Chlorine dispensing and Photo of my Container Pool

[spdas]

Aloha, All, How do I get on top of the chlorine levels? I bought the blue floater at Home Depot and put in 3" tablets but some days chlorine is very low according to the vial test kit, so I shock the pool with 1/2# bag or so. The next day it may be too much chlorine and I pull the floater out for a day and the next day the chlorine is low again. Pool gets very little use, so the load does not vary much. Should I get a chlorinator or just keep working until I figure the floater out? Here is a photo of my pool made from a 20' steel storage container. It has a Jacuzzi on one end. And is located right off my back porch.

thanks
Francis

 

[257WbyMag]

What are your test results and what are you using to test?

 

[dravenone]

Hi francis, have you read pool school? If not give it a read, then read it again, and maybe one more time. Took me 3 times to start getting it. The methods you are using for maintining FC are not what this site supports. Get a good test kit so you can post numbers, which you will also be asked to do and the great folks on this site will help you figure out your problem.

 

[Guest]

The link for pool school is in the upper right of every page!

 

[spdas]

Help on my test Kit UPDATED

Topics Merged for Consistency

Aloha, I have a K-mart 6 in one Aquachem test kit and according to the local pool shop that knows the local water, I need to test mostly CL, PH and CYA. (it is a add 5 drops type of kit) Here are the results:

CL 1.25 "Ideal according to kit"
BR 3.00 not necessary but here are the numbers
PH 7.6
TH 350 PPM
TA 190 PPm
CYA = ???

My question is
The CYA does not even register after you mix and fill another vial and look down to see a black dot. Filling up to the rim past the "20" I still see a dot, although it is a bit cloudy. What am I doing wrong? thanks
Francis

BTW the kit does not differentiate between CL and TC. Why?
Also I have been using shock and 3" tabs, since I am a newbie of 3 weeks and know better now.

 

[reebok]

Re: Help on my test Kit UPDATED

did you add cya or just use tabs? if it's just tabs you won't have much cya yet. you don't have a br reading unless you added bromine which I don't think you did. usually fc and tc are the same, unless you have cc's. you need a good kit and also it would be a great help if you would keep your posts in one thread so we can see the history. a mod will probably merge this back with your old thread (please).

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

The answers to the questions you posted are in Pool School. Focus on Recommended Levels, and get alot of practice with the Pool Calculator and you will figure this out.

I recommend you order a better test kit, the one you have isn't adequate for testing chlorine levels, and the CYA level - which you need to adjust up into range - the kit only has enough testing solution for 3 tests.

There is an article in Pool School that compares the test kits we recommend.