Too Much Chlorine!!

[pkhall]

Hubby decided he knew how to clean up the pool. Did not cover our 16x32 inground vinyl pool. It was a deep dark green when we started trying to clear it. Over the course of four days he put 10lb hth shock and 26 gallons of 8.25 bleach. I ordered a Taylor test kit that you recommended hoping to be able to post some numbers for you to help me. However, it is still apparently so high that the test kit won't work. I can't get the pink to turn colorless on the chlorine test. Is there anything we can do? or just wait for chlorine levels to go down? Our pool is now a light shade of green. We have about 23,000 gallons of water in the pool and using a Hayward S244t filter and a 1.5 hp water ace pump.

[Leehicks79]

Using the bleach calculator, the 26 gallons of bleach alone would have your FC near 100ppm! You would need 200 drops from the test kit to get it to turn clear (again, not factoring in the chlorine added from the shock product). Water should be clearing up...I would test again in a couple days. If you know your CYA level you can use the best guess chart in bens signature to know where normal and shock levels for your pool should be once the high levels dissipate.

[kelemvor]

On the positive side, the chlorine will drop on it's own. Some will be consumed eating up algae or anything else that was in the water. Some will be broken down by the sun. If your liner was colored or had a pattern, there's a good chance it's going to fade. I'm not sure I'd swim in it for a day or two.

[pkhall]

Free Chlorine 23
PH 7.4
Alkalinity 140
Calcium Hardness 100
CYA I cannot get a good reading on that. Its over 100 even when I tried diluting with 1/2 distilled water.

Any ideas on what I can do? Pool is still a light shade of green. Still cannot see the bottom. There is lots of white sudsy looking stuff on the top of the water.

[Watermom]

Try diluting your CYA test down further. One part pool water, two parts distilled water and multiply the results by 3. See what that does for you.

[kelemvor]

Free Chlorine 23
PH 7.4
Alkalinity 140
Calcium Hardness 100
CYA I cannot get a good reading on that. Its over 100 even when I tried diluting with 1/2 distilled water.

Any ideas on what I can do? Pool is still a light shade of green. Still cannot see the bottom. There is lots of white sudsy looking stuff on the top of the water.

Well that's a horse of a different color. FC of 23 is not all that high for a cya of over 200. In fact, you need to get it to at LEAST 25 just to shock the pool with a CYA of 100. http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/best...e-chart.html#a You need to consistently maintain a FC of 25 (minimum, since you don't really know your CYA level). Thank hubby for dumping all that chlorine in. Given the CYA level it was probably a good thing.

If it were me, I'd start doing a PARTIAL drain and refil. Say 25% of the water at a time. Draining all the water from an inground pool can damage it, so don't drain it all at once. Keep doing that until you get that CYA under 100. You can manage a pool with a high CYA but it will likely be a lot more difficult.

DO NOT use any more Dichlor or Trichlor (hth shock). Both of those contain CYA, and are likely the reason it's so high. It will have to be straight bleach or liquid chlorine for you.

Get more chlorine in there, dilute, be mindful of your chlorine source.

[pkhall]

Free Chlorine 20
PH 7.2
Alkalinity 110
CYA 180 (I used the method suggested of diluting and using 1 part pool water 2 parts distilled and multiplying by 3)

We have ran the filter day and night for over a week. We started with a deep, dark, swampy green. It didn't take long to turn to a lighter color green but still can't see the bottom. You can't see more than a couple inches into the water. It's now a light shade of green but very cloudy.