Short Version: Chlorine test is good, confirmed by pool store.
Long version:
I live in the mojave desert, pool is VERY warm.
I acid washed my pool and filled it, about 18-22K gallons. I added a bottle of descaler and 4lbs of conditioner, and a 2x bottle of chlorine, add PH up . The next week I installed an offline tablet chlorine dispenser and started feeding chlorine. Had trouble getting my PH to stay up and the pool was very strong smelling of chlorine, going through tablets pretty quickly (low ph I guess and spent chlorines). So I added the remainder 4lbs of conditioner and shocked the pool. Smell came back a few days later, shocked again. I was having trouble holding PH, I would add ALK-up 2 lbs at a time about 4 lbs. Then realized my TA was low so started adding Baking soda to raise TA and PH. PH would rise to normal then fall, so would ALK, add more baking soda, PH normalized then fell, and again and again after a day or 2, about a 2 month has passed by now Pool smelled chlorine again, enough to burn eyes a bit when very close to water, heavy shock this time overnight (3 bags).. Next morning chlorine tests a little low(though I turned off feeder overnight during shock), PH low, Alk test goes from green-yellow, ugh... take sample to Leslie Pools.
Leslie does their test. Chlorine good, combined chlorine good, phosphates, conditioner, all good. PH low, but ALK test turns green to yellow(ok, in my head, my chemical testers are confirmed stable). While testing the other stuff the chlorine level in the tester plummets and the PH spikes up crazy bright purple. He tests PHP and chlorine again to be sure and sure enough same thing, you can actually see them change color over a minute long period. They tell me low ALK is the problem and Baking soda doesn't work for pools my size, and low alk i what causes PH to go squirly and send me on my way with a 10lb bag of ALK-up which I add 8lbs of as recommended by them.
3Hours later.
I test water, PH high 7.6 and raises more after sitting 2 minutes. Chlorine is a little low and drops very low after 2 minutes. ALK test goes green-yellow/clear.
Uhg, anyone know what is happening here?
Long version:
I live in the mojave desert, pool is VERY warm.
I acid washed my pool and filled it, about 18-22K gallons. I added a bottle of descaler and 4lbs of conditioner, and a 2x bottle of chlorine, add PH up . The next week I installed an offline tablet chlorine dispenser and started feeding chlorine. Had trouble getting my PH to stay up and the pool was very strong smelling of chlorine, going through tablets pretty quickly (low ph I guess and spent chlorines). So I added the remainder 4lbs of conditioner and shocked the pool. Smell came back a few days later, shocked again. I was having trouble holding PH, I would add ALK-up 2 lbs at a time about 4 lbs. Then realized my TA was low so started adding Baking soda to raise TA and PH. PH would rise to normal then fall, so would ALK, add more baking soda, PH normalized then fell, and again and again after a day or 2, about a 2 month has passed by now Pool smelled chlorine again, enough to burn eyes a bit when very close to water, heavy shock this time overnight (3 bags).. Next morning chlorine tests a little low(though I turned off feeder overnight during shock), PH low, Alk test goes from green-yellow, ugh... take sample to Leslie Pools.
Leslie does their test. Chlorine good, combined chlorine good, phosphates, conditioner, all good. PH low, but ALK test turns green to yellow(ok, in my head, my chemical testers are confirmed stable). While testing the other stuff the chlorine level in the tester plummets and the PH spikes up crazy bright purple. He tests PHP and chlorine again to be sure and sure enough same thing, you can actually see them change color over a minute long period. They tell me low ALK is the problem and Baking soda doesn't work for pools my size, and low alk i what causes PH to go squirly and send me on my way with a 10lb bag of ALK-up which I add 8lbs of as recommended by them.
3Hours later.
I test water, PH high 7.6 and raises more after sitting 2 minutes. Chlorine is a little low and drops very low after 2 minutes. ALK test goes green-yellow/clear.
Uhg, anyone know what is happening here?
