After having crystal clear, beautiful pool water for the last month or two, we lost power on June 29 and were without power for a week. During that time the swimming pool not only was very dirty with leaves and other debris in the deep end of the pool, but it went from clear to cloudy. When power was restored on Friday night, I immediately began adding chlorine.

While the water has cleared up, it is not perfect, and the bigger issue is that it will not hold chlorine. I add lots of chlorine (bleach) at night and it is essentially gone by the morning. This pattern has held for the past few days. I have read your guide on pool openings and see this is a common problem at start up but I am trying to figure out how I break out of this. When I last tested for CYA a couple of days ago, I did not have any. I added four pounds soon after the power came on to go along with the chlorine, but I know will need to add more eventually but I am not sure when. Also, I have an automatic cover which I have been leaving off and a salt water generator. The pool is 28,000 gallons. These are my before and after numbers:

Before loss of power:

FC: 5
CC: 0
Alk: 125
pH: 7.6
Calc: 200
CYA: 35
Borates: 35

After loss of power:

FC: 0
CC: 0
Alk: 140
pH: 7.5
Calc: 190
CYA: 0
Borates: 35

I am not sure what to do next. I have 5 1/2 gallons of more bleach that I am going to add tonight, which is about twice the amount I have been adding. I also bought 8 pounds of cya but I am not sure when to add it. I take it that I should leave my cover of, is that correct? On the other hand when I leave the cover on, the chlorine levels rise, but I am thinking at these high levels of chlorine I should keep the cover off. Any other suggestions? This is very frustrating. Thanks.