I've used HTH algaecide - do I need to drain my pool?

[PoolDoc]

1. Add 1 gallon of bleach EVERY night, for now. Skip if the PM chlorine result is dark yellow (OTO) or more than 3 ppm (DPD-FAS).

2. If you have access to Sams Club, purchase (2) 24# paks of bagged dichlor. This will add BOTH chlorine and CYA, but since it's bagged, what you don't use this year, will last till next year without getting all stinky.

3. pH => OK; TA => possibly low, but don't fix it yet. CYA => low. Calcium => needs to be tested. Since you have a concrete pools, you DO need to worry about "water balance" or "saturation index", which is a composite calculation involving pH + temp + TA + CH. If you have heater, it needs to be managed even more carefully.

[Whattf]

1. Add 1 gallon of bleach EVERY night, for now. Skip if the PM chlorine result is dark yellow (OTO) or more than 3 ppm (DPD-FAS).

2. If you have access to Sams Club, purchase (2) 24# paks of bagged dichlor. This will add BOTH chlorine and CYA, but since it's bagged, what you don't use this year, will last till next year without getting all stinky.

3. pH => OK; TA => possibly low, but don't fix it yet. CYA => low. Calcium => needs to be tested. Since you have a concrete pools, you DO need to worry about "water balance" or "saturation index", which is a composite calculation involving pH + temp + TA + CH. If you have heater, it needs to be managed even more carefully.

I understand you want me to use dichlor to increase both CYA and Chlorine in my pool. However, I don't have a Sam's club membership. Is there an alternative you can recommend?

[PoolDoc]

Kem-Tek dichlor 2 lbs @ Amazon => ~$6.50/lb (Jul 2013)
Kem-Tek dichlor 5 lbs @ Amazon => ~$4.50/lb (Jul 2013)
Kem-Tek dichlor 12 lbs @ Amazon => ~$4.00/lb (Jul 2013)
Kem-Tek dichlor 22 lbs @ Amazon => ~$3.60/lb (Jul 2013)

Looks like they are out of stock on the 22#, so the 12# is the largest you can get.

Two other options:
+ I think you may be able to get a 1x trial membership at Sams -- call and ask.
+ Home Depot sometimes carries the KemTek brand. But, Kemtek now makes dichlor goop, too. So if you want to check out Home Depot, print the pictures from Amazon, and make sure what you buy is EXACTLY the same.

Hm-mh, Kem-Tek has updated some of it's labels, and I found a picture on Costco, so apparently Costco may carry this in some parts of the US, though not here. Anyhow, here's their current (Aug 2013) label:


If you decide to get dichlor from any other source, you probably want to post EXACT brand and product name here first: about 90% of the sold now is some sort of goop mixture.

[Whattf]

I've decided to drain the pool. I've been adding 1 gallon of Bleach 8% per night, and the pool guy has been adding 8 lbs of chlorine every friday. The FC reading is 0 every day.

[PoolDoc]

Suit yourself -- but since you have a K2006, you can figure out what's going on, if you care to do so. More specifically: if you are having sunny weather in Dallas, and have no stabilizer, you will NORMALLY lose 100% of your chlorine every day, regardless of how much you put in. In clear water, with CYA = 0, the half life of chlorine (1/2 of whatever is there, whether it's 100 ppm or 1 ppm) can be as little as 15 minutes!

That's also the situation you will be in, when you refill -- since your fill water will have no stabilizer. So, you may drain, refill, . . . . and then be right back EXACTLY where you are now.

I take it, you chose to not get any dichlor? And haven't added any CYA directly, either?