mess after vacation

[Watermom]

We really need to know your CYA level. How much chlorine is needed in a pool is based on that reading. (More about the CYA/Chlorine relationship can be found here:> http://pool9.net/cl-cya/ )If you can order the kit I mentioned above, it will help you clear it up much more easily and also make normal routine maintenance easier as well.

In the meantime, try and keep your chlorine at around 15ppm. (In reality, 15ppm may not actually be high enough to kill the algae and clear it up but without knowing your CYA, it is as high as I can recommend for now.) Your OTO kit won't read chlorine levels that high but you can use the chart at this link to get approximate readings of off the scale colors:> http://pool9.net/oto-chart/

In a pool this size, each of the 121-oz jugs of Walmart's generic 8.25% bleach will add about 3 ppm of chlorine. Each evening when you test, add enough bleach to get the chlorine back up to around 15ppm.

Run the pump while you are trying to clear this up and backwash the filter as needed.

[Fiveattripp]

Taylor k2006 kit is on the way. In the mean time I will try to get the chlorine up to the level you suggested. Will be back in touch ....thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[Watermom]

You are welcome. Keep us posted how things are going. Good decision to order the kit. Here are some testing demo videos that may be helpful:> http://pool9.net/K2006-vid/

[Fiveattripp]

Got my kit....now I have to read and make sure I test correctly. I did test the CYA and I believe it is 30 ppm, the Alkalinity is 140, the PH is 7.6, Not sure I did the chlorine correctly. Free Chlorine .24 and combined .48 . Does that sound correct? I might need to redo that tomorrow. The pool is 23,000 gal. Sand filter. 3 ft. to 8 ft. The water looks much better, but is still a little yellowish. Not pretty blue like it should be.

[FormerBromineUser]

Nope on the chlorine testing. Did you use the 25ml sample? If so, you multiply the number of drops by 0.2. I think you might have multiplied by 0.02. If so, your results would be FC 2.4 and CC 4.8. Did you watch the testing videos that WaterMom suggested?

Next time, use a 10ml sample and multiply the number of drops by 0.5.

In the meantime, do you have bleach and muriatic acid (MA) on hand? If so, what is the concentration of each?

[Fiveattripp]

Just rechecked chlorine. The free chlorine is 7 ppm and the combined is 1.5ppm. I added about a half gallon of Walmart bleach this morning...yields 7.86% chlorine. I don't have any muratic acid but will pick some up. What should those chlorine levels be?

[Watermom]

Your current chlorine is 7.86%? How did you get that? Chlorine levels are measured in ppm (parts per million).

With a CYA of around 30, aim to keep your chlorine around 15ppm until you meet three criteria:

1) You lose no more than 1ppm of FC from sundown one evening to within one hour of sunrise the next morning
2) You have no higher than 0.5ppm of CC
3) You have no signs of algae

Don't worry about buying muriatic acid at this point. You don't currently need it. Your pH is fine at 7.6.