Can't balance free chlorine - nothing is working

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scoobasteve1982

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Jun 7, 2016
74
Hartford, CT
Hi there. This year I switched to Chlorine from Baquacil. I bought all new equipment that was never used with Baquacil. I have an inground pool, vinyl - 24K gallons (no heater). My pool gets direct sun most of the day. Lately it's been around 75 to 80 degrees. I have a Sta Rite System3 DE filter with a brand new Hayward pump and Hayword Chlorine feeder. I've been trying to balance the free Chlorine for 3 weeks and nothing is working. My Chlorine feeder is dissolving Azure 3" tablets and I have it turned up all the way. I also have a floating thingy in the pool that holds about 4 tablets. I also shocked with liquid Chlorine last night from the pool store - 2 gallons. I took a water sample to the pool store about 16 hours after shocking and still my free chlorine level is at 0.04 ppm. I have NO idea. They didn't know either at the pool store. They suggested I used Azure Sox All Plus instead - they recommended 3, 1lb bags. I still do not understand why my free Chlorine levels are low. The pool is crystal clear. The liquid shock did turn my pool green after putting it in but went back to clear over night. I read this could be due to metal in my pool but my recent pool tests show no Copper, Iron or Phosphates. I'm at a total loss here. Here's my latest test results:

Free Chlorine - 0.04 ppm
Total Chlorine - 2.17 ppm
Combine Chlorine - 2.13 ppm
pH - 7
Hardness - 97 ppm
Alkalinity - 15 ppm - I bought some stuff from the pool store to increase this
Cyanuric Acid - 66 ppm
Copper - 0 ppm
Iron - 0 ppm
Phosphate - 0 ppb

The pool store did say I should increase the hardness and I'm planning on doing that too, along with Alkalinity increaser and the powdered shock mentioned above. I figured with a chlorine feeder turned up all the way (brand new), a little bobber filled with tablets and shocking that I would have more free chlorine. Please help. I have no idea what is going on.

Thank you so much.

Steve
 
Steve,

Welcome to TFP!

I'm going to bet you still have a bunch of what we call "baqua goo" in the pipes and other nooks and crannies of the pool. We recomend a process be followed when converting, not replacing the equipment.

Pool School - Convert Your Baqua Pool to Chlorine

You need to get one of the recomended test kits and stop going to the pool store. They have done you no favors as the stabilizer from those tablets is now at the very upper end of reasonable for a non salt water pool, if the readings are to be believed at all. Pool store testing is notoriously wrong.

The other problem with using so many tabs is that they are extremely acidic. They drive pH & TA through the floor. Again, if their testing is correct, you need to add soda ash to the pool. This will raise both the pH and TA at the same time. Soda ash is available as ARM & HAMMER® Super Washing Soda Detergent Booster. Do not confuse this with ARM & HAMMER® laundry detergent! It is sold in the laundry detergent section of most larger grocery stores and some big box stores. It is also sold by pool stores under various names, including PH Increaser, PH Up, Balance Pak 200, etch, but is much more expensive with the fancy pool store names on the bottles. Soda ash is best added by pre-dissolving it in a bucket of water and then pouring that slowly in front of a return.

I think if you follow the baqua conversion guideline form start to finish it should resolve your problems. But, you have to,stop using those tabs. They are almost 50% stabilizer and your number is going up way too high.

The stuff they are selling you is way over priced and doing nothing but drawing your wallet. I will guess that they are the ones who recomended you change all your equipment?

But, to follow our recommendations you need an accurate test kit. Don't go to the pool store, they don't sell them. They want you to rely on their testing. The kits we recomend are only available on line.
 
Hi Tim and thank you for your response.

I actually bought new equipment on my own accord because:

1 - I just purchased the home and the pool equipment was old. I needed new parts and had a hard time getting them. I wanted to upgrade.
2 - I knew I wanted to go to Chlorine anyway and given the old equipment, I figured it would be a good time - given the Baquacil.


No baquacil goo in sight. Also, I do have a test kit I bought online. It's called the Taylor Test Kit K-2006. When testing free Chlorine my results were similar as the pool stores for free chlorine - that is, if I was doing the test kit correctly. I think I was though as the directions for the tests are pretty clear. I have another question regarding that but I haven't gotten to that yet...
 
Blending pool store advice and our advice won't work.....you'll end up in the confused middle.

So, you have no chlorine in your pool. Chlorine is the single most important factor and you have none. I suggest you put in a couple of gallons of Clorox to keep your pool clear and then read "The ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry" up in Pool School. That'll get you started in what we teach and help you decide if we can help you or the pool store is your best bet. We hope you'll choose us!!
 
The liquid shock did turn my pool green after putting it in but went back to clear over night.
Click to expand...

Almost certainly the result of Baquacil in the water. It will consume the chlorine you add. Just keep pouring in chlorine until you get a reading.

I should increase the hardness
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No need with a vinyl pool. They are just trying to sell you something you don't need.

Cyanuric Acid - 66 ppm
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Stop with the pucks. Your CYA is already too high and it will get much higher very quickly if you keep using them.

Alkalinity - 15 ppm - I bought some stuff from the pool store to increase this
Click to expand...

That stuff is baking soda. You probably paid a lot more than you should have.
 
Thank you everyone for your advice so far. In regards to Chlorine - I'm a bit confused here. They sold me a "Chlorine Feeder" which takes the pucks. I can easily take them out and not use it at all, but how do I maintain Chlorine levels in my pool without it? Do I just dump in bleach at appropriate levels to maintain ideal PPM levels?
 
24 ppm for CYA is for a SLAM, i.e. the pool is cloudy or green. If you have clear water and no CCs, you can just add to the Target column and never let it drop below the Minimum column.

e: Missed this was a Baq. conversion
 
scoobasteve1982 said:
Thanks Bruce. According to that chart (my CYA is 66ppm) I need to get the Free Chlorine up to 24 parts per million? I'm sorry, but that chart confuses me. I do have a Taylor Test Kit K-2006 to test Chlorine levels.
Click to expand...

Mr Bruce said:
24 ppm for CYA is for a SLAM, i.e. the pool is cloudy or green. If you have clear water and no CCs, you can just add to the Target column and never let it drop below the Minimum column.
Click to expand...
Steve,

You really need to follow the SLAM Process to finish getting rid of the remaining baqua hiding in the pool. As John pointed out, a sure sign of baqua remaining in the water is pretty colors when you pour chlorine in.

Stock up, you will probably need a lot of liquid.
 

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tim5055 said:
Steve,

You really need to follow the SLAM Process to finish getting rid of the remaining baqua hiding in the pool. As John pointed out, a sure sign of baqua remaining in the water is pretty colors when you pour chlorine in.

Stock up, you will probably need a lot of liquid.
Click to expand...

Tim -

Thanks for your reply. I actually put three bags of powdered shock from the pool store last night and no pretty colors. I checked my free chlorine this morning and still low....

I guess I just need to keep shocking it / liquid chlorine until the FC levels get to adequate levels?
 
Problem is you probably need to test an hour after you add and maybe add more. Usually after 3 or 4 hours it will start holding and you can check less often.

scoobasteve1982 said:
Tim -

Thanks for your reply. I actually put three bags of powdered shock from the pool store last night and no pretty colors. I checked my free chlorine this morning and still low....

I guess I just need to keep shocking it / liquid chlorine until the FC levels get to adequate levels?
Click to expand...
 
Okay so I've gone to Wal-Mart and bought liquid chlorine. I used the pool calculator and with a FC level of 0.04ppm and desired FC level of 15 (I'm following the suggestions for converting a Baqua Pool to Chlorine). The PoolMath calculator with my 24K gallon pool says to use 5.8 jugs (128 oz) - I added 7. The pool is green but as suggested I'm assuming that's because of the old Baqua from last year. I'm testing often but only see the FC with my Taylor Test Kit at 1.4 - which is better than it was...but to get to 15ppm it seems like I'd need quite a bit more liquid chlorine. It seems like a lot of Chlorine and I don't want to damage my equipment either. Not sure what to do here other than vacuum and keep adding Chlorine. Should I just keep adding liquid chlorine until I get to 15ppm?

Lastly, I need to increase the Alkalinity but I'm not sure if its safe to do so while dumping this much liquid chlorine into my pool....
 
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(I'm following the suggestions for converting a Baqua Pool to Chlorine)
Click to expand...
So you have not done the conversion but are starting it now, correct? If so, you need to stop where you are and regroup. Let us knopw if you have or haven't converted and we'll go from there.
 
No I have not done the conversion but am starting it now. But, the conversion suggests that I get the pool to 15ppm of free chlorine and add 5.8 jugs of bleach. I added 7 over the course of a couple of hours and I'm still only getting readings using my taylor test kit at 1.4ppm give or take. I've been testing almost hourly. To get to 15 I'll need to add a ton more I think...this is where I'm confused. Thanks again everyone for your knowledge and insight. I would never have gone Baqua route - but this is what I inherited when I bought my new home :(
 
I will assume you followed step one and have already adjusted the pH to 7.2 - 7.4. If not, do that now.

You can't add the chlorine over hours. If it says you need 7 gallons to get there you need to add it at once. The pump should be running and you pour it in. I would suggest one gallon in front of each return around the pool. At first as the chlorine and baqua do battle the FC is going to drop quickly. Test your water frequently and add the appropriate amount of bleach to get back up to 15ppm. Do this as often as possible, as often as every hour if you can.

The only other choice is to drain and replace the water, but even when you do that you need to follow the instructions as there will still be baqua in the pool.
 
Thank you for you reply, Tim.

My pH was around that so no I didn't adjust. But I will test and adjust that now as well.

I'm obviously a total noob but am confused because the Pool Math calculator told me to add 5.8 jugs and I added 7 and it only brought my FC ppm up to 3.2. My CYA is high (66ppm) so is that possibly why? I entered this in the calculator as well but didn't seem to have any difference in results.
 

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