Hello, I installed a pool last year and had no issues with the balancing of the water. Saltwater chlorinator ran at 35% and water stayed clear.
I opened the pool this year early before any algae grew, ran the super chlorinate function for a few days, tested my water and balanced it and had clear water for the first month. After we had a few big swim weekends I noticed it starting to get cloudy, so I would run the super chlorinate function but it didn't clear up.
I started testing the water daily and there was almost no chlorine in the pool and the stabilizer was almost at zero. But, if I held a test strip over the jet, it showed that chlorine was coming out. So my thought was that the low stabilizer was allowing the chorine to get eaten by the sun and the chlorinator couldn't keep up. I bought the appropriate amount of stabilizer and added it to the pool again (Last year I only added stabilizer once all year). My stabilizer reading climbed back up to 60, but within a week it was back down to zero. During that time I had added liquid chlorine to clear the cloudy pool and got my chlorine levels back and added more stabilizer.
I continued to test every day and sure enough, the stabilizer fell down to zero. I also noticed during this time that the chlorinator would turn off from time to time and wouldn't produce chlorine. I would turn the chlorinator down to zero to where I could hear it click off, then crank it back up to 100% and it would turn on. I would then put a strip over the jet and see that it was producing chlorine.
At this point it feels like I have a problem with something destroying my stabilizer and also my chlorinator not running as it should.
I read on a few different forums that some bacteria can get in a pool over the winter and destroy stabilizer. Since it's a fiberglass pool, the water stays in the water all year (I live in Iowa). So I followed your guy's shock method and got the FC levels up to 30-40 two times over a 2 day period. I added stabilizer again during this period and got my levels to the following 4 days ago:
FC=3
PH: 7.2
Alkalinity: 120
Calcium: 160
CYA=60
Pool looked crystal clear for the last 4 days and I just used the strips each day to make sure there was still chlorine and stabilizer. This morning I put the strip in and it showed almost no chlorine and I noticed the water was not as clear. I pulled out the test kit and tested the stabilizer and it read 38-40. Also, when I put the strip over the jet no chlorine was coming out.
I have a call into a pool company to troubleshoot my chlorinator, but I wanted to post here to you guys to help me with my chemicals. Feel free to help on the chlorinator as well! Why is my stabilizer falling? I've shocked it, I've added probably 20 pounds of it this year and raised the levels up to the acceptable range twice. Last year I had none of these issues and I cannot figure out what I'm missing!
Thanks a million,
Kevin
I opened the pool this year early before any algae grew, ran the super chlorinate function for a few days, tested my water and balanced it and had clear water for the first month. After we had a few big swim weekends I noticed it starting to get cloudy, so I would run the super chlorinate function but it didn't clear up.
I started testing the water daily and there was almost no chlorine in the pool and the stabilizer was almost at zero. But, if I held a test strip over the jet, it showed that chlorine was coming out. So my thought was that the low stabilizer was allowing the chorine to get eaten by the sun and the chlorinator couldn't keep up. I bought the appropriate amount of stabilizer and added it to the pool again (Last year I only added stabilizer once all year). My stabilizer reading climbed back up to 60, but within a week it was back down to zero. During that time I had added liquid chlorine to clear the cloudy pool and got my chlorine levels back and added more stabilizer.
I continued to test every day and sure enough, the stabilizer fell down to zero. I also noticed during this time that the chlorinator would turn off from time to time and wouldn't produce chlorine. I would turn the chlorinator down to zero to where I could hear it click off, then crank it back up to 100% and it would turn on. I would then put a strip over the jet and see that it was producing chlorine.
At this point it feels like I have a problem with something destroying my stabilizer and also my chlorinator not running as it should.
I read on a few different forums that some bacteria can get in a pool over the winter and destroy stabilizer. Since it's a fiberglass pool, the water stays in the water all year (I live in Iowa). So I followed your guy's shock method and got the FC levels up to 30-40 two times over a 2 day period. I added stabilizer again during this period and got my levels to the following 4 days ago:
FC=3
PH: 7.2
Alkalinity: 120
Calcium: 160
CYA=60
Pool looked crystal clear for the last 4 days and I just used the strips each day to make sure there was still chlorine and stabilizer. This morning I put the strip in and it showed almost no chlorine and I noticed the water was not as clear. I pulled out the test kit and tested the stabilizer and it read 38-40. Also, when I put the strip over the jet no chlorine was coming out.
I have a call into a pool company to troubleshoot my chlorinator, but I wanted to post here to you guys to help me with my chemicals. Feel free to help on the chlorinator as well! Why is my stabilizer falling? I've shocked it, I've added probably 20 pounds of it this year and raised the levels up to the acceptable range twice. Last year I had none of these issues and I cannot figure out what I'm missing!
Thanks a million,
Kevin
, a sunny day is best. You can pour the solution back into the squirty bottle & repeat the test multiple times to get an average.