw.

Janet

[Watermom]

First of all, you don't have a bromine pool so just ignore that side of the tester. Also, if the black dot was still visible, then you have less than 30ppm of CYA, not more.

Your alk, pH and calcium hardness are all high. Run the calcium and alk test on your fill water and post the results.

Read the using muriatic acid safely page linked in my signature below and also the following about lowering alk. Lowering Alkalinity Step-by-Step

Then, work on lowering your pH to 7.2ish and the alk to 80-100 or so.

[aylad]

Hey, I just said that!! (or most of it, anyway )

My post button is just working faster than Watermom's tonight

Janet

[Watermom]

Hey, I just said that!! (or most of it, anyway )

My post button is just working faster than Watermom's tonight

Janet

Or --- else I am turning into a parrot!! Gee -- I sure hope not! Nah, your post button is just faster tonight.

[aylad]

Rofl....

[PoolDoc]

membership upgraded / post moved out of Getting Started. -ben

[Watermom]

Go ahead and work on lowering the pH and alk as suggested in the previous posts. Using dichlor or trichlor are both good choices for you right now as it will do two things you need to do: add CYA and lower pH. Once your CYA gets to 50 or so, you'll want to stop using either and switch to bleach. (Don't test CYA too often so you won't run out of testing reagent.) I also would suggest NOT using cal-hypo at any point since your calcium hardness reading is so high.

Go ahead and post your overnight test results and we'll have a look.

(By the way, your new post was combined into your old thread so we can keep all your info in one place.)

[donovan.lambright]

Thanks for moving the post. I tested again this morning and chlorine is at 2, down from last night's reading of 3. pH is 8.2 and I added 3/4 cup of AquaChem pH Down. I'm off work today and will test pH again in a few hours.

[BigDave]

I just noticed that your Alkalinity is pretty high.
Is this also true of your fill water?
Is this the same water your daughter (with the rash) bathes in?

I ask because I have read, and I don't know that it's true, that high Alkalinity can cause skin irritation.