Too much Mule Team?

[CarlD]

Jan's right.

BTW, BeenPoolStored's one of the BEST new handles I've ever seen! It's even better than BTDG's "BigTallDumbGuy".

Jan will tell you why I like the handle soooo much! Or Lisa, or Al, or Ben, or maybe Richard or Evan....

[bdstain]

Thanks - I added some bleach last night and have the FC up to 16.5 ...TA is 20 and ph is still < 6.8 (using the OTO test kit was strange - the chlorine side was red and the ph side was yellow!). When adding the mule team - do I still need to go 1/4 box at a time directly into the skimmer? Can I spread a whole box around the surface of the pool? I will try to pump some of the water out to reduce CYA and stick a hose in to refill as I go. Thanks for the response!

[Watermom]

Since the pH is so low, go ahead and do a half a box at a time. Once you start to see the pH move, back down to smaller additions, though. You don't have to wait too long between additions -- a couple of hours should be fine. Then, retest, redose. I would just put it in the skimmer breaking up any clumps, although sprinkling it around the pool is ok. It won't get the ph up any faster, though.

[bdstain]

Since the pH is so low, go ahead and do a half a box at a time. Once you start to see the pH move, back down to smaller additions, though. You don't have to wait too long between additions -- a couple of hours should be fine. Then, retest, redose. I would just put it in the skimmer breaking up any clumps, although sprinkling it around the pool is ok. It won't get the ph up any faster, though.

Thanks - Another box of mule team and now we're moving ...pH is now 7.2 and FC =23 w CC=0 (CYA ~60). Still have honolulu blue clouds in pool and killing my cartridge every 20 minutes but at least starting to see the pH get back to normal. The other thing I noticed was during TA test. it went to yellow instead of red (60) - in the past it's always gone green to red, today went blue to yellow. What does that mean? Thanks for your help - I haven't found any explanation for the blue stuff yet.

[chem geek]

Blue to yellow in the TA test is normal when the FC is high. This is described in the Taylor interferences description here. It's still a valid test -- the colors will just be different. As an alternative, you can add more thiosulfate (R-0007) when you know the chlorine is high -- around 2 drops for every 10 ppm FC, maybe a little more.

[CarlD]

Blue to yellow in the TA test is normal when the FC is high. This is described in the Taylor interferences description here. It's still a valid test -- the colors will just be different. As an alternative, you can add more thiosulfate (R-0007) when you know the chlorine is high -- around 2 drops for every 10 ppm FC, maybe a little more.

Nice! Yes, when you run the T/A test you are supposed to start with 2 drops of R-0007--the chlorine neutralizer. But it's nice to know that if your FC is between 10 and 20, you need two more drops. Thanks, Richard!