Too high chlorine, low PH

[denanbob]

I usually take care of the chemicals in the pool and DH takes care of the pump/filter/vacuuming. However, my kids and I went on an 11 day vacation (dh couldn't get off work that long) and I had to show him how to test and add chlorine (1" tri-chlor pucks..dh doesn't know how to use bleach) as needed while we were gone. He called and said there were green spots on the bottom of the pool at one point. I told him to shock (1 bag of "shock") and vacuum well and run filter 24/7. Then I told him to keep the chlorine "higher than the "5" reading" on our Wal-Mart 6-way test thingie. We've been back since Tuesday and the chlorine is still orange. Way off the chart and not yellow at all. The PH is down to almost 6.8. It's a tad darker than the 6.8, but lighter than the 7.2. I haven't diluted to see exactly what my chlorine is yet though. The kids are dying because they want to swim so badly. My question is..........should I add borax to raise the PH? Partial drain and refill to get the chlorine down quicker? Or just run the fountain and let the sun eat up the chlorine a few more days? I have a 15x30 AGP with a vinyl liner. 10,600 gallons of water. Thanks everyone! Oh, by the way, I was planning to start BBB exclusively when my pucks ran out from last year, but my dh went to the pool store and bought a 50lb. bucket of them because he ran out while we were on vacation. GRRRRRRR! They sure do take up less space than the bleach containers though...LOL!

[JohnT]

My question is..........should I add borax to raise the PH?

PH adjustment while your chlorine is high is a bad idea. The high chlorine affects the pH measurement.

[denanbob]

PH adjustment while your chlorine is high is a bad idea. The high chlorine affects the pH measurement.

So my PH may be higher than that? Or are you saying it could be lower? Is there a way to tell? I'm just worried about my liner if my PH drops any further. Would you drain 3-4 inches and refill (which will make my TA go sky high again) to get the chlorine at a manageable level or just wait a few more days and see what happens? Of course it's going to be a 90 degree sunny weekend and my kids will not be happy if they can't swim!

[aylad]

Your pH could be higher or lower, quite possibly lower if the shock he used was dichlor. I personally would add a little borax to bump it up to around 7.2 just to be on the safe side...I generally agree with John that pH adjustment is a guessing game with high chlorine levels, but it's easy enough to lower again if you need to, and higher pH isn't going to be near as rough on your liner as low pH is. Depending on how high your chlorine is, and what your CYA level is, if you have a 90 degree sunny day in the forecast, it shouldn't take but a couple of days to bring the chlorine back down again, and even if it's slightly high, you can just swim in old suits!

Janet