Hi, I was hoping you can help me, it seems that I'm in the same situation from using Pink treat in my above ground pool last year. It removed the pink algae but when I opened my pool this year the water was crystal clear but would not read free chlorine after shocking pool twice. I thought i had chlorine lock so i started shocking and over chlorinating to get to the breaking point. I tested pool soon after and finally had a free chlorine reading so i thought i corrected the problem. The next day all chlorine was gone and tested at 0. I thought my cya was too high so i started using bleach to not raise cya. Still couldn't get a reading. Desperately, i drained half my pool and refilled. Cya was still high and not reading a free chlorine level even after adding twice the amount of bleach necessary to raise free chlorine to 5 ppm. Frustrated, i decided to empty the pool again. This time I drained about 80% of the pool and then refilled again. Cya was now reading low. I used super soluable granulated choline and added twice the amount. After 15 minutes i was able to get a free chlorine reading on the test strip of 5 ppm. I waited 2 hours and tested again and had a free chlorine of 0 again. All my other chemicals are perfectly balanced but it seems that i just can't get the free chlorine to stay. I came across your post about the pink treat in 2012 and i was hoping you can tell me what worked to correct this. I think the pink treat turned my pool into bromine instead of chlorine. There is no other logical answer to my free chlorine problem. Do you know how i can correct this? I want my pool to go back to chlorine. Should i keep adding bleach/liquid chlorine? I don't want to raise my cya. If i keep adding chlorine, will it just keep converting it to bromine? Is there an actual test I can do to confirm that there is bromine in my pool?Please help me get out of this vicious cycle. I appreciate any help you can give. Thank you!
Help, I think my chlorine pool was converted to bromine after using pink treat
- Thread starter Erika21
- Start date
Had my water tested at a local pool store. My phosphate level says it's at 4000. I cannot get any free chlorine to stay in my pool even after adding a high amout of liquid chlorine or super soluable granulated chlorine. What exactly is phosphate in a pool and what do it do? Can this be the cause of my no free chlorine?
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,193
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Welcome to TFP! 
Simply put, phosphates are a combination of compounds that allow algae to thrive. However if you have no algae, the phosphate level itself is of no consequence. In 99% of all residential pools, we at TFP pay no attention to phosphates. Instead, we ensure the water is algae-free by using a proper test kit - either a TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C. That is key. So rather than relying on inconsistent pool store testing, bad advice, and/or over-priced products that will not work, we recommend the test kit first. Post a full set of results and we'll be happy to help you resolve your problem about retaining chlorine.
www.troublefreepool.com
www.troublefreepool.com
Simply put, phosphates are a combination of compounds that allow algae to thrive. However if you have no algae, the phosphate level itself is of no consequence. In 99% of all residential pools, we at TFP pay no attention to phosphates. Instead, we ensure the water is algae-free by using a proper test kit - either a TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C. That is key. So rather than relying on inconsistent pool store testing, bad advice, and/or over-priced products that will not work, we recommend the test kit first. Post a full set of results and we'll be happy to help you resolve your problem about retaining chlorine.Phosphate Removers - Further Reading
www.troublefreepool.com
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Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!
www.troublefreepool.com
mguzzy
Gold Supporter
Howdy Erika! Welcome to the Forum
You need to post up all your chemistry results for us to really see what is going on in your pool's water. It's unlikely that phosphates are affecting your FC. Its more likely you are at the beginning of an algae bloom, or your CYA is too low and the sun is eating all your chlorine.. but we can only guess if we don't know all your chem levels. AND and Pat said we like it if you post your own testing. Pool stores are inconsistent at best.
And if you are curious, my phosphates are at 2000ppb by my own testing.. but it shouldn't matter because all the rest of my chems levels are sanitizing my water just fine.
You need to post up all your chemistry results for us to really see what is going on in your pool's water. It's unlikely that phosphates are affecting your FC. Its more likely you are at the beginning of an algae bloom, or your CYA is too low and the sun is eating all your chlorine.. but we can only guess if we don't know all your chem levels. AND and Pat said we like it if you post your own testing. Pool stores are inconsistent at best.
And if you are curious, my phosphates are at 2000ppb by my own testing.. but it shouldn't matter because all the rest of my chems levels are sanitizing my water just fine.
Ph: 7.5Howdy Erika! Welcome to the Forum
You need to post up all your chemistry results for us to really see what is going on in your pool's water. It's unlikely that phosphates are affecting your FC. Its more likely you are at the beginning of an algae bloom, or your CYA is too low and the sun is eating all your chlorine.. but we can only guess if we don't know all your chem levels. AND and Pat said we like it if you post your own testing. Pool stores are inconsistent at best.
And if you are curious, my phosphates are at 2000ppb by my own testing.. but it shouldn't matter because all the rest of my chems levels are sanitizing my water just fine.
Ta: 80
Free chlorine 0 on test strip as per pool store .2
Total chlorine 0 on test strip as per pool store .2
Cya: 60 on test strip as per pool store 67
I have attach their water testing report even though i know you don't like that but I thought it might be more accurate than my test strips. I put chlorine in the pool test it 15 minutes later and i can get a reading of 5ppm. Two hours later, I test again and it is back to 0. At this point I'm lost. Thanks for your help
Attachments
mguzzy
Gold Supporter
Its not that we don't like it.. its just that its better to do your own testing and the results will be more reliable. Test strips are too variable as well. Also if you have your own test kit, one of the ones we recommend, then we have a common foundation to discuss your results.. we use the same test kits.. we know how they operate. That's why we recommend you get your own kit!
So.. based on your results there.. assuming they are correct. your CYA is kind of high for a non SWG pool.. it should be closer to 30 ish... follow this chart FC/CYA Levels. You are likely loosing chlorine because you are at the beginning of a algae bloom. And the best way to ascertain that is by doing an Overnight chlorine loss test Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. But you can't do that with test strips. So I would continue to add 5ppm FC of chlorine everyday until you get a test kit to do an OCLT and see if you need to do a SLAM.
Thank you for your help. I was actually looking for a good test kit as well. When i was just at tge pool store, they charged me $50 because they tested my water twice and they gave me 2 bags of shock. I probably could have bought a good test kit for that price. If you wouldn't mind checking out my other post which give more of my back story over the last 2 weeks.
Help, I think my chlorine pool was converted to bromine after using pink treat
mguzzy
Gold Supporter
Check out this:
Test Kits Compared
I am partial to the TF100 Pro series. They already come with a which I think is crucial. and it has a nice case.
tftestkits.net
I'll look at your other thread for the backstory!
[EDIT}... I went to post and the mods had already merged the two threads... YAY.. they are so efficient!
Test Kits Compared
I am partial to the TF100 Pro series. They already come with a which I think is crucial. and it has a nice case.
TF-Pro
I'll look at your other thread for the backstory!
[EDIT}... I went to post and the mods had already merged the two threads... YAY.. they are so efficient!
Hi Erika, welcome to TFP!
So I'll get right to the bad news: if you added sodium bromide to the water then you have bromine in the pool. No way to test for it, but none needed. How bad it is depends on how big your pool is and how much you added, which unless I missed it you haven't shared. If you can share that I can figure out just how bad it is, but the answer is probably going to be the same regardless: replacing almost all of the water. Bromide doesn't go away on its own and while I think there's a few likely reasons contributing to your chlorine problem, it is one of those reasons that can't be fixed any other way.
I'm sorry, i thought I updated that info in my profile. My pool is a glorified bath tub, lol, it is an above ground 8 x 12 oval and 4 feet high so it doesn't even hold 4 feet of water. I tried the pool calculator and i get roughly 2300 galloons. As for the pink treat that I used last year, I don't think i even used half of the 2 pound bottle because my pool is so small. I usually do all the calculations to adjust all chemicals to my size pool. I can check the bottle to see if I can recalculate the actual amount that i put in. I did empty half of the pool and then refilled but cya was still high. So i emptied down to less than a foot of water and then refilled again. That is where i am now.