Help treating water in childs pool

[Watermom]

YIKES! That is what I was afraid of and why I asked you to check!

[chris_c]

I'm sorry, I have 2 more questions. After having trouble keeping the bleach to register on test kit I went to the local pool store and they gave me a granular stabilized chlorinator for pools and spas, it says Sodium Dichloro-s-Triazinetrione....100%, provides 56% available chlorine. I asked if it contained any copper and he emphatically said no. Finally my chlorine level is registering good and holding well. I have noticed the past few days the ph level has gradually going down and is now reading 7.2, is that when I add Borax? How much do I add?

I have noticed when I take a reading the chlorine gets darker after it sits a few minutes, why would it darken? Are you supposed to read immediately and empty? or wait a few minutes? The test kit does not say much.

[Watermom]

How much dichlor did you add? Dichlor is fine to use for a short while. It has CYA in it along with chlorine. All pools need some CYA in them but too much will cause a problem. Can you see if your pool store does the disappearing black dot test to test for CYA. If so, let them test it every few days because you do not want your CYA to go over 40-50ppm. (If your Walmart sells an HTH 6-Way test kit (not test strips), it has the CYA test in it so you could do it yourself.

I think the reason you were having trouble keeping chlorine in the pool before was that you didn't have any CYA in there. CYA is kind of like sunscreen for your chlorine. Without some in the water, your chlorine is quickly lost to the sun.

Dichlor is very acidic and will drive your pH down as you have found. Your pool is really small so it is hard to recommend how much Borax to add so I'm going to suggest a little dose and then you can retest the pH after a few hours to see how much it raised it and then adjust and redose with more if needed. Maybe start with 1/8 of a cup? That's a guess on my part. Best I can do.

When reading your chlorine test, read it immediately. The initial color is the result.

By the way, no need to apologize for more questions. That is why we are here!

[chris_c]

Thank you Watermom, I so appreciate your help, afterall these are my grandbabies!!!

The dosage on the dichlor said to add 2oz per 1,000 gallons for startup. Since I had been using bleach for a few days I only added 1oz and I only did this one time.
At this point would you go back to just using bleach? Should I add a dose of algaecide?

Thanks so much!

[chris_c]

My Walmart does have a 6 way tester so I'm off to get one, thanks!

[Watermom]

You don't need the algaecide. Whether to use the dichlor for a little while or the bleach instead is up to you. I am more familiar with using bleach and just adding CYA separately because that is what I do in my pool. But, in these little pools (or any new pool for that matter) using dichlor is a good way to add both at the same time. Either way is just fine. Since you already have the dichlor, maybe just go ahead and use it for a bit but just watch your CYA level and when it gets to around 40-50, switch to just plain bleach.

[PoolDoc]

membership upgraded. -ben