hi, have had a 18500 gal in ground with haywood sand filter for twenty five years new liner 2 years ago. would lose the pool a couple of times every season, I thought this was the year to try the BBB. I have a ph 7.2 ta 100 ch280 and a cya of 50 (me testing and the pool supply store checking also) I can not get the chlorine readings up. 3 gals last night , a test result of 1-2 this morn and now down to almost 0. any advise i dont want to go back to the tablets. thanks
can not get chlorine levels up
- Thread starter REBARBEE
- Start date
Welcome to the forum :lol: Almost positive you have algae in the pool and need to shock. That will involve using more chlorine that you think.....a lot more. But your pool will absolutely sparkle if you read How to "Shock your Pool" up in Pool School.
Follow that article explicitly and, at the end, your pool will keep a chlorine residual much better and will be crystal clear.
Follow that article explicitly and, at the end, your pool will keep a chlorine residual much better and will be crystal clear.
Welcome to TFPREBARBEE said:
You are right, you do not want to go back to the tabs because you are at the top recommended CYA level now. Besides, tabs will not allow you to take control of your pool, you need a good test kit.
Read about the recommended test kits in Pool School. The best bang for the buck and the fav around here is the TF100. Link in my sig. You need to be able to test FC/CC (using the FAS/DPD test) on a regular basis and often while you are shocking and 'taking control of your pool'.
If you follow our method, we will teach you how NOT to "lose" your pool at all during any season.
When other pools go green, you just smile and go help them out because, after you learn the ropes, you can help others. 
Okay, something is eating your chlorine and no matter what it is, the answer is more chlorine. Go get a lot of plain 6% bleach from wallyworld or liquid chlorine. These are unstabilized forms of chlorine and will not add unwanted side effects. All they will do is clear and sanitize your pool.
With a CYA of 50, your shock level is about 20. So you need to add enough bleach/liquid chlorine to reach and maintain shock level of 20FC. Use the PoolCalculator.com to figure the doses.
See How To Shock Your Pool in Pool School.
It will be helpful if you add your pool and equipment specs in your sig. Go to User Control Panel (top left under TFP logo), select Profile, then Edit Sig.
Post back in this thread with any questions.
Welcome to the forum
thanks, got the pool shocked last night, still high reading this morning and pools a bit clearer, will keep checking through out the day. Thanks again
By high reading, we hope you mean that it is above your shock level of 20. Keep and maintain at shock level.
Sorry to be so pointy-headed on this but you did not shock the pool the way we define it. As written in the article, shock is a process that may take several days of shock level chlorine to get your pool all the way algae free. It is the SINGLE most common mistake people make when starting to learn what we teach.
You pool will complete the shock process when...
1. Your water is crystal clear.
2. You lose less than 1.0 FC during the OCLT
3. Your CC's test is .5 or less
went according to the pool Calcuator to get to shock level of above 20. so as the level comes down during the day from the sunlight do i keep adding or wait until this evening. be pointy-headed all you want I'm here to learn. Thanks
Yes, you need to maintain a shock level of 20ppm until your pool passes the overnight test. The single most important thing in shocking is to maintain shock level. Like duraleigh said, You pool will complete the shock process when...
1. Your water is crystal clear.
2. You lose less than 1.0 FC during the OCLT
3. Your CC's test is .5 or less
Make sure you read about shocking in the Pool School
1. Your water is crystal clear.
2. You lose less than 1.0 FC during the OCLT
3. Your CC's test is .5 or less
Make sure you read about shocking in the Pool School
thanks everyone, pools already starting to clear. after reading a lot of other posts on a lot of topics i see a lot of mistakes i'v made over the years and i'v also got more help here in less than 24 hrs than i ever got in the stores. would you recommond that i get the tf100 test kit now, i was hoping to finish the season with the 3week old walmart hth 6 way test kit. thanks again for your help
I'd order it now because you'll get use out of it this year and it'll still be plenty left next year and you can start off using it. Plus, you'll have time to get used to doing the test. But if you decide to stick with the 6-way kit it's up to you.
I would go ahead and get the test kits now so you can finish up this year or the right foot and start off strong next year.
waters looking real good, while bringing to shock level the ph has gone up to 7.6 and ta up to 130-140 should i be concerned now or wait until the shock process is done. tf-100 test kit is on the way. thanks all
Just wait till you're done shocking to adjust the other parameters. pH reads falsely high while FC is at shock levels.