Help high level of chlorine

[jmail3451]

PH 7.2
FC 25
CC 2
TA 140
CH over 625
CYA 60

I have very high level of chlorine and need to bring them down to a swimmable level. I’m not sure I believe the calcium number. I have running the FC test four tests. Yesterday, I set my intellichor output to zero. 24 hours later the chlorine level has not dropped. Can anyone tell me what’s going on?

Background: we recently bought this house and the pool has been maintained by a pool service company for about 2 years. The pool service guy was using chlorine pucks to maintain the pool – we took them out. The salt water system went in about three weeks ago. We bought the test kit since we want to start maintaining the pool ourselves. Our tests (assuming we are doing them right, and we did them 4 times just to be sure) show the above chlorine and calcium levels – which are really high. We don’t know why we are getting such high readings and why the pool guy didn’t catch this problem.

One strange factor: The intellichor showed a salt level of 2300 before any salt was added to the pool. Salt was added until the pool reached 3500. Can years of potassium softener water account for the initial salt level? I do not think the pool has been drained in the two years we have owned the house.

 

[Crackerjack4u]

Hi Jamail, and Welcome to TFP,

As far as your numbers goes with the FC being above 10ppm your pH reading will not be accurate, so there's no need to test pH anymore right now.

The CH and TA are too high, but we can work to get those down hopefully without draining for the CH. Here is the recommended levels and the goals to shoot for. http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/134-recommended-levels


As far as it being safe to swim it will be at 24ppm which is your shock level for your CYA of 60ppm. It is safe to swim at shock level, or below per TFP's chlorine/CYA chart.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock

But the CC of 2 is suggesting that there is algae/organics, and if that's the case, the only way to get it killed out is to do a SLAM http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl until you pass the 3 criteria listed in the link
1) an overnight FC loss of 1.0ppm or less, 2) A CC level of 0.5ppm or less, and 3)crystal clear water.

How does your water look?

As far as the Intellichlor and the salt levels, I'm sorry I can't answer those questions, but I'm sure someone will be along shortly who can.

Here are a couple more links for you to review: http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/123-abc-of-pool-water-chemistry
http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

I know this is a lot of info but we are here to help you get all your issues resolved. Again welcome to TFP, and Have a wonderful night.

 

[jmail3451]

Crackerjack4u, Thanks for the reply.

The pool is very clear. I can see the palm tree seeds (about half inch size) on the bottom in the deep end.

If I understand correctly, the only way to lower the calcium is to replace water. According to pool math I would need around a 28% (4200 gallons) water change. San Diego has very hard water so, I assume I would need the water softener on line?

Thanks again,
John

 

[Crackerjack4u]

If I understand correctly, the only way to lower the calcium is to replace water. According to pool math I would need around a 28% (4200 gallons) water change. San Diego has very hard water so, I assume I would need the water softener on line?
Thanks again, John

I'm glad to hear the water is clear so whatever is causing your high CC levels hopefully won't take long to get killed out of there.

Yes some people need to drain some of their water to lower their calcium levels, but there are several running with a level as high, or higher than yours, and doing fine. The CSI is what we need to monitor, and if we can balance your levels to keep your CSI in check to keep you from getting scaling then you may be able to get away with not having to drain and refill, but we'll have to see.

Can you tell me what the ingredients are in the online water softener you are referring to, or are you referring to a device that does reverse osmosis, or ?

Have you tested your fill water to see what the levels are when coming from the faucet? If not, I'd recommend testing it just to see what the fill levels are. There's no need to check CYA, as it has to be added, but you can check all the other levels.

Also when checking your FC and CC levels since you've had to check it so many times already, you can use a 10ml sample of water, instead of a 25 ml water sample, and only need to add 1 scoop of powder (as long as it turns a nice med/dk pink it will test fine) When using the 10ml water sample each drop needs to be multiplied by 0.5. This will save reagents.

Here is a handy link of all the Instructions for the Extended testing (The FC/CC directions are in comment #4) http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/24188-Extended-Test-Kit-Directions


I hope this helps, and have a wonderful night

 

[pabeader]

This is a simplification but it's accurate enough for this discussion. The way that SWGs read salt level is a little inaccurate. What they do is look at the ease of passing an electric current through the water. Based on the current that it reads, it outputs a number that it assumes is the salt level.
A number of things can contribute, to this. Mostly it's salt, but any minerals will have an effect. Chlorine, over time will contribute a certain amount of salt to the water. I have recently been schooled on the effects of softened water and it also contributes salt to the water.

So your original salt reading, before you added some, was probably from the softened water and pucks. Also, one last possibility, is some folks add salt just for the feel of the water.

 

[duraleigh]

Well, just taking one issue for now, I am puzzled by your CH. I assume you have been using softened water which should have lowered your CH markedly. What is the CH of your fill water?

Secondly, while you CH is high, it is not an emergency. Careful management of your pH and TA will prevent calcium scale and your softened fill water should start to bring CH down or hold steady.

You could consider collecting rainwater bur keeping managed at 625 is doable.

Make sure the SWG is completely off and the FC will come down......it has no choice.

 

[DaninFLA]

FC will fall, just let it fall, its not dangerously high. if you really need to lower FC for some reason, you can always use hydrogen peroxide, but it really isn't needed.

your CH is definitely manageable.

as far as your FC not dropping fast, well that's a good thing, it means you are algae free. that, along with lowering pool water temps and less sunlight contribute to lower FC demand.

 

[jmail3451]

First thanks for all the advice.

New test numbers 10/18
PH 7.5
FC 17
CC 1
TA 100
CH 1050
CYA 60 (not retested).
Pool Temp 77 F

Should I be concerned about the 1 ppm CC reading? I know the SLAM level is 0.5 ppm.

The Intellichlor has been set to 0% since 10/11. So, the pool is losing 8 FC per week with the cover off since 10/11. No idea if that is good or bad.

We are heading out of town so, I have enabled the Intellichlor at 10% to prevent any problems. Not that I expect any but, I will not be here to monitor the pool.

To answer Crackerjack4u Question, I have a normal water softener which uses potassium instead of sodium. For some reason the water softener also supplies water to the landscaping, which is why it is using potassium.

In terms of the fill water, for at least two years that I know of, the water softener was broken. We got it repaired five months ago. I have no way of know if any water has ever been drained from the pool. I know for the two years we have owned the house it has not been drained.

Thanks again
John

 

[domct203]

First thanks for all the advice.

New test numbers 10/18
PH 7.5
FC 17
CC 1
TA 100
CH 1050
CYA 60 (not retested).
Pool Temp 77 F

Should I be concerned about the 1 ppm CC reading? I know the SLAM level is 0.5 ppm.

The Intellichlor has been set to 0% since 10/11. So, the pool is losing 8 FC per week with the cover off since 10/11. No idea if that is good or bad.

We are heading out of town so, I have enabled the Intellichlor at 10% to prevent any problems. Not that I expect any but, I will not be here to monitor the pool.

To answer Crackerjack4u Question, I have a normal water softener which uses potassium instead of sodium. For some reason the water softener also supplies water to the landscaping, which is why it is using potassium.

In terms of the fill water, for at least two years that I know of, the water softener was broken. We got it repaired five months ago. I have no way of know if any water has ever been drained from the pool. I know for the two years we have owned the house it has not been drained.

Thanks again
John

Are you absolutely sure about that CH level? Seven days ago you reported a CH of 625ppm, yesterday you reported a CH of 1050ppm, almost double.

Are you using Cal-Hypo shock?

Dom

 

[jmail3451]

No, Cal-Hypo.

Yes, poor testing of CH on the first pass. After the first round of tests I got the speedstir to work, and had my wife perform the tests as I watched. Plus for some reason, I incorrectly thought CH test was not accurate with high FC.

Sorry, for the confusion.

John