balancing water with broken SWG

[nanhsot]

Wasn't sure where to post this as it is related to SWG, but not fully. We're having some issues with our SWG and have been for a while, replaced the cell and it's still not working. That's a different post at this point though. Bottom line is that I am having to add chlorine to keep our balance....SWG manual says that if adding chlorine, liquid chlorine is less damaging to the cell, so I've always used liquid. However, now that we have our SWG fully OFF until we figure out what's wrong with it, I am depending on adding chlorine.

We recently had a filter breakdown and had a green swamp, water is clear again and pool looks good. Issue that needs help right now is that with liquid chlorine I simply cannot keep my chlorine numbers up, it just appears to dissipate overnight (literally). CYA is in the 50-60 range, acid is good, etc.

I guess my question is whether liquid chlorine does indeed get used up more quickly and what should I be using until we get the SWG running again. does it matter if I go to a granular (we have the SWG off right now if that matters).

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: balancing water with SWG

There's a lot you didn't tell us. Could you post a full set of numbers and how you obtained them (Pool Store, Strips, Test Kit, Etc)? Also, please tell us about your pool. You can put that info in your signature by clicking the User Control Panel Link on the upper left of the page under the TFP logo.

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH

What level of FC are you shooting for?

From your statement "it just appears to dissipate overnight (literally)." It appears that you have organics eating your chlorine and you need to shock according to the Pool School Article Shocking Your Pool.

 

[nanhsot]

Re: balancing water with SWG

I'll try to post more specifics when I have more time, but I JUST did a massive shock 2 weeks ago due to a filter issue that turned it fully green, does that make any difference?

It's a huge pool (60k), plaster, 4 years old. We're still in the learning curve on balancing the water but getting better every year.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I agree with Bama, chances are you still have "nascent" algae consuming the chlorine, likely you weren't done shocking before despite the water clearing. Do you have a good test kit with an FAS-DPD test?

 

[nanhsot]

OK, here are my numbers, and now I'm even more baffled, as it isn't what I thought it was (high cc)

CYA: 50-60 (probably low)
TA: 60
FC and CC: both unmeasurable, essentially 0
PH 7.2
salt is high at 5660, no idea how that could be true, need to retest, I've added a lot of fresh water lately, not trusting this result.

Here's the real kicker, hardness was off the charts HIGH, we have well water and I'm wondering now if that could be the culprit in a lot of things (SWG failing, chlorine issues). We just have a dip stick type test for this and it appeared to be 1000+ but isn't really highly reliable but is definitely a problem.

Any thoughts appreciated. Right now the SWG is disconnected, adding chlorine manually, filter sand recently replaced.

Off to research how to lower hardness.

 

[JasonLion]

The only practical way to lower CH is to replace water. Before you do a large amount of water replacement, I would get a top quality test kit and confirm your readings. Test strips are occasionally completely wrong. You should also measure the CH level of your fill water.

Regardless of the CH level, you need to get some chlorine into the pool right away. You never want to let your FC level get down to zero.