No Chlorine in pool

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Soloman

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Jun 22, 2015
33
Northern, NJ
My CYA is high, I'm reading 88 ppm, and I know I need to drain the pool so I will by the end of the week. Yesterday, I added about 3 quarts of 12% chlorine in order to raise the level to 9 ppm according to the chlorine/CYA chart. This morning I read no chlorine in the pool. Here's my most recent readings. I used the K-2006 test kit, did it as conscientiously as possible, and it was my first attempt doing it myself (other than Chlorine and pH).

FC 0.2
TC 0.8
CH 300
CYA 88 (opened pool 2nd week in may. read 10 ppm. using chlorine tabs and shock rose to 70 ppm in weeks. just got through turning green pool blue and developing algae again.)
TA 140
pH 7.8
temp 74

I am being consumed by this pool. All of my energy is being poured into it. I feel like my back yard is a chemistry lab. All I want to do is enjoy it. Not happening.

How much liquid chlorine would you need to add to your 20k gal pool over a period of a week (7 days)?
 
It looks like you've got something growing in the pool :( How's the water look? Did you perform a SLAM process on the pool to get rid of the algae before? Did you pass all three of the criteria to be able to call it quits?
 
your chlorine disappeared because you have algae consuming it very quickly. only solution is for a SLAM, but you need to drain 1/2 your pool first to get your CYA to reasonable level. SLAMing at your CYA will take a ton of chlorine. raising your FC to the target levels based on your CYA doesn't work to beat algae, those levels are for when your pool is algae free to keep algae from starting. those levels are not high enough to kill algae faster than its reproducing. algae growth is exponential, meaning 1 become 2, 2 become 4, 4 becomes 8, etc. take a high level of FC in order to stop the multiplying and decrease it to zero. once you are at zero, then you use the FC/CYA chart to keep it from coming back. as long as you do that, never need to SLAM again.

you need to read up on the SLAM procedures. its work 100% of the time as long as you follow thru and are patient and follow it fully.
 
It's not a matter of adding X amount of chlorine a week. It appears your pool needs to be slammed. FC consumption and High CC. Fc & CC = TC.

That is the only way to affectively kill the algae.
But before you start, you should lower CYA to 30 and PH to around 7.3

As you may have read the lower CYA will reduce the amount of bleach you will have to use.
Read or reread the SLAM process and when you truly pass the OCLT test, then you can let FC drop down to your recommended levels and THEN based on swimmer load and sun exposure you will be able to get a handle on how much bleach you need to add on a daily basis
 
Thank you for your responses. I will drain the pool and perform the SLAM when I get the CYA down to around 30 (hopefully). Thank you.

The question about how much chlorine is needed was really directed toward a balanced pool.

In other words, if your pool is balanced and properly maintained, say it were 20K gal, how much liquid chlorine would you expect to go through on a weekly basis (in 7 days). I realize that there are many variables and factors that contribute to this answer, but I'm just looking for a rough idea of how much chlorine I would go through based on this answer.

Up till now I've been using cheap Costco 3" Chlorine tabs. Albeit thinking they come from Clorox (who knows bleach better) I figured they'd be great. OK so I am learning lessons the hard way. Why can't the make Chlorine tabs without the stabilizer?

I don't want to wear you out. I appreciate your kindness. Let me go drain the pool and follow the directions in SLAM.
 
"I don't want to wear you out. I appreciate your kindness. Let me go drain the pool and follow the directions in SLAM.[/QUOTE]"



Ask all the questions you want. I don't think you CAN wear them out. I know I couldn't.;)
BUT, I also know they really like it when you do you own search and try to learn as much as you can on your own. :goodjob: Somewhere on this site is an answer to about everything pool related.

I have an SWG, so when I need bleach, I use good ole' Walmart 8.25%. You'll find numerous discussions on here about folks using liquid chlorine from different sources, adding SWG or an auto liquid chlorinator to avoid lugging jugs around and for the peace of mind of knowing your pool is getting chlorine if you are away for awhile. Someone on here can probably point you to the best source in your area of the country, so you can get the most bang for your buck.

When you done draining and adding, be sure to post your numbers so they can watch your progress and see how it's going.

Oh, and before Kimkats gets on here and scolds me for not mentioning this, if you want and can, post pictures of your Slam. They love to see a "bad" pool gone "Good":whoot:

- - - Updated - - -


I don't want to wear you out. I appreciate your kindness. Let me go drain the pool and follow the directions in SLAM.[/QUOTE]

Ask all the questions you want. I don't think you CAN wear them out. I know I couldn't.;)
BUT, I also know they really like it when you do you own search and try to learn as much as you can on your own. :goodjob: Somewhere on this site is an answer to about everything pool related.

I have an SWG, so when I need bleach, I use good ole' Walmart 8.25%. You'll find numerous discussions on here about folks using liquid chlorine from different sources, adding SWG or an auto liquid chlorinator to avoid lugging jugs around and for the peace of mind of knowing your pool is getting chlorine if you are away for awhile. Someone on here can probably point you to the best source in your area of the country, so you can get the most bang for your buck.

When you done draining and adding, be sure to post your numbers so they can watch your progress and see how it's going.

Oh, and before Kimkats gets on here and scolds me for not mentioning this, if you want and can, post pictures of your Slam. They love to see a "bad" pool gone "Good":whoot:
 
Soloman said:
Why can't the make Chlorine tabs without the stabilizer?
Click to expand...

the chlorine needs to be bound to something to create a solid. you can get it bound with calcium instead of stabilizer. but then your CH goes high, same as stabilizer. there are a few threads here if you can search on this subject. best bet is liquid bleach, if you do the math its gonna be cheaper than the tabs and you will avoid having to drain your pool as you are doing now. good luck and keep us posted!
 
Almost have the pool drained, almost, that's a laugh, my 1/2 hp pump died so the process has slowed a bit. The sun is coming up and at some point today I'm going to start replacing the water. My concern is that the sun is coming up and there won't be any chlorine in the pool as it fills, so as it fills, the algae will grow.

The pool water is clear and I don't have time to peruse through the vast amount of information out there. Now I want to say thank you for this great website before I continue on my rant! But I could use some advise about whether I should add any chlorine to the pool while it is filling to stay off algae growth? I have a little algae beginning to form on the bottom.

I have a kidney shaped pool, 30' long 14' wide it's about 16K gal. I'm taking 3' of water off the top which is down to the floor of the shallow end. I wish the pool was a box with flat slopes and straight walls, but it's not. I think I've calculated the approximate volume correctly. Anyway I am removing approximately 56% of the water. I don't want to do this again. This is the second time this season. (bring in the dump trucks full of dirt cause...)

Just kidding about the dump trucks. I am spitting bullets and need some moral support. Thanks.
 

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Yes go ahead and add chlorine, brush the pool to mix it into the water. Once the water level is high enough to run your pump again you can begin the SLAM process . When your slam is completed, use PoolMath to determine your recommended chlorine range. For example if your recommended range is 4-9, dose the pool to reach 9 ppm of chlorine, then check chlorine the next day. If it is 7-6 you are still good and you don't need to add more. If it is 5-4 you are at the bottom of the range and you need to get it back up to 9ppm. As long as you never let the chlorine drop below the recommended range you should not develop algae. After a couple of weeks of daily testing you will get a feel for how much chlorine to add and how often. Anytime you have a lot of swimmers in the pool you will want to raise the chlorine a few extra ppm after the party to burn off the extra bather waste in the pool. High bather load will deplete chlorine quickly.
 
Thanks very much zea3 and everyone else. For four years I got away with the pool store and their antics, not realizing what they were doing to my pool. It caught up to me this year and I learned the lesson the hard way. Never saw such a pretty color green. Taking the chlorinator off line and not using tri-chlor or shock any more. I thought I was being smart when I bought some 99% 3" tri-chlor tabs from Anthony & Sylvan on sale thinking the would perform better. Still only 90% is available chlorine, 9% stabilizer, and 1% unidentified stuff. It doesn't matter. The CYA skyrockets in my pool.
 
All trichlor tablets will add 6ppm of CYA for every 10ppm of FC you add.
Dichlor is worse and adds 9ppm of CYA for every 10ppm of FC you add ... this is why it is so easy to really mess up a pool by adding little bags of dichlor "shock".
 
Slow process. My 1/4 HP transfer pump died during this process and by the time I get a replacement at a reasonable price, it'll take me just as long, so I am using two less powerful pumps to finish the job of draining. Still got another hour or two to go before I start the refill. But at your request, here's a pic.
 
I heeded your advice and stopped. I am replacing the water now. I was stopping at this point anyway. The last time I lowered the water level, the CYA was reading 120. I lowered it half way and got it down to 70. I figured if I have to do it again I'm going to shoot for the lowest possible number I can 30. Hopefully I gotten close + or -. I know that it is dangerous to lower your water too much. I was going for 65%. Thanks jblizzle. It's my fault. Not yours. Thanks for the help.

I'll keep posting through the process.

I realize that what I did is beyond the recommendation of TFP. And I am not recommending that anyone empty their pool beyond 50% to lower their CYA. I took this risk on my own. But follow their guidelines and don't do what I did.
 
OK, I am back in business. The pool is filled, the pump is running, and the water is dingy green, but not puke green.

So here are my stats (I'm getting better at this):

FC 1.0
TC 0.4
CH 150
CYA ~30
TA 90
pH 7.7
Temp 74




Going to adjust the pH to 7.2. Should I raise the CH before I start the SLAM or will it rise from the Clorox bleach?
 
Just did my second SLAM and brushed the pool. I'll clean the filter around 3:00 pm.

Stats are:

FC 7.2 ppm added bleach after this reading to raise to 12 ppm
CC 0.4 ppm
pH 7.2
TA 90 ppm
CH 180 ppm add 1lb of calcium chloride to increase slowly
CYA was at ~30 when I started this morning, will check again tonight
Temp 76
 

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