Ok ready for chem help

[BigdogEMT]

Ok I have a 24 ' round 4.5' 6-7 years old ( been using ez-pool) and trichlor tabs the whole time!

Found this BBB method and it makes more since than the (no chlor) methods.

Found last week using just a 2 way test kit that we had 0 fc and less than 6 ph,
Added a 8% 128oz bleach and washing soda as directed by pool math calculator.

Today I bought a hth 6 way tester
7/18 readings 3:00 pm
Fc .5
Ph 7.2
Ta 90
Hardness 80
Cya 100

So calculator says to add 32oz borax 32 oz baking soda and 136oz bleach.
Does this seem right.

Thanks Terry

[Watermom]

I'm guessing your volume to be around 13,600. With 54" walls? your water level is more like 4 ft or maybe 4 '2." If you add that amount of bleach, that will add roughly 6.5ppm of chlorine which would take you up to around 7ppm.

But....... when you run the CYA test and get a result of 100, it means that your CYA is 100 or higher. Either way -- 100 or 200 or whatever, your FC reading of 0.5 is WAY too low. Needed chlorine levels are based on CYA readings. The higher the CYA, the higher the chlorine has to be kept or else you risk an algae bloom. More about the CYA/Chlorine connection can be found here:> http://pool9.net/cl-cya/

Your chlorine level in your pool with this very high CYA reading should be kept between 8-15 ALL the time. Since it dropped so low, you may have an impending bloom that you don't yet see so you need to shock your pool. Your shock level will be 25ppm. Each 121-oz jug of 8.25% bleach will add just shy of 6ppm. This evening, go ahead and add about 4 jugs of bleach.

Here's another problem. Your 6-way kit can only read chlorine levels up to 5ppm. We typically tell people to buy a Taylor K2006 kit which can test higher chlorine like you are going to have to run. But, since you have the HTH 6-Way kit, if you just pick up a Taylor K1515 or 1515C kit, it will give you the missing FAS-DPD chlorine test you need. You can get it through this link:> http://pool9.net/tk/

In the meantime, you'll have to rely on your OTO chlorine tester. This chart will help you interpret the off the scale chlorine levels. It is not super accurate but will have to suffice in the meantime:> http://pool9.net/oto-chart/

You want to keep your chlorine at shock level until you can go from sundown one evening to within an hour of sunrise the next morning without losing more than 1ppm of chlorine. Once you pass the overnight test, let your chlorine drift down but keep it between 8-15 all the time.

Go ahead and add a quarter of a box of Borax. Once your chlorine is higher than 5ppm, you won't be able to test pH without diluting the sample first. Mix one part pool water to an equal part distilled water. Mix and then run the pH test with that sample. (On the Taylor kits, the pH test is good up to chlorine levels of 10ppm.) A pH of less than 6ppm is really bad for pools and equipment. Any reading under 7.0 is acidic. Those trichlor tabs are the culprit. They are extremely acidic and will drive the pH down.

TA and CH are fine.

What are the ingredients of EZ-pool? How much trichlor do you have left and are the tabs wrapped or unwrapped?

I know all this is way more than you asked for but ....... there is a lot of information that you need to correct what is going on in your pool. Your water may look clear but super low pH and high CYA and low chlorine are all things that can cause potential problems. Hoping to help you turn things around.

Welcome to the Pool Forum, by the way!

(Until your registration is completed, you won't be able to follow links or see the rest of the forum while you are logged in. So copy the links and paste them into a browser window after you log out.)

[BigdogEMT]

I added 2 jugs of bleach and a 4 cups of borax last night.
And about 2 hours later I had a ph of 7.5 and chlo of around 13 off chart provided! As of this a.m. It was same chlo and just slight drop in ph!

I have been reading about the cya and figure I would just start vacuuming to waste and refill as a way to lower it!

I also tested the fill water and it checked at ph 7.5and chlo 3.0 straight out of the tap.
So this shouldn't throw me off too bad when I refill!

Question is ( is 13 high enough or should I go higher until my cya drops?

[Watermom]

Chlorine of 13 is not high enough to shock the pool with CYA so high. That is why I suggested you add 4 jugs of bleach last night. You added 2 which only took you up to half as high as you needed it to be.

It may be that you lucked out this time with the chlorine dropping so low (0.5) and nothing is brewing but it is just safer to assume there might be an impending bloom and go ahead and shock to high enough to kill anything that might be getting started. So, test it again this evening and add however much bleach you need to take it on up to 25. An hour or two later, test again and note the reading so you'll have something to compare it to tomorrow morning when you test. (Need to be within an hour of sunrise. Otherwise you can't tell you much chlorine loss is from fighting something in the water and how much is just being lost to the sun.) Like I said, OTO is not super accurate but all you have to use at this point so just make a judgement based on the color chart that I linked for you above.

If you don't lose more than about 1ppm overnight, you can let the chlorine drift down. Always keep your chlorine between the minimum and maximum on the CYA/Chlorine chart and you'll avoid problems.

It is fine to vacuum to waste to try and lower the CYA but just be aware, your CYA may not be 100. It may be 200 or 400 or ?? Who knows. So, it may take a lot of water replacement to lower it. You might just want to try and live with it. It is ok to have a high CYA pool as long as you run the chlorine at levels that will compensate for it. We call this a HiC2 pool. (High CYA and high chlorine.)

One advantage of having a high CYA pool, is that in most cases it allows you to go longer between needing to add doses of bleach. Some people can get by with only adding it once or twice per week and still stay within the needed chlorine range.

A disadvantage is that if you do have algae, it will take lots of bleach to clear it since your shock level will be so high. But, you can avoid that as long as you never let the chlorine drop below your 'range.'

Just something to think about. Hope this helps. Let us know if you have further questions and keep us posted how things are going. (And order the K1515 ASAP. You need it!)

[BigdogEMT]

Just wanted to let you know the results.
I added 2 more gallons of bleach and was able to bring it up to 25 or so (it's a real pretty orange) and haven't seen a signifacent drop for the past 2 days!
Water is crystal clear and don't see any nastyness that I had earlier this summer!

Question is how long will the level stay that high? And is it ok to swim at these levels? And what would you say would be a good level to keep the chlor level for my high cya pool?

And one more question, my pressure had been running around 14 (which is high for me) since start up. A few weeks ago it seemed like it cleared and dropped to 11 during operation. But now I'm back up and it doesn't drop much even after back washing. Anything I should do that would clear this up or just stay the course and see if it drops back to normal?

I'm running a jacuzzi lazer jet with a 1 horse pump with a skimmer and extra low water pick up, and output jets.

Thanks Terry

[Watermom]

If you haven't seen much drop overnight for the past couple of days then I think you can let the chlorine drift down and keep it between 8-15 ALL the time.

You might want to run another CYA test to see if you can pinpoint more closely what your level is. But, this time mix 1/4 cup pool water with 1/4 cup distilled water. Then, run the CYA test with that and multiply your result by 2. If you still get a reading of 100, dilute it further --- one part pool water to two parts distilled and multiply results by 3,

Did you order the K1515? You need to. You will have no way to measure the higher chlorine levels accurately. You can't use an OTO kit exclusively with a high CYA pool. It just isn't accurate enough. (Reliable yes, but accurate no.) While you are ordering, go ahead and order some more CYA reagent R-0013. You'll need more of that as well. It, too, is available on the test kit link page:> http://pool9.net/tk/

If you don't have a lot of stuff being filtered out since the water is clear, when you backwash you aren't really removing much and thus you wouldn't expect the pressure to drop much afterwards. I think you are ok.