Am I on the right track?

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golf261

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Apr 21, 2007
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Indianapolis, IN
Opened our pool yesterday to a green mess! Thought I had enough chlorine in it when we closed last winter, but....
Anyhow, tested the water:
Cl - no free Cl
pH - 7.2
TA - 190 (always runs high)
CH - 350
CYA - 0

Took sample to Leslies to verify CYA, which they also recorded as zero. Now have stabilizer in stocking in skimmer; have dumped approx 8 jugs (182 oz size) in pool since yesterday, and have brushed pool. Currently:
Free Cl - .5; all other tests the same.

Am I on the right track? I didn't realize it would take so much bleach initially to even get a reading!
Am using the Leslie's Total Poolcare DPD test kit.

Thanks!
 
Welcome to TFP!

This is a situation you see fairly regularly. Your CYA has been turned into ammonia by bacteria growing in the pool over the winter. It will take a substantial amount of chlorine to clear up the ammonia and get things back to normal.

You need to continue testing the water and adding enough chlorine to reach shock level until your FC level holds overnight and CC is down to 0.5 or lower. Depending on what your CYA level was last fall, this may take a very substantial amount of chlorine.
 
Hi, Golf,

Welcome to the forum. Just to offer some encouragement, I have had that identical situation the previous two years. It is certainly discouraging at first but chlorine will cure it. Just follow Jason's advice and stick with the chlorine additions.......it will get clear.

This year, I was able to maintain my CYA and opened with very little (comparably) chlorine consumption. For me, the difference was keeping my pool much cleaner over the winter. I don't "close" here in the South but in years past, I have simply shut off the pump and mostly neglected the pool until I was ready to open. This year, I tried to keep it much cleaner by scooping out the leaves and putting in a little chlorine from time to time. It had the added benefit of a much nicer pool to look at over the winter. That'll be my personal regimen this fall.

If you cover your pool, you can follow something similar by closing as pristine as you can and then perhaps some chlorine from time to time, especially if you have a submersible pump for distribution.
 
Thanks for the encouragement and advice! I just tested the water and finally have:
FC = 9
CC = 3.5
CYA = still 0

Yesterday, we put about 2.5 lbs of stabilizer in stocking in skimmer, and there is still some in the stocking. Pool temp probably 45 - 50 degrees. Should I put more stabilizer in now or wait? I don't want to get overzealous, but am thinking I should be getting some measurement.
 
Hi, and welcome....

It can take up to a week for CYA to fully dissolve and register on the tests... So I wouldn't bother testing for a few days.

Your focus for now is to keep the FC up and frequent bleach additions, sometimes several times a day, depending on your test results. This will continue to break down the 3.5 CC reading...eventually you'll see the FC holding for longer periods and the CC should continue to drop. Sunlight helps with that too...is your pool uncovered?
 
We have an automatic cover but have kept it closed most of the past 2 days because of rain. I was able to leave it open part of yesterday and today, though. FC was low earlier this AM, had hubby throw in 4 bottles of bleach, and this afternoon FC = 13, with C.C = 1.5. Just now FC = 6.5 with C. C = .5, so have added more bleach. Since this started Saturday, have put in 16 bottles (182 oz each).

Will wait a few more days to re-test CYA. It is supposed to be hot and sunny here the end of the week, so hope there is stabilizer by then.
 
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