I hope I didn't turn my pool into the Love Canal....

[CrazyJoey]

I'm a new pool owner. I bought a house with a 16,500 gallon IG outdoor pool in Woodland Hills, CA, and found out that I can save myself 50 bucks a month by firing the pool guy that came with the house and doing it all on my own. And finding this site helps very much in my research on what to do and what not to do.

The other day, I bought what appears to be the K-2005 test kit at Leslie's because the Aquachek 7 Silver test strips I've been using have been hard at times to color coordinate. Probably because I've left the bottle outside during 100 degree heat the last few days.

Last night at about 11:00PM, I decided to test my pool water. My FC and TC were both colorless, so that means ZERO, right? I tested FC and TC again to be sure. Still no shade of pink, red, fucsia...

So, I contemplated for about 15 minutes to shock the pool to get some chlorine. My TA was high ( I think I wrote down 150 PPM) and my CYA was about 55-60. Going by Ben's Best Guess chart, my shock FC was going to be 20PPM. I didn't have any Clorox, but I did have a box of Leslie's Power Powder Plus. Going on a website that had an FC calculator, it calculated that I needed 4.12 pounds of Calcium Hypo (Power Powder Plus) to go from 0 PPM to 20 PPM. Using a bucket of water, I poured 4.12 pounds of the powder into the bucket, mixed it, and then poured that mixture into the pool.

This morning I went to the pool, and it was still cloudy. My pool does not have a main drain. I don't know why, but I think the last owner had it covered up because of some plumbing problem. So, I stuck my Hayward Navigator into the pool to help in recirculating the pool water at the deep end because I was told that it can act as a "mobile main drain".

I didn't have time to do the test kit, but I did a test strip. My TC level was within the OKAY range, but the FC was a deep purple.

I think I did a huge mistake in shocking the pool last night at that time because now it's about to reach triple digit temperatures here again, and I have my two kids, my wife's grandmother, and my wife's little cousin that would like to go into the pool because our A/C is shot to hell.

And now to the questions:

1. Did I screw up?
2. Can my kids and their great-grandmother swim even though levels are high?

I know I'll have more questions, I'm just kinda in a state of dumbness....

Thanks for your help.

[itstoohot]

Was your water clear before you shocked? I used to use cal-hypo as my shock (switched to bleach this year ) and everytime I did it, the pool would be cloudy for 2-3 days. Some of it was by nature of the product and some of it from undissolved granules. Run the numbers on your drop based kit and see where the chlorine level is. If it is within the acceptable range according to the best guess chart, then you should be able to go swimming. If it's slightly above, I'd wear old suits. If it hasn't budged from 20, I'd stay out. Of course, if it's dropped significantly, then something else is in your pool and you've got a fight on your hands (no, not with the family).

Welcome to the forum!

[CrazyJoey]

Yeah, my water was clear before I shocked, but the test kit recorded 0 FC and 0 TC, so that's why I made the decision to shock it immediately.

I guess they'll have to wait until I get home to test the water.

[itstoohot]

Unless I'm mistaken, 0 TC less 0 FC = 0 CC. As long as your combined chlorine is 0, then you shouldn't need to shock (in most cases). Post the results when you test this evening and the kind folk on this forum will give you guidance.

[waterbear]

The reason you tested 0 ppm chlorine is because the DPD test in the Taylor k-2005 will bleach out at high chlorine levels. It really only works up to about 10 ppm chlorine. After that you need to dilute the test sample with distilled water. If you read the intructions on the lid about diluting your sample with distilled water and look on the comparator tube you will see the markings for dilution. This will allow you to test your chlorine when the levels are high. If you have an OTO test kit (reagent turns yellow, usually found in the 2 way chlorien and pH testers) I betyou will find that it turns deeper then yellow into the oranges....which means high chlorine levels. It's always a good double check when you are testing with DPD! If the OTO test remains colorless then it means you REALLY have 0 ppm chlorine in the pool.

[CrazyJoey]

The reason you tested 0 ppm chlorine is because the DPD test in the Taylor k-2005 will bleach out at high chlorine levels. It really only works up to about 10 ppm chlorine. After that you need to dilute the test sample with distilled water. If you read the intructions on the lid about diluting your sample with distilled water and look on the comparator tube you will see the markings for dilution. This will allow you to test your chlorine when the levels are high. If you have an OTO test kit (reagent turns yellow, usually found in the 2 way chlorien and pH testers) I betyou will find that it turns deeper then yellow into the oranges....which means high chlorine levels. It's always a good double check when you are testing with DPD! If the OTO test remains colorless then it means you REALLY have 0 ppm chlorine in the pool.

I saw that last night, and did the dilution sequence. I had to fill the tube to 1.8mL for me to get a good reading. It's hard getting a good read on the colors, especially when I have a white background like a piece of paper.