mess after vacation

[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.

[FormerBromineUser]

Agree totally with starting above recomendations asap! I was also thinking that perhaps a slightly lower pH might help increase effectiveness of FC. What do you think, WaterMom?

[Watermom]

Agree totally with starting above recomendations asap! I was also thinking that perhaps a slightly lower pH might help increase effectiveness of FC. What do you think, WaterMom?

The pH will be just fine where it is. Unless pH is at an extreme or if you are trying to lower TA, it is typically best just to leave it alone.

[Fiveattripp]

Oh sorry... That chlorine is from the bleach that I added not my chlorine level. I will add more bleach and get the chlorine up and watch those three things. Thanks so much. It is looking so much better.

[Watermom]

Oh sorry... That chlorine is from the bleach that I added not my chlorine level. I will add more bleach and get the chlorine up and watch those three things. Thanks so much. It is looking so much better.

Glad it is looking better. Continue to keep the chlorine high and run your pump24/7 while you are working to clear this up and clean the filter as needed.

[Fiveattripp]

Going back to chemistry....thanks for the refresher! Such good info on the forum. I believe we are ok now, but wanted to run these numbers by you. FC 3.5ppm, CC 1.5ppm, TC 5, PH 7.4, ALK 130, CAL 250, CYA 35. I know we don't need to worry about the calcium, but I'm not sure about the chlorine. I think it is fine...a little on the high side now, which is fine...we aren't swimming now and the algea is gone, water is clear. Thank you!!!!