Chlorine issues

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M

marc76

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May 6, 2015
10
Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this.

For a while now I have been fighting my chlorine levels. Just to set the stage here are my current levels as I type.

CL 1-2
CYA 45
PH 7.5
Calcium 175
Free CL 1
Tot Alk 120

My pool based on the pool calculator is a 22000 gal. vinyl lined rectangle.

Here is the situation. I slammed the pool about two to three weeks ago. The reason for the slam was that we had a bad storm and SINCE that day I have fought the Cl levels. Prior to that day it was very stable. I am adding up to two gal of liquid Cl 10% to the pool a day to keep my levels up. I did a slam, and it didn't help at all. I did a thorough clean of the filter as shown in the video post for sand filters. No better. I have been fighting cloudiness as well. After the chlorine addition it will get a little nicer, then cloud back up fast. Now I live in the Charlotte area so it is in the sun a lot but after reading posts it seems I am still having to add way too much chlorine too often. Now today, after yesterday having added two more gallons and getting FCL up to 6, (having done the same the day before, we find algea on the walls.

it was my understanding from pool school that holding my FCL up should prevent this. But as I said it feels that I am having to fight it to keep it up that high. I also thought the CYA was supposed to assist In keeping the sun from sucking my chlorine out that fast. I feel like to maintain it I would have to add 1 gal every so many hours to maintain it. With my test levels where they are (based on the T-100 kit) I cant figure out why it is giving me such problems.

Now it does get fairly frequent use, but I wouldn't think enough to justify 2 gal a day of 10%.

Are there any suggestions. I am getting killed in Cl cost here, and now to have to slam again after a few weeks, having added enough cl to support a small family just is confusing me. :confused:

OH, one thing though is that just prior to that storm I was keeping CL tabs in the inline dispenser, until I saw my CYA spike to almost 60 and forced a partial drain and fill. But isn't it odd that I had more stability with that than having CYA at the levels pool school recommends, though I was having less FCL but more consistent total CL? Now I have better FCL (for short periods) and out of control total CL levels? But even now, as you see, with little CL, 50+% is FCL, so why algea?

Thank you for your help.
Marc
 
Sounds like an algae bloom, but it may not be to the point where you can see them in the water with the naked eye. Only two things consume chlorine, organics and UV light. The CYA moderates the rate at which UV light consumes chlorine, so that leaves organics in your case. Have you performed an OCLT? Are you sure that at the end of your last SLAM you passed the OCLT and the pool was clear?
 
OCLT of 4

- - - Updated - - -

However again the SLAM didn't help.

- - - Updated - - -

I just read on your link though (because I did a OCLT just for my own interest) it said keep slamming?
 
Yeah, that's bad. You need to get your chlorine levels over 20 and then check every hour or two and add more chlorine to keep it above 20 until you pass the OCLT. It's important to follow the SLAM procedures to the letter. Sometimes that can take a lot of chlorine, and in some cases getting the chlorine that high can "burn off" some of your CYA so you might want to check that occasionally.

SLAM isn't over until your OCLT is 1.0 or less AND your CC is less than 0.5 AND the water is clear.
 
That's about how it works. With algae in the water the first day or two can be trying. You'll get your FC up to 20 and then two hours later it's 10 or 15, but take that as encouragement. That means things are being killed by the chlorine, and fast. It's working! I like to pad the numbers a little and overshoot the target by a few ppm to give me a little breathing room.

You may be able to find chlorine for less than you are currently paying, depending on where you are located.
 
When everything's stable, it depends on how many people swim (and pets) and how often, how many leaves fall in the pool, and how much UV the pool is exposed to. Here in Southern California I go through about two gallons a week because the sun burns off a lot of chlorine this time of year.

The pool company doesn't want you to use liquid because then they can't sell you hundreds of dollars worth of chemicals to control the problems you'll never have using just bleach.
 
Ok. Well we have no pets, maybe three or four swim for an hour a day (total), and it gets direct sun from 10 am to 5 pm., and no leaves. All evergreen, unless a storm blows the neighbors leaves over to our yard. So all said and done I assume it will be markedly less than we have been.
 
Once SLAM kills everything, you won't use nearly so much. It depends on the size of your pool, too. Mine is 20,000 gallons so I use a couple of gallons a week to maintain. Yours may take more or less depending on the size and bather load differences.
 

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