Help with high chlorine

[hyue]

I recently finished construction on a 18x34ft rectangular pool and had been going with the free pool service provided by the builder. I hadn't seen the pool guy in some time and went to check on the pool and found the largest rat I've ever seen in the skimmer basket. He wasn't alone as he had some lizard or salamander on top of him. I figured I might as well take of the pool myself and have been reading this site as much as possible. I bought a TF 100 test kit and got the following results:

FC 16.5
CC 0.5
pH 8.2 (maybe higher as that's the highest the Taylor kit goes)
TA 120
CH 375
CYA 50
Salt 1870
Temp 58F

I've used the PoolMath calc and already have added the muriatic acid and salt. I'm going to add some CYA once my internet order comes in. The water in my area is hard and that's probably why the CH is so high. I was a bit surprised by the high chlorine level as I figured it would be low or non-existent due to the lack of service. I've dropped the SWG from 65% to 40%--should I drop it further? The pump is running about 7-7.5 hours daily--can I drop the pump run time as well or leave it be for now? Anything to do to get the CC level to zero?


Thanks in advance for any help

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

Be careful about the PH level. The PH test tends to give incorrect (higher than actual) results when the FC level is above 10. It is best to wait until the FC level comes down a little and retest the PH before adjusting it any further.

Unless you have fresh plaster that is less than one month old, I recommend reducing the pump run time to around 5 hours a day. That combined with the SWG percentage reduction should get the FC level down to something more reasonable in a couple of days. It is likely that you will need to reduce the percentage further, but give it a couple of days and see what happens first so you have a better idea of how much further to reduce it.

CH around 375 is not so bad. I wouldn't worry about it unless it goes over 450.

 

[Casey]

Welcome to TFP and congrats on taking over your pool. You won't regret it.