First Time Pool Owner Battling with Cloudy Water, High CC, High Ammonia!

[BigDave]

Log out and look for the "Bucket testing for chlorine demand" stickied thread in the "Using Chlorine and Chlorinating Chemicals" forum. It explains a method for estimating the total chlorine demand.

[yekalri]

BigDave, are you suggesting to continue treating the pool with Bleach? From the ammonia reading, I would need at least 60 more gallons and that does not necessarily guarantee success.

[PoolDoc]

07/05: pH>8.2, FC 0, TC 0, CH 250, TA 250, CYA 100
07/05: +4hr pH 7.6, FC 0, TC 0, CH 250, TA 200, CYA 50
07/06: pH 7.6, FC 0, TC 5, CH 250, TA 200, CYA 50
07/07: pH 7.6, FC 0, TC 5, CH 200, TA 200, CYA 0
07/08: pH 7.2, FC 0, TC >5, CH 200, TA 160, CYA 0

I don't know any way that CYA can go from 100 ppm to 0 ppm in 48 hours or less, without some MAJOR chemical manipulation. What happened? How are you testing for CYA?

Many water tests are not reliable. The reliable way to see how much chlorine demand your pool has, is to do a bucket test.

[BigDave]

BigDave, are you suggesting to continue treating the pool with Bleach? From the ammonia reading, I would need at least 60 more gallons and that does not necessarily guarantee success.

I'm suggesting that you perform a bucket test for chlorine demand and then decide if it's worth it to you to chemically remove the ammonia with chlorine or replace the water entirely. Replacing the water has some significant risks depending on pool type and locale and can be quite expensive.