Help! Big Time!

[PoolKid]

YES WALMART! i found a cheap OTO test kit that test the Cl,
So how do i uses this? i bought some dilleted water also,

I dont get thet mix 3 parts with 1 part thing, i dont know what parts are Lol

Any help plz befor i start adding bleach

Edited:

OHHHH dose it mean a shot glass like the shot glass you drink out of?

Just get one of those and get pool water and than another with dilleted water or w/e and mix in like a cup or something and test?

[PoolKid]

I dumped 3 Bottels in, and It started to clear RIGHT AWAY! i can start seeing the sides and the bottom! when should the i should put more in? or when should i test it? and how to test it ^^

[Ohm_Boy]

I'll take a 'shot' at it... hehe. Hehehe. I kill me.

A shot glass is just an easy way to measure a relatively small amount consistantly.
But basically, the concept is this... you need to measure a higher concentration than your instrument will register. Let's say that you are trying to achieve about 20ppm in your pool.
And let's say that you've actually gotten you pool to around 20 ppm, maybe by pouring three jugs of bleach into it... just as a hypothetical example.
And to top it off, let's also say that your kit measures up to ... oh, I don't know... maybe 10 ppm.
Your pool sample will cause a reading of 10ppm (Highest measurement we can get with our kit). That reading is false, and might make us add chlorine to increase the reading, which wouldn't show up, so we add more, etc. A bad cycle. We need an accurate measure to know what to do.

So we can dilute the sample water with pure distilled water to increase our effective range, but we need to be pretty exact in the process so that our result will be as accurate as possible.
If we took 1 tablespoon of pool water, and 1 tablespoon of distilled water and mix them together, then we should have created a 2 tablespoon sample with 10ppm concentration, or half of the original. We would still have to multiply that reading by two to determine the actual pool concentration, 'cause what's in the pool is undiluted.

That is a 1-part to 1-part mix. We decided upon tablespoons for our parts, but it could have been cups, or gallons, or even shot glasses. As long as we use the same 'part size' for both.

Unfortunately, a reading of 10ppm from a tester with a maximum range of 10ppm is still not necessarily accurate. What is the pool was really 22ppm? or 25? we couldn't tell, 'cause 10 is as high as we can measure, and multiplied by 2, we will never see higher than 20 from our sample. So what do we do?

We mix 2 teaspoons of distilled water with 1 teaspoon of pool water. Our sample is now 3 tablespoons, with 1/3 pool sample. We test that, and multiply the result by 3 to get the real number. When we test it, it looks to be about 6, maybe 7 ppm, and we multiply that by 3. We'll know that our pool concentration is somewhere between 18 and 21 ppm, which is where we want to be. Note that we do lose some precision as we expand the scale of our measurement, but that's life.

We select a dilution ratio depending upon how much we need to adjust the reading scale. 1:1 doubles the scale, 2:1 increases by 3, 3:1 scales up by 4, etc. Use as small a ratio as you can get away with and keep your reading in the scale.

BTW, that OTO kit will tell you how much total chlorine you have, but it does not tell how much FREE chlorine you have. You will want to swing a sample by the pool store every few days to a week just to keep an eye on the Total Chlorine/Free Chlorine relationship.

[PoolKid]

Thanks! How about how many times i need to test and when? do i test tonight again?

[Ohm_Boy]

Test it two, or preferably three times a day. Killing algae is big, hungry work for chlorine, and you're going to lose a lot of it to the battle. You want to maintain a steady 20 to 25 ppm army in there until they win.
Sunlight (UV rays) will also kill chlorine troops, so make sure you have a good concentration in the evening for night duty. When you do not lose chlorine overnight, you should be done.
If your pump is running, you can test in about an hour after dosing. Check your pH and TA as well.

[Ohm_Boy]

Oh yeah, I should mention that you'll want to hose off that filter cartridge every day while your algae is dying, too. All that dead algae will clog the filter, and you want to get rid of it. After a few days to a week, you'll need to replace the element.

[PoolKid]

Yup thats what i plan to do :P

[PoolKid]

I just tested, Not sure if i was suppose to lol,

Okay when i tested i mixed 1 part pool water with 3 parts distilled water.

And i add 5 drops of the stuff, It turned Red kinda dark, Now it was off the chart cause the chart only goses to 5 ppm and that is yellowish. so instead of multiplying 5 i multiplyed 7 by 4 and got around 28, so right now i think my water is in the 20-28 range, correct?

[Ohm_Boy]

i think my water is in the 20-28 range, correct?

Perhaps. You could dilute with 5 distilled to 1 pool, and multiply the result by 6. Your test should stay within the yellow range. If your reading is between 3 and 5, then you're correct (18-30).

[PoolKid]

Arlight Here is my pool so far.

6 pm September 16, ( befor the bleach went in in the bleach)



6:20 pm September 16,(10mins after bleach was put in)


8 am September 17, ( day 2)


Their is nothing the the floater by the way, its just floating their.

I backwashed the filter this morning but the filter was not that dirty. That normal?

Pool is Still Cloudy, I tested the lvl i think it around 18-30, So i will add about 1 liter of bleach around 10pm. That should raises it up about 10