Chlorine Block?????

[CarlD]

Hi Joyce!
You got some seriously TERRIBLE advice from your pool store.
If your pH is high, and is trending high, the LAST thing you should do is raise Total Alkalinity. And the stuff they sold you to raise it? It's Baking Soda, in a fancy, expensive box. Sometimes they list the ingredient as "Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate" but that's just another name for Sodium Bicarb...baking soda. Sometimes it's called Citrocarbonate...same stuff.

The BEST shock is simplest: plain unscented Bleach, the stronger the better. Or, Liquid Chlorine which is nothing more than double strength bleach.

Dry acid's OK to lower pH, but I wouldn't mess with T/A yet unless your pH won't stay at a level. Generally, if you notice pH rising, a lower T/A is better, and if it's always dropping, a higher T/A can help.

I think you're back to basics: Shock your pool and keep it shocked until it's clear, using bleach.

Or, given your CURRENT numbers, if you have them, simple Tri-chlor pucks in a floater (not the ones with copper) can help temporarily. It will raise your chlorine level, add stabilizer, and is VERY acidic, lowering your pH, addressing 3 issues at once.

But nothing works without lots of testing.

[JoyceMarie]

To Watermom: I never thought to check the CYA levels in the fall. So I don't know if it was high. Do you think doing a partial drain would help?

To Carl: Believe it or not, the first time I brought a sample to be tested at the pool store, I think they used someone esles water because it showed the free chlorine as 5 and a low ph. He told me my testing strips were bad. So I added alkalinity up to raise the PH. I did buy 7 gallons of super concentrated bleach last night. How much should I add at a time?

[CarlD]

Joyce, here's a simple rule of thumb: Whatever the strength of the chlorine is...5.25%, 6%, 8.25%, 12%...
One gallon will add EXACTLY that much free chlorine to 10,000 gallons of water.

So...one gal of 5.25% adds 5.25 ppm of free chlorine to 10,000 gallons. One gal of 6% adds 6ppm, and so on.

If your pool is 20,000 gallons, you need 2 gallons to get the same effect.

If your pool is 5,000, you need 1/2 gallon to get the same effect.

Adjust accordingly to your pool's size and the amount of bleach/LC you add.