Can't get a Free Chlorene reading

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R

Rose

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Jul 23, 2009
5
I'm about to give up on this pool. We opened late and it was green. Pool store said we have phosphates. Gave me something for it and also shocked it. That was two weeks ago and I still can't get a fc reading. I have dumped gallons and gallons of bleach + I am still using smart sticks by BioGuard. This is the reading I got today July 23 2009 from the pool store.

saturation idx: .01
TDS: 1100
CYA: 68
Tot. Chlorine: .04
FC: 0
PH: 7.6
Tot Alkalinity: 140
Adj. Tot Alk: 120
Tot. Hardness: 198
Optimizer +: 13

I have had the pool since 1995 and never had this kind of problem and I never used optimizer. Help!!! My husband wants to rip the pool down. How much of the bleach should I use. How to use it and when. I've tried the bucket test. 2 gal. of pool water + 2 t of bleach. Waited 30 min. and got a very good reading. Is this a good sign.


Thanks,

Rose
 
Stay away from the Pool Store.

Phosphates ARE algae food but are irrelevant in a properly chlorinated pool.

You should stop using the Bioguard Sticks because they are raising your CYA level which is already too high - see the CYA chlorine chart. The higher your CYA level, the higher your FC Shock level must be to kill algae.

You other numbers are fine, but you have no Free Chlorine, and that is your one and only problem right now.

Read Pool School - start with How to Shock your Pool, Defeating Algae, and Test Kits Compared. To tackle this you will need one of the recommended kits, and you'll need to stay out of the pool store, unless you are buying Liquid Chlorine from them. I would not use anything else but liquid chlorine or bleach.

You have to reach shock level, and hold it there until the FC holds overnight. This will mean possibly adding bleach every hour until you can get the FC shock level to hold.

Hope this helps.
 
Rose, welcome to TFP!

Phosphates have nothing to do with it at all! Phosphates are a technique pool stores use to scare people into buying expensive chemicals.

I am somewhat concerned that your test results may not be accurate. Pool stores have a fairly poor record for providing good test results. It is much simpler to deal with things like this with reliable test results. By far the best thing you can do for your pool is to purchase a top quality test kit. It will put you into control of your pool and save you money in the long run.

The results of your bucket test are encouraging. When you said "2 t of bleach", did you mean teaspoons or tablespoons?
 
to jason lion

I used 2 teaspoons of bleach per reading about it on this site.
Additional information i forgot to mention.

pool size: 24' round about 48" deep

Hayward earth filter.

rose
 
Two teaspoons of 6% bleach in 2 gallons is about 80 ppm of chlorine. So, your test shows that you can resolve the situation with bleach, but it might take a little while yet.

With CYA around 70 you don't want the FC level going much above 30 ppm. To get FC to 30, starting at zero, is about 6 gallons of 6% bleach. Then you need to give the chlorine time to react, several hours at least, and test the FC level again, before adding more chlorine to bring the FC level back up to 30.

anonapersona, appropriate chlorine levels will prevent algae from growing, regardless of the phosphate/nitrate levels. You would never use chlorine in a fish tank, so the situation isn't really the same.
 
Jason,

I added the 6 gal. of bleach about 6:30 PM and around 10:30 I checked it with a
test strip and I got a reading (very light washed out purple ). Now it's 7:00 AM did the test strip again, got nothing. I also have the solar cover on the pool so the sun would not eat up the bleach.

We also soaked the pump fingers the night before. After putting the pump back together I added a little liquid shock and a little clorox left over put that in till I was able to get the 6 gallons of bleach.

There has been so much shock and bleach put in the pool that I notice the liner around the edges is bleached out. All this and I still can't get a reading even put some more water in the pool. I put some algae inhibitor in last week should I put more?

I'm at my wits end.

Rose
 

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Yes, it is time to add another six gallons of bleach. When adding bleach, you want to pour it slowly in front of a return jet, while the pump is running. That will prevent it from causing any bleaching of the liner.

Your previous test showed that you needed about 80 ppm of bleach. You have added 30 ppm since then. This next 6 gallons will bring you to 60 ppm. If you are lucky, that might be enough, but probably you will need to add a third dose this evening or tomorrow morning.
 
Thanks Jason,

last week the pool store did a 1 1/2 hour test on my pool water and the test wanted me to put 48 bags of shock ($240.00 worth) every 4 hours for 24 hours.
Forget that story.

I appreciate your help in all this but now my husband has decided to tear it down. We have a leak in the liner so all this water and all the money we have in it since july 12 (319.00 +), not counting all the water we had to put in it was just a waste of time and money.

Its just too bad I didn't know about this site before.

We talked about getting a new pool but I don't want this headache anymore.

Sorry I took up your time but thank you for trying.

Rose
 
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