Chlorine too high

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dingram9

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May 21, 2015
4
Santa Fe/Tx
CHLORINE TOO HIGH! My pool is 2 yrs old this month. I had an above ground pool for 13 yrs...no problem with in-line chlorinator/hard piped PVC +Nature 2. I couldn't keep enough chlorine in it. This in-ground pool is a different puppy! I can't get the chlorine level to go down! Beautiful. blue water, crystal clear, LOVE it...but these are my latest levels:
FAC=8
TAC=8
CH=99
CYA=99
TA-120
PH=7.2
COPPER=0
IRON=0
PHOSPHATES=100
TEMP=75

It has rained so much here in the last 6 months, that we drain water off the pool sometimes 3 times a week. I take my water to be tested, I add acid when needed, brush the pool weekly, run the cleaner weekly, I am a very hands on pool person...I don't understand the chlorine level in this pool. I do not shock it! The levels are too high. Just this week, I have had an outbreak of yellow algae....my first one in 2 years! I put yellow out in it, hoping that would bring the level down & kill the algae...didn't work on the chlorine! I know some of y'all don't like the chlorine tabs...what about using those Silk tabs? Help!!!
 
Welcome! :wave:

Your chlorine is not too high. Check the FC/CYA chart. If CYA is really where they say, you're barely above minimum, which is why you have algae. That's point one.

Point two: "99" is pool store shorthand for "off the scale." Your CYA level is probably well over 100. When I took over my pool five years ago, I was at about 240 CYA. And guess what - the pool store wrote 99 on the sheet.

Rain is good. Grab as much as you can and dilute that water to lower the CYA.

I'll let others hammer on you about getting your own test kit, losing the Nature2, and SLAMming the pool.
 
Hammering that stuff Richard is skipping, high CYA is usually caused by overuse of trichlor pucks this leads to people spending lots and lots of money at pool stores then ending up here where we point out the underlying cause were all those trichlor pucks the pool stores pushed on them in the first place under the guise of easy pool management.

The answer to this CYA build up cycle is to switch to liquid chlorine / bleach or invest in an SWG (salt water chlorine generator) all solid forms of chlorine will add either CYA or CH, both can cause problems at elevated levels.
 
OP's pool is blue and Crystal clear. All numbers look good other than high CYA. I see no reason to SLAM. I do agree OP needs a good test kit.

- - - Updated - - -

Oops, I missed the yellow algae part at the bottom. Sorry
 
I have a Taylor Deluxe poolcare DPD test kit...tests free & total chlorine or bromine, pH, acid demand, & total alkalinity. What do I need to by in addition to that? Is the only way to lower the CYA....by draining & adding water? I have well water. You would think with as much rain that we have had, it would have brought that down.
 
dingram9 said:
I have a Taylor Deluxe poolcare DPD test kit..
Click to expand...
This is an OK kit, but it is missing two key tests that you will need. DPD tests can only measure up to 5 ppm FC, and not entirely accurately at that. To complete the kit you will need to add an FAS-DPD test. It is able to measure up to 50 ppm FC and CC with up to a 0.2 ppm accuracy.

It also lacks a Calcium Hardness test, which you will want to keep an eye on since you have a pebble finish.

TFtestkits.net carries the individual FAS-DPD test: HERE, but you may want to look at the TF-50 since it will contain both that and the CH test.
 

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dingram9 said:
I have a Taylor Deluxe poolcare DPD test kit...tests free & total chlorine or bromine, pH, acid demand, & total alkalinity. What do I need to by in addition to that? Is the only way to lower the CYA....by draining & adding water? I have well water. You would think with as much rain that we have had, it would have brought that down.
Click to expand...
Here is what you need to turn the DPD test kit into the FAS-DPD test kit.

In a very few parts of the country, reverse osmosis treatment is available. It returns basically distilled water to the pool. I don't think it's available in Texas. There's also a new product called Bio-Active that's supposed to break down CYA. There have been a bunch of threads on it. Sadly, draining and refilling is still usually the most cost-effective method of lowering CYA. If you're getting a bunch of rain, grab as much as you can. I set it up so one of my raingutter downspouts empties into the pool, so I get 3X as much water as I would get without it.
 
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