Help!! I don't know who to believe - Chlorine Lock?

[chem geek]

If the circulation in your pool is decent, you can initially add 10 ppm FC then wait an hour then retest and add more if the FC is very low or zero. The chlorine gets consumed very quickly at first. You may see some of it register as Combined Chlorine (CC), but it's the Free Chlorine (FC) you want to look at.

The bucket test gives you a rough minimum requirement, but your chlorine demand may still be high for some days after the chlorine at least somewhat holds. You can see this effect in the thread describing my experience of this which I summarized in this post.

[btozzo]

Hello All!

4 Gallons of bleach in my pool last night and this morning my test tube was nice and YELLOW! Looks like about 3ppm or better. So this is encouraging. I'm going to retest tonight and add more if necessary.

Now, there is a lot of "stuff" at the bottom of my pool. It seems that no matter how much I vacuum it always comes back. The water is clear and when I vacuum it becomes cloudy. My filter "Hayward 265" seems to need backwashing everyday as well. Am I correct in assuming that the organics eat the chlorine, some die and fall to their death on the floor of my pool and end up clogging my filter. The rest are floating around waiting for more chlorine to eat them? I wish I could afford one of those "TigerSharks" to clean the pool as I seem to be spinning my wheels with the vacuum. Could you guys also offer me some advice about my filter/circulation problems? Here are the vitals:

1. Hayward EC265
2. Dismantled and cleaned twice already. Soaked in a garbage pale with a bottle of "StripKwik" to degrease.
3. Backwashed and bumped more times than I can count. I've already gone through about 2 bags of DE.

Thanks again everyone,

Bill

[PoolDoc]

Stuff that chlorine oxidizes is essentially 'gone', so far as filtration and settling goes, unless that stuff is iron and it's not in your case.

Brown stuff at the bottom of the pool is often dead algae, but from what you've said, it doesn't sound like that's happening either.

Gray stuff at the bottom, especially in a clear pool with a DE filter is often . . . DE.

And that means either a leak in your filter (torn 'membrane', missing tube, misplaced connection, cracked header) or an error in your filter startup process.

If there's enough stuff to pinch, grab a pinchful: DE will be a little gritty.

If it is DE, your filter OR your backwash process needs some work.

PoolDoc

[btozzo]

Hello All!!

Well, I tested again last night and my Chlorine was still above 3.0 and I am thrilled! I can't thank everyone enough. Now I just have to get all the rap off the bottom of my pool. I wish I could rent an electric robotic pool cleaner . . .

Ben, I am going to subscribe to PoolSolutions!! BBB is the Method for ME!!!

Bill

[Watermom]

Ben, I am going to subscribe to PoolSolutions!! BBB is the Method for ME!!!

Bill

Glad to have you!

[Spensar]

Hello All!!

Well, I tested again last night and my Chlorine was still above 3.0 and I am thrilled! I can't thank everyone enough. Now I just have to get all the rap off the bottom of my pool. I wish I could rent an electric robotic pool cleaner . . .

Ben, I am going to subscribe to PoolSolutions!! BBB is the Method for ME!!!

Bill

When I have the light "dust" on the bottom of the pool, dead algae, after a clean-up it doesn't get caught by the sand filter. I let it settle on the bottom, set the filter to waste (or drain) and vaccum it straight down the drain. Takes a bit of water but eliminates the mess.