Stabilizer ?

[chuck9997]

I am in the start up process now.. first day. I have added bleach.. and more bleach. Been checking the Chlorine level.. Had it up to about 15ppm.. a few hours later checked and it was at 4ppm. Is it normal to drop that much in a few hours?

I failed to check the PH before adding the bleach.. can I still get a true PH reading with CL level high? Right now the test says PH is over 8.. but the CL is high.

In past years... never had any problems getting the Chloring up.. and maintaining it.

[chem geek]

I failed to check the PH before adding the bleach.. can I still get a true PH reading with CL level high? Right now the test says PH is over 8.. but the CL is high.

A high chlorine level can lead to a falsely high pH reading so you'll have to wait for the FC to get below 10 ppm before getting an accurate pH reading. The chlorine itself temporarily raises the pH, but the high FC level also bleaches out one of the two dyes in the pH test causing it to typically be misread too high. Taylor talks about that in their Pool & Spa Water Chemistry booklet:

FALSE READINGS: high levels of chlorine (usually >10 ppm) will quickly and completely convert phenol red into another pH indicator (chlorphenol red). This new indicator is a dark purple when the water's pH is above 6.6. Unfortunately, some pool operators mistake the purple color for dark red and think the pool water is very alkaline and wrongly add acid to the pool.

When a sanitizer level is not extreme, only some of the phenol red may convert to chlorphenol red. However, purple+orange (for example, pH 7.4) = red. This error is more subtle as no purple color is observed and the operator does not suspect that a false high pH reading has been produced. Some operators neutralize the sanitizer first by adding a drop of chlorine neutralizer (i.e. sodium thiosulfate). However, thiosulfate solutions have a high pH and, if heavily used, may cause a false higher sample pH.

The Taylor pH test has some special chlorine neutralizers in it such that they don't affect the pH very much, but even these don't work at very high FC levels so generally you can't trust the pH test above around 10 ppm FC.

Richard

[Watermom]

Chuck -- if you continue to need some help with your pool, why don't you go ahead and start a new thread of your own. It is best to do that instead of tacking on to somebody else's. Sometimes trying to help work on two different pools within one thread gets too confusing to follow. Glad to see you back around the forum!

[hannadock]

Thank goodness I finally got back to be able to post. Ok. I have added 18 188oz bottles of bleach and scrubbing the floor and walls. 30 X 40 pool with around 36000 gallons+. Dumb question, I can't see what I am vacuuming. Is all this bleach suppose to clear up the water so I can? I started vacuuming on waste but I couldn't see if I was doing any good yesterday.

[Watermom]

Yes, the bleach will clear up the water. As it kills algae, your pool will get less and less green, although the dead algae often clouds up the water. Is there any debris on the bottom of the pool? If so, net it out. If not, just keep socking it with bleach for now and backwashing whenever your filter pressure rises 8-10 psi over your clean filter pressure.

How many times a day are you testing your water? You need to do so at least twice (and 3 times) per day is even better. Each time, add more bleach. The key to killing algae is to sustain high chlorine readings. If you don't, it will take forever to clear the pool. You don't want to shock it and then let it fall way off before dosing it again with more bleach. Keep us posted on how it is going.

[hannadock]

When you say shock do you mean bleach? I read at 700am and 6pm before and after work. Will the bleach eliminate the cloudy water? When I checked this morning the water is cloudy but no green on the bottom. The bottom is alittle cloudy but I didn't see anything.

[CarlD]

Yup. "Shock" is a verb--it's what you do (not that it actually means much).

When you "shock" a pool, you are simply upping the chlorine in it to a level that will kill anything in it.

Bleach is Liquid Chlorine in either 5.25% or 6% concentrations. The first is called "regular" the second "ultra". "Liquid Shock" at the pool store is Liquid Chlorine in 6%, 10% or 12.5% concentrations. (Technically, Sodium Hypochlorite diluted in Sodium Chloride solution, ie, saltwater).

Packets labeled "shock" are usually convenient-sized but expensive packs of Di-Chlor, Tri-Chlor, Calcium Hypochlorite, or Lithium Hypochlorite (this last is insanely expensive). They all do the same thing as Liquid Chlorine/Bleach: Raise your chlorine level in your pool to where it kills living stuff and metabolizes other stuff (like sun-tan lotion).

But they all have drawbacks.
Di-Chlor and Tri-chlor add stabilizer, which you may or may not want. They both lower pH, though Tri-chlor does it more dramatically.

Cal-Hypo is trickier to handle, quite dangerous around other forms of chlorine when it's in effective concentrations (over 60%), adds calcium, which you DON'T want in a vinyl pool and MAY want more of in a concrete pool, and may raise your pH and be tough to dissolve.

Lithium is insanely expensive for fairly low concentrations.

ONCE they are dissolve in the water, they are all the same--chlorine is chlorine is chlorine.

But each can be beneficial. I'm using Tri-Chlor right now since my pH was fairly high, my CYA(stabilizer) was non-existent, and I had just trounced the biggest algae bloom I ever had, and the first at spring opening, so I wanted a constant chlorine level. Once I hit my target CYA, I'll stop--or when the last tablets dissolve!

[hannadock]

I didn't see my last post but I read in 7am and 6pm. running pump 24/7. Came home today and did my backwash. Water still cloudy so I can't really tell what's in the bottom in the deep end. When I brushed the walls and floor what was on the deep in came up and mixed in with the water. Added 4 more gallons of bleach. Thanks

[aylad]

Usually when the pool goes from green/cloudy to blue/cloudy it means the algae is dying, and the cloudiness is the dead algae in the water, which will be removed by your filter. Make sure your filter runs 24/7 and that you backwash as needed as the filter takes all of it out.

Janet