Probably need to SLAM. But could chlorine be suspect?

[Thinkly]

I will admit I have been a bit lax in my pool testing lately. That's easy to do when you open early, and temps stay cool for several months and the pool always looks crystal clear. Since opening I have just been testing ph and chlorine level. Then one day the furnace gets kicked on and that crystal clear water starts to turn opaque.

Instead of doing a full test, I mistakenly presumed I would just throw some dichlor at it and correct the resulting ph drop and hope it would clear up. A lot of trichlor tabs, a few dicholor shocks, and several drain/flushes later and I still have opaque water.

So now I have decided to quit being lazy and prepare for battle. I just picked up a car load of bleach and will perform a full test tonight. I am assuming I will find a still high CYA because of the stabilized chlorine usage.

So, what I am basically saying is obviously I have been negligent with my practices which I intend to correct immediately. However there is one question that won't leave my mind.

The problem with the water turning opaque. Seemed to happen right when I switched over to my new stock of 1" trichlor pucks which I just purchased on Ebay last month. It also coincided with the timing of the increase in pool water temp so maybe I am just being paranoid.

I know this is all theory at the moment with out test results but I am curious? Can trichlor go bad? Could they have switched out the trichlor for cal-hypo? The 25lb bucket came with individual 1lb plastic bags, all of which are opened, not sealed with a twist tie, etc. This is what I bought. Robelle 1 inch Chlorinating Feeder Tabs | eBay

 

[DaninFLA]

I am kinda surprised that someone that's been here for 6 years and with 250+ posts would still be using dichlor and trichlor?? you obviously know your CYA is too high and the cause of your issues. have you run a full set of tests?? guessing your CYA is high and gonna need a drain/refill before doing the SLAM

 

[Thinkly]

I got tired of hauling bleach and enjoy the convenience of the chlorinator. I've only used 2 bags of dichlor in the last 2 years, both during this episode. Other than that it has been strictly trichlor. I've also used a few bottles of bleach. I understand the effects of stabilized chlorine as I said before. I have drained approx 40% of my pool in the last 3 weeks. As I stated earlier, it is pretty much pointless to discuss without the results, I am mainly trying to address the question of whether I might be dealing with defective (old) trichlor or whether I got duped and sold cal-hpyo labeled as trichlor.

 

[DaninFLA]

to answer that question, the solid tabs are pretty stable and have a very long shelf life. no easy way to make sure of what the tabs, but you bought from a reputable seller (overstock) so its probably what you bought.

but your CYA keeps going higher, and eventually the FC being delivered by the tabs is lower than the required FC level so you get algae bloom.