Guys, I am having some problems, and wanted to post for some help. I will state that I ordered a decent test kit (TF100) on Sunday, and am currently using test strips and Leslies to get more accurate readings.
I am assuming that my water has ammonia in it (I will test after work) because I let my FC go to 0 over the winter and turn to a swamp. I have been pouring in 4.5 gallons of bleach a day to shock my pool to start it up and did this for a week. I also added polyquat 60% It went from dark green to blue and cloudy. Leslie's tested my water and got FC 1.0, CC 1.0, Ph 7.4, Alk 100, CYA 30. From that point on I was using test strips (I know, I know, but it was between paydays and I have since ordered a TF100). For the whole week the cya appeared to stay at 30 and the Ph and alk stayed the same. Every night for a week I added 4.2 gallons of 6% bleach to keep it at or above 13 ppm chlorine.
This is where I messed up and my question comes in. I was getting a reading of 5-10 ppm TC while showing no FC. I decided to add 21 gallons of bleach to superchlorinate the pool and kill the suspected ammonia. I tested (with a strip) 4 hours later and my PH is showing as 6.2 while my ALK remained at 100 ppm and my water is showing no TC or FC. I got the same reading the next morning. I confirmed the Chlorine lvl was 0with an OTO test and the Ph showed as 6.2 on the drip test as well. My CYA showed as 0 on a test strip. after super shocking. My questions is would adding that much bleach cause the chlorine to drop to 0, ph to drop at least a full point and cause my CYA to disappear, or could these all be false readings caused by the superchlorination?
I will post accurate numbers and ask for more help when my TF100 kit comes.
I am assuming that my water has ammonia in it (I will test after work) because I let my FC go to 0 over the winter and turn to a swamp. I have been pouring in 4.5 gallons of bleach a day to shock my pool to start it up and did this for a week. I also added polyquat 60% It went from dark green to blue and cloudy. Leslie's tested my water and got FC 1.0, CC 1.0, Ph 7.4, Alk 100, CYA 30. From that point on I was using test strips (I know, I know, but it was between paydays and I have since ordered a TF100). For the whole week the cya appeared to stay at 30 and the Ph and alk stayed the same. Every night for a week I added 4.2 gallons of 6% bleach to keep it at or above 13 ppm chlorine.
This is where I messed up and my question comes in. I was getting a reading of 5-10 ppm TC while showing no FC. I decided to add 21 gallons of bleach to superchlorinate the pool and kill the suspected ammonia. I tested (with a strip) 4 hours later and my PH is showing as 6.2 while my ALK remained at 100 ppm and my water is showing no TC or FC. I got the same reading the next morning. I confirmed the Chlorine lvl was 0with an OTO test and the Ph showed as 6.2 on the drip test as well. My CYA showed as 0 on a test strip. after super shocking. My questions is would adding that much bleach cause the chlorine to drop to 0, ph to drop at least a full point and cause my CYA to disappear, or could these all be false readings caused by the superchlorination?
I will post accurate numbers and ask for more help when my TF100 kit comes.
