Free Chlorine Staying Low

Jump to latest Follow Reply
M

MarcyL

New member
May 25, 2023
2
New Jersey
Apologies in advance for the long thread. A lot of data points here.
Plaster pool about 33,000 gallons. Cartridge filter.
  • Last year I opened my NJ pool to horrible algae and was able to SLAM my way to a clear pool in about 10 days, getting high CYA levels under control at the same time. I replaced my filter cartridges and had a perfect season after that.
  • This year I closed late and opened early to try to avoid that situation which worked. Small amounts of algae at opening which I quickly got under control.
  • We then went away for a few days and had the pavers cleaned which dumped a bunch of sand into the pool. I vacuumed it out with a cheap canister vacuum to spare my Polaris. But every day a mess would appear on the pool floor. I thought it was sand resettling which I vacuumed up, but after a few days wondered. Was it algae? Pollen?
  • We have a ton of mature trees around us dumping ungodly amounts of mess this year. We got a skimmer robot which is doing a good job, but last night it actually filled up overnight and the floor was blotchy again. This leads me to believe its pollen, not algae. Nothing's collected on the walls or ladder for over a week. Do I need to treat the pool differently while this is happening?
  • As for the chemical situation, the chlorine levels never stabilized since opening.
  • CYA was very LOW at opening. I have no idea why. Added 12 pounds of stabilizer over 3 days last week and it is now up to 30.
  • The pool is perfectly clear but I CANNOT get my free chlorine to register. I am shocking every evening (not SLAM levels because it's clear) and have put a floater with pucks directly in my pool in case the chlorinator isn't working right. Nothing is visibly wrong with it, but chlorinator pucks are dissolving super slow. The water is cold and pool not in use yet so I'm not sure if this is normal. Here's where I am most mornings:
    • Free Chlorine near zero
    • Combined chlorine .6
    • pH 7.2
    • Total Alkalinity 100
    • Calcium Hardness 450
    • CYA 30
I am stumped and spending a fortune on shock. I'm just dumping money into the pool and not solving anything. Should I switch to adding liquid chlorine? How much? For how long?
For those who stuck with me, thank you!
 
Get some liquid chlorine and maintain FC.
Maintain your FC based on CYA. Link—>FC/CYA Levels
Use pool math to determine amounts.
Test and replace daily. If you need to dose above range, so you are in range when you test, then dose higher.
How do you normally chlorinate?
 
PoolStored said:
Get some liquid chlorine and maintain FC.
Maintain your FC based on CYA. Link—>FC/CYA Levels
Use pool math to determine amounts.
Test and replace daily. If you need to dose above range, so you are in range when you test, then dose higher.
How do you normally chlorinate?
Click to expand...
When life is good, I use trichlor pucks in chlorinator and shock once a week. So far this year I’ve been adding powder shock every night. I will do as you suggest and get some liquid.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply