Need Help with Chlorine Levels

[aylad]

That's why your calcium is so high--the calcium flakes (which you didn't need) raised it, and then all the cal-hypo (shock) they're having you put in the pool raised it a bit more. At this point, don't let it get any higher, or you may be looking at a milky pool. (Drain and refill is the only way to lower it.) That also explains why your CYA isn't rising. CYA only rises if you put it into the pool, so the fact that your pool store "saw" some CYA once and didn't "see" it again later is an indication of faulty testing--which is why Watermom advised you to get your own drop-based kit and do it yourself. It's definitely the best investment you'll make in your pool, and will have already paid for itself with what you've spent at the pool store!

You're not going to be able to keep chlorine in the pool until you have some stabilizer (CYA) in it, and if the water is clear then you're wasting your money shocking it to try to keep a residual. Go to WalMart, Home Depot, or Lowe's and buy a container of CYA (also labeled balancer, conditioner, or stabilizer, but the main ingredient is isocyanuric, or cyanuric, acid--it's the same stuff). Follow label instructions for the amount to raise your CYA to around 20-30 ppm, but don't broadcast it like the label says--either put it slowly into your skimmer and don't backwash it for at least a week, or put it into a sock or old panty hose and put it in the skimmer or tie it in front of a return to let it start dissolving. In the meantime, while you're at WalMart, buy several jugs of the generic, ultra bleach, and use that to maintain your chlorine level by adding it at night after the sun is off the pool, so it has plenty of time to sanitize your pool before the sun hits it in the morning. At the end of the day you'll have zero chlorine residual due to the sun, but once the CYA starts to dissolve you'll start to see some residual.

Do yourself a favor and save yourself some money--save the pool store for buying toys!!

Janet