In Desperate Need of Some Help

[SevenPointEight]

FC - Free Chlorine
CC - Combined Chlorine
- Not sure what these mean, but on my HTH test kit it is showing the chlorine to be at 1
pH - Test kit says it is way beyond 7 (almost purple colour), yet my electronic PH meter says it is 6? Highly confusing! I think the test kit might be old.
TA - Total Alkalinity - 90ppm
CH - Calcium Hardness - Not sure
CYA - Cyanuric Acid (stabilizer) - not sure
Borates - (if you are using borates) - not sure

For the longest time the PH was heavily acidic and our TA was literally close to 0, so we added alkalinity up until that was around 100ppm, then we added soda ash to increase the PH. Problem is the PH doesn't ever really rise above 7 (as I am inclined to go more with the PH reading from the metre, as I use it for gardening and my plants are perfectly healthy) and is constantly looking cloudy. We also suspected a possible problem with oxygen levels in the pool, so we built a fountain type of contraption and let it run for a week, with about 20 or so little jets of water. Didn't make a difference!

The pool has been cloudy for months now.

 

[SevenPointEight]

Also, the longer I leave my PH meter in the sample water, the lower it is getting. It is at 5.5 now. And the test kit is only getting more and more purple the longer it sits (SUPER high PH) so you can understand how I am highly confused right now! The only thing that stays relatively constant is the TA.

 

[duraleigh]

I don't think you can rely on anything you have for a valid pH test. I suggest you go to a pool store and have them test pH. You can get the other tests if you like but don't put much value on them....they can be VERY inaccurate but the pH testing is usually pretty consistent.

Once you get a valid test for pH adjust that to around 7.4 (be prepared to buy a lot of muriatic acid) or so and then consider getting your own good test kit so you can add some meaning to your results.

 

[JasonLion]

What are you using as a source of chlorine? Trichlor tablets, which are common, are quite acidic and will be constantly lowering the PH.

Your test kit measures TC, total chlorine, which is the sum of FC and CC. FC is the active chlorine that is helping sanitize your pool. CC is a disinfection byproduct, which you don't want and hope is at zero. CC is often zero, so FC is often equal to TC. But when CC is above zero, TC measurements aren't very useful.

It is very important to know your CYA level. Ideally you should get your own top quality test kit. Failing that, you can have a pool store tell you what your other levels (including CYA) are.