Strange test results -- very high combined chlorine (CC)

[Themadczar]

Ok, i'm a new pool owner (not a new pool). Bought a house with a 14x28 IG pool with vinyl liner, sand filter, heater, and auto-cover. Thpool wasnever opened last year, and this house is in a wooded area. The pool was a mess. After a couple of weeks of work, the water is clear, the debris is gone, but there is still a green tint to the water and the test results are strange. I justgot my talor test kit yesterday, and here are the results...

5/29/13
5pm - temp 70 degrees, fc 6ppm, cc 5ppm, ph 7.9, cya 0.
Then I vacuumed the pool and added 96oz of 6% bleach (around 7:45 pm)
9:45pm - fc 5.5ppm, ph 7.8, ta 320, ch 340

5/30/13
7:15am - fc 7.5, cc 2ppm (that was all i tested this morning)

Not sure what to do next... Shock again to keep reducing cc? When do I add stabilizer (the auto-cover seems to protect the chlorine from uv somewhat... The last time I added bleach was 5/24 and I shocked with 384 oz of 6% bleach)? What do I do about the high ta and ch? Is my pool still a mess even though it looks better? All I have added to the pool since it was opened is hth, bleach, chlorine tabs, and water (city utilities). Any help is appreciated.

[Watermom]

You want to keep the chlorine high (see the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature below for needed levels) until you can go from sundown one evening to within one hour of sunrise the next morning without losing more than 1ppm of FC and your CC level is no higher than 0.5ppm.

What is your source of fill water?

Does the liner feel slippery? Have you brushed the pool?

Welcome to the Pool Forum, by the way!

[PoolDoc]

Assuming you have no algae (slippery sides mentioned by Watermom = beginning algae), then you need to:

1. Get your CYA up.
2. Maintain chlorine levels.
3. Maintain pH in the 7.0 - 7.4 range.
4. Decide what to do about your VERY high TA and CH.
5. Don't worry about the CC levels UNLESS they continue for several days. Make SURE you aren't confusing CC with TC (Total Chlorine = FC + CC).

You can do a bucket test for CH: http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...atment-Process

And, this page will tell you how to lower your alkalinity. But you do NOT want to lower your alkalinity till AFTER you lower your calcium, if you pursue that option: http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/lowe...p-by-step.html

Meanwhile, if you have a Sams membership, consider buying a 50# bucket or 24# box of dichlor. Sams is the ONLY big box store I know of that sells undiluted / unblended dichlor.

[Themadczar]

The wbsite and forum are both extremely helpful! Thanks for the guidance and resources. I will see what I can do now that I have some direction.

[Themadczar]

Assuming you have no algae (slippery sides mentioned by Watermom = beginning algae), then you need to:

1. Get your CYA up. Is there a process for this? Incremental increases over time?
2. Maintain chlorine levels. Ok.
3. Maintain pH in the 7.0 - 7.4 range. Ok.
4. Decide what to do about your VERY high TA and CH. Will read...
5. Don't worry about the CC levels UNLESS they continue for several days. Make SURE you aren't confusing CC with TC (Total Chlorine = FC + CC). Nope... These were the cc results from the testing. Tc would be 11ppm yesterday and 9.5ppm this morning. I will keep monitoring

You can do a bucket test for CH: http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...atment-Process

And, this page will tell you how to lower your alkalinity. But you do NOT want to lower your alkalinity till AFTER you lower your calcium, if you pursue that option: http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/lowe...p-by-step.html

Meanwhile, if you have a Sams membership, consider buying a 50# bucket or 24# box of dichlor. Sams is the ONLY big box store I know of that sells undiluted / unblended dichlor.

[Themadczar]

You want to keep the chlorine high (see the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature below for needed levels) until you can go from sundown one evening to within one hour of sunrise the next morning without losing more than 1ppm of FC and your CC level is no higher than 0.5ppm.

What is your source of fill water? City water

Does the liner feel slippery? Have you brushed the pool? Brushed over the weekend... Will have to feel for slipperiness tonight.

Welcome to the Pool Forum, by the way!

Thanks!

[Themadczar]

Liner is not slippery... Checked at lunch.

[Themadczar]

I have 44oz of cya... Do i just follow the procedure here...
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...Way-to-Add-CYA
All 44 oz at once?

Also, these are my chlorine levels... Does this make sense?
5/29
5pm fc is 6 ppm, cc is 5 ppm
8pm added 96 oz. 6% bleach
10pm fc is 5.5
5/30
7am fc is 7.5, cc is 2
7:30pm fc is 2.5, cc is 7.5. Then added 384 oz bleach
8:30pm fc is 9.5, cc is 5
5/31
7am fc is 4.5, cc is 9
6:30pm fc is4, cc is 10. Then added 384 oz bleach
10pm fc is 5, cc is 12.5
6/1
7am fc is 5, cc is 11
6pm fc is 14, cc is 5
Numbers seem to be all over the place.... Not sure what to do now.

And finally, another question... Sounds like my pump motor is going bad (getting louder, whining noises, and hot to the touch). However, I cannot seem to determine the hp of the motor so I can get a replacement. Hayward Super Pump. Any ideas? Thanks yet again.

[Themadczar]

6/1
10pm shut off pump
6/2
8am fc is 14, cc is 5. Started pump back up (still loud)

[PoolDoc]

There should be a label on the MOTOR (the hot part). There also should be another label on the pump casing (the part that has water in it). If you can post photos of both labels with Flickr, Photobucket, Webshots, Picasa, or Facebook, we can probably work out what size motor you have.