Famous Chlorine

[gfritz1]

Have been gone from Western Pa for over 10 days thus the reason no reply .Im now ready for help and to become part of the BBB user group. Pool is inground 21500 gals-DE-Vinyl lined.Is crystal clear but still cannot get a good chlorine reading. I have purchased a HTH Chemical Test kit so here we go. Yesterday after being gone 10 days took readings with kit
Chlorine 1.0 PH 6.8 Total Alkalinty 170 Total Hardness 220 CYA 40 My readings
Free Chlorine 0 Total Chlorine 0 PH 6.5 Total Alkalinty 186 Total Hardness 205 CYA 110 Phosphate 2000 - Pool Store 1
Free Chlorine .3ppm Total Chlorine 1.3 ppm Combine 1.0 PH 7.1 Hardness 190 Alkalinty 182 CYA 60 -Pool store 2
So you can see all on the same pool water with no treatment between some difference
I added (1) bottle of Phosphate remover but as comared to when adding a bottle initially 4 weeks ago the filter never really loaded up .I question the 2000 reading
Today added 1.5 gals of Muriatic Acid and nothing else.Water still clear and up to 80 in temp ,Side Chlorinator is on and loaded with 3 inch tabs.Took another reading with my kit just now
Chlorine 1.0 PH 6.8 Alkalinty did drop from the acid 120 Hardness 240 CYA 52

Everything is clear but still issue of the chlorine reading.

What additional info do you need to assist ? The pool store 2 try to get me to switch to Pristine Blue .I prefer after reading to try the BBB. Wait for your reply

[Watermom]

Your ph is dangerously low if there is a chance that it may be as low as 6.5. Getting the ph up is your #1 priority right now! You cannot wait for aeration to bring it up. You need to add some 20 Mule Team Borax ASAP and get this ph up quickly. (Some test kits only register to 6.8 so sometimes a reading of 6.8 is actually much lower. Especially since you got another place that read it as 6.5.) Any ph below 7.0 is acidic and can damage your pool. Get some Borax in there!

[aylad]

waskydiver is correct in the following: 1)you probably do need to shock your pool--the continued low chlorine may just be due to something organic that's using it up too quickly, and shocking will take care of that. Raise your Cl to 20 for at least a day, then let it drift back down, but to no less than 5 ppm. 2) Forget all the chems the pool store is trying to sell you, including phosphate remover and Pristine Blue. Pristine Blue is a whole other nightmare that you can read about in the Bacquacil forum, and phosphate remover is just the latest and greatest idea designed to separate you from your money. 3)you do need to stop using the pucks in the chlorinator because your CYA is high enough. Keep in mind that the higher your CYA gets, the higher your baseline chlorine level has to be, and you already have to maintain it at least 5 ppm. There are some exceptions to the recommendation to keep your CYA low, but 50 is high enough that you're if you're already having problems keeping your Cl registering, you're REALLY gonna have problems keeping your Cl high enough for high CYA levels.

However, I'm with Watermom when she says you need to get your pH up ASAP--I"d start with about 4 cups of Borax, dissolved as much as you can in water and then poured down the skimmer. Wait a couple of hours, retest for pH, and then repeat the Borax until you're getting a pH of 7.2-7.6.

Janet

[CarlD]

I concur. You can fix problems with the water later--but too low pH will do PHYSICAL damage to your liner.

Levels of FC for maintenance and shocking for various levels of stabilizer are listed here, in our Best Guess table.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365

Carl

[CarlD]

WaskyDiver,

I'm not sure I can agree with your advice. I certainly would NOT want to put tap water in my pool that's pH 6.5--and I wouldn't want to drink it! I believe acid rain has a higher pH than that. A pH of 6.8 or less can damage your liner.

Generally, I would agree with advice against too much chemicals, but when it comes to Borax and Muriatic Acid, again, I must disagree. Borax raises pH, that's true, but it also adds borates to the water, and Chem_Geek has found that higher borate levels may inhibit algae growth and are fundamentally harmless. And since Muriatic Acid is Hydrochloric Acid, it adds nothing negative to your pool water as long as it doesn't lower pH too much.

There is generally no reason to worry about a T/A of 120 unless you are having real problems maintaining a constant pH.

However, your advice about striving for progress, not perfection is well in line with what we generally advise: use LESS of any chemical than you think you need because adding more is easier than getting rid of something.

[gfritz1]

ok all my helpers update from where I am now.
By aerating assume you mean running pump 100% with cover off ? Have been doing
Have shutoff the chlorinator so no tabs in the system
Yesterday morning added (1) 4lb 12 oz box Borax and (4) 1.42 6% Bleach
Checked at 4:00 and the ph was still very low which is what you all had concern. Added another 4lb 12 oz ------------ 2 hours later still low PH . Added another 4 lb 12oz last night
Check this morning as pump has been running all night using my kit

Chlorine .5
PH 6.8
Alkalinity 170
Hardness 210

Using test strips I had the PH actually might just be approaching 6.8

Does all this make sense ? Assumes as you all had concern my PH was extremely low and after adding almost 15 lbs of Borax still is low . Assume getting PH is still the priority .Out of Borax so will wait for feedback then make a run.Have 3 Bleach but will also hold waiting advise.Water is still crystal clear and with warm PA weather my pool is 82 .Never this early this nice in Western pa

Waiting for next steps

[CarlD]

Get yourself a cheap OTO kit from KMart, WalMart or any pool store and re-test your pH. Don't trust the strips for that!
The OTO kits are pretty accurate when chlorine levels are low (like yours) and get more Borax! They cost $5-$9--no more. If your WalMart has the HtH 5-way drop test kit, even better. It's the best cheap kit out there. Of course a proper FAS-DPD test kit which ranges from $50-$80 is better, but you have to order those.

At this point in time you need to make sure of your pH--and if it's low you'll need one to two boxes of Borax to get it up. If, however, you are reading the strips wrong (and it's VERY easy to do, I assure you) the OTO will give you a much more accurate read.

You need more bleach in your pool as well.

[chem geek]

Definitely add more 20 Mule Team Borax to get the pH up to at least 7.0 though preferably to 7.2 to 7.5.

Are you starting to get FC readings yet? 0.5 isn't considered a solid reading. If you add chlorine and still aren't getting FC, then I suspect you may have had bacteria convert CYA into ammonia over the winter. Given the low pH, I suspect you were using Trichlor pucks and probably had a CYA level when you closed the pool last year.

If you want to estimate how much chlorine it will take to clear the possible ammonia, you can do a bucket test using 2 gallons of pool water and add chlorine where 1/4 teaspoon of 6% bleach is 10 ppm (1 teaspoon is 40 ppm) until you measure FC that doesn't drop significantly over an hour. You could also get an inexpensive ammonia test kit from a fish/pet/aquarium store though the bucket test is more definitive since there can be more for chlorine to consume than just ammonia.

[gfritz1]

Thanks for all the advise as "FINALLY HAVE CHLORINE " . The chlorine demand test done by Par Pool and Spacs was a huge help as it showed the best approach was partial drain . This was accomplished and a second test done showing a need to one time shock with 12-14 lbs which was completed Friday .Gone for the weekend and it was 90 all weekend in full sun.Returned last night and readings
PH 7.3 FC 2.6 CC .4 Alkalinity 210 Hardness 220

Chlorine reading has held and wowe does that Taylor Kit really make it easy .

Question for Watermom and others- should I be concerned about a Alkalinity of 210 and if so what is best approach to drop it ?

Also since adding heater years ago get into a issue with stains on the white steps and around the skimmer.I have learned the trick of Vitamin C . What do you recommend to treat this ? Metal Free or something else???

Thanks again