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If you dumped in 3 gallons, your FC is now around 30. Please stop this as you are liable to be doing as much harm as good.
Clearing up your pool is not about dumping in a lot of bleach all at once. It is about adding in a measured amount to reach a prescribed shock level (10 for you, if your CYA is really under 20), then repeating, hourly if possible. You have to keep repeating this test until you meet 3 criteria, one of which is clear water. You'll need a FAS-DPD kit to test the other 2 criteria. This could take days or weeks.
In one post you mentioned a floater. Have you been using the trichlor tablets/pucks? Are they the large 3" size? Do you know how many of them you have used this year? If you estimate each tab to be 8oz, each one has added about 5ppm CYA to your pool. I've seen them range from 7-10oz, so that could be 4-7 ppm CYA for each puck. If you can tell us how many pucks and what they weigh, we can calculate what your CYA should be, assuming it was zero at the start. If your CYA is actually really high, the 3 gallons of bleach may not have been that much over what you needed. (If your pucks were cal-hypo, they have not added CYA, but would have added CH.)
Please continue to study the shocking process:
"The Shock Process
Shocking the pool will eliminate algae, combined chlorine (CC), and any other organic contamination. If you have algae, or the CC level is above 0.5, or the free chlorine (FC) level is zero, you should shock the pool. Many people also like to shock the pool when the FC level falls significantly, as it often does after a major storm or large swim party. This is done even if FC doesn't get all the way to zero, just to be sure everything is all right. If you are maintaining proper FC levels there is no need to shock weekly, or on any other regular schedule.
To shock, it is a huge help to have a FAS-DPD chlorine test. You also need to know your current CYA level, and then look up the corresponding FC shock level. You can use the The Chlorine/CYA Chart at Pool School to find the correct FC shock level for your CYA level. It is best to use bleach or liquid chlorine when shocking.
Shocking:
Measure the FC level
Add enough chlorine to bring FC up to shock level (or a little higher)
Repeat steps 1 and 2 as frequently as practical, but not more than once per hour, and not less than twice a day, until:
CC is 0.5 or lower;
An overnight FC loss test shows a loss of 1.0 ppm or less;
And the water is clear.
Brush the entire pool once a day
Backwash or clean the filter as needed
Depending on what kind of filter you have, it can take the filter a week or more to completely clear up the water, even after all of the algae is dead. DE filters are usually much faster than that, but require frequent attention when cleaning up algae. Sand filters are the slowest, and cartridge filters are somewhere in-between.
While shocking, the appearance of the water should improve each day, though perhaps only by a little. If you fail to see any improvement you might have a problem with your filter, or have a higher CYA level than you think, or bad circulation, or have some other more complex problem.
The goal of shocking is to add enough chlorine to oxidize all of the algae, combined chlorine, bacteria, viruses, ammonia, and other organic contaminates. Oxidization breaks down the organic molecules into smaller parts which are harmless. When shocking, you need to keep adding chlorine until the breakdown process is complete.
Higher FC levels will oxidize contaminates more quickly, but levels that are too high can cause damage to the pool or the pool equipment. Recommended shock levels are designed to break down contaminates reasonably quickly while posing minimal risk to the pool. It is impossible to know in advance just how much chlorine will be required to shock the pool. Instead, chlorine is added to maintain shock level until testing shows that the process is complete.
If you have a salt water chlorine generator, chlorine tablet dispenser, or Liquidator, you will still need to use another chlorine source for shocking. All of these devices are designed to add chlorine slowly and steadily over many hours. To kill algae or lower CC, you need to put in lots of chlorine all at once. The SWG, tablet dispenser, or Liquidator can be very helpful in the follow up stages to maintain FC at shock level, but for the initial couple of chlorine applications, you need to use another chlorine source."
"Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT)
The purpose of the overnight FC test (OCLT) is to determine if you have living algae, or other organic contaminates, in your water. If you do, you need to shock, or continue shocking, the pool.
Chlorine is consumed by two things: sunlight and breaking down organic contamination in your pool. By testing at night, we rule out sunlight. If chlorine is still being used up, it must be because of algae or other organic contaminates in the pool.
Of the common chlorine tests, this test can only be done with the FAS-DPD test. Test strips, and the OTO and DPD tests, do not have enough precision to determine if small amounts of chlorine are being consumed.
To perform the overnight FC loss test:
If you have an SWG, tablet chlorinator, or other chlorine feeder, shut it off completely.
After the sun goes down, and at least 30 minutes after your last chemical addition of the day, test your water for FC using the FAS-DPD test.
Record that result. Do not put any more chlorine in your pool.
The next morning, as early as practical and definitely before there is any direct sunlight on the pool, perform the FAS-DPD FC test again and record the results.
If your FC level remained the same, or went down by 1.0 or less, the water is clean. There isn't any living algae or other organic contamination in the pool.
If you lost more than 1.0 ppm of FC, then there is something in the water that needs to be removed and you should shock, or continue shocking, the pool."
Clearing up your pool is not about dumping in a lot of bleach all at once. It is about adding in a measured amount to reach a prescribed shock level (10 for you, if your CYA is really under 20), then repeating, hourly if possible. You have to keep repeating this test until you meet 3 criteria, one of which is clear water. You'll need a FAS-DPD kit to test the other 2 criteria. This could take days or weeks.
In one post you mentioned a floater. Have you been using the trichlor tablets/pucks? Are they the large 3" size? Do you know how many of them you have used this year? If you estimate each tab to be 8oz, each one has added about 5ppm CYA to your pool. I've seen them range from 7-10oz, so that could be 4-7 ppm CYA for each puck. If you can tell us how many pucks and what they weigh, we can calculate what your CYA should be, assuming it was zero at the start. If your CYA is actually really high, the 3 gallons of bleach may not have been that much over what you needed. (If your pucks were cal-hypo, they have not added CYA, but would have added CH.)
Please continue to study the shocking process:
"The Shock Process
Shocking the pool will eliminate algae, combined chlorine (CC), and any other organic contamination. If you have algae, or the CC level is above 0.5, or the free chlorine (FC) level is zero, you should shock the pool. Many people also like to shock the pool when the FC level falls significantly, as it often does after a major storm or large swim party. This is done even if FC doesn't get all the way to zero, just to be sure everything is all right. If you are maintaining proper FC levels there is no need to shock weekly, or on any other regular schedule.
To shock, it is a huge help to have a FAS-DPD chlorine test. You also need to know your current CYA level, and then look up the corresponding FC shock level. You can use the The Chlorine/CYA Chart at Pool School to find the correct FC shock level for your CYA level. It is best to use bleach or liquid chlorine when shocking.
Shocking:
Measure the FC level
Add enough chlorine to bring FC up to shock level (or a little higher)
Repeat steps 1 and 2 as frequently as practical, but not more than once per hour, and not less than twice a day, until:
CC is 0.5 or lower;
An overnight FC loss test shows a loss of 1.0 ppm or less;
And the water is clear.
Brush the entire pool once a day
Backwash or clean the filter as needed
Depending on what kind of filter you have, it can take the filter a week or more to completely clear up the water, even after all of the algae is dead. DE filters are usually much faster than that, but require frequent attention when cleaning up algae. Sand filters are the slowest, and cartridge filters are somewhere in-between.
While shocking, the appearance of the water should improve each day, though perhaps only by a little. If you fail to see any improvement you might have a problem with your filter, or have a higher CYA level than you think, or bad circulation, or have some other more complex problem.
The goal of shocking is to add enough chlorine to oxidize all of the algae, combined chlorine, bacteria, viruses, ammonia, and other organic contaminates. Oxidization breaks down the organic molecules into smaller parts which are harmless. When shocking, you need to keep adding chlorine until the breakdown process is complete.
Higher FC levels will oxidize contaminates more quickly, but levels that are too high can cause damage to the pool or the pool equipment. Recommended shock levels are designed to break down contaminates reasonably quickly while posing minimal risk to the pool. It is impossible to know in advance just how much chlorine will be required to shock the pool. Instead, chlorine is added to maintain shock level until testing shows that the process is complete.
If you have a salt water chlorine generator, chlorine tablet dispenser, or Liquidator, you will still need to use another chlorine source for shocking. All of these devices are designed to add chlorine slowly and steadily over many hours. To kill algae or lower CC, you need to put in lots of chlorine all at once. The SWG, tablet dispenser, or Liquidator can be very helpful in the follow up stages to maintain FC at shock level, but for the initial couple of chlorine applications, you need to use another chlorine source."
"Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT)
The purpose of the overnight FC test (OCLT) is to determine if you have living algae, or other organic contaminates, in your water. If you do, you need to shock, or continue shocking, the pool.
Chlorine is consumed by two things: sunlight and breaking down organic contamination in your pool. By testing at night, we rule out sunlight. If chlorine is still being used up, it must be because of algae or other organic contaminates in the pool.
Of the common chlorine tests, this test can only be done with the FAS-DPD test. Test strips, and the OTO and DPD tests, do not have enough precision to determine if small amounts of chlorine are being consumed.
To perform the overnight FC loss test:
If you have an SWG, tablet chlorinator, or other chlorine feeder, shut it off completely.
After the sun goes down, and at least 30 minutes after your last chemical addition of the day, test your water for FC using the FAS-DPD test.
Record that result. Do not put any more chlorine in your pool.
The next morning, as early as practical and definitely before there is any direct sunlight on the pool, perform the FAS-DPD FC test again and record the results.
If your FC level remained the same, or went down by 1.0 or less, the water is clean. There isn't any living algae or other organic contamination in the pool.
If you lost more than 1.0 ppm of FC, then there is something in the water that needs to be removed and you should shock, or continue shocking, the pool."
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