Welcome to TFP!
First question: How are you testing you water? To properly dose with chlorine, you need to know the CYA level. Do not trust pool store results. If you don't already have one, you will need a good test kit to properly manage your pool. Here is a comparison of the recommended
Test Kits. If you do not have one of these kits, I would order one today before doing anything else.
alwyn said:
Additionally I now have iron stains galore.
To get rid of iron stains, you will need to do an
Ascorbic Acid Treatment. This will require you to take your chlorine down to 0 and PH down to 7.2 and add polyquat 60 algaecide per directions on the bottle to avoid getting algae while the chlorine is low. After completing the Ascorbic Acid treatment, you will need to add enough sequestering agent for the volume of your pool. Sequestrants based on HEDP, phosphonic acid, or phosphonic acid derivatives are the most effective. ProTeam's Metal Magic and Jack's Magic The Pink Stuff (regular), The Blue Stuff (fresh plaster), and The Purple Stuff (salt) are some of the top sequestrants. You can also find many other brands with similar active ingredients, some of which are noticeably less expensive. You will need to add sequestrant periodically to keep the metals from precipitating as stains - sequestrants do not remove metals from the water.
When the stains are gone and after you have added sequestrant, you can add chlorine as outlined below...
alwyn said:
Moving to the add bleach to skimmer point of view now
Slowly adding bleach in a return flow is the best way to add it. The circulation will disperse it throughout the pool more effectively and it is better for the pool surface and equipment. I use a 1 qt measuring cup and dilute the pre-measured amount of bleach with a bit of water and then pour it in. As for my definition of adding it slowly, the stream coming out of the cup is about the width of a pencil.
A couple of things to help us help you...
- 1. Please add to your profile the state and nearest city in which you live. Your climate is important to the advice you receive. By doing this, it will appear in all your posts without you having to enter it each time.
2. Suggest adding information about your pool and related equipment in your signature. By doing this, it will automatically appear in all your posts so you do not have to re-enter it each time. If you have a SWG, please include those letters in your signature so it stands out as the advice for SWG vs. non-SWG is often different.
Here's how to do both of the above:
Adding location to your profile and pool info to your signature.