Help please! Chlorine is gone!

[gobeavers88]

I thought I could do this, but this morning I had 0 chlorine-nada, zip, none! Pool is 2 months old-I just took over from the pool guy to try the BBB method. I did the overnight chlorine loss 2 nights ago and only lost 0.5. Here are my numbers from yesterday morning (6/1):
FC: 2.5
CC: 0
TC: 2.5
pH: 7.8
T/A: 140
CH: 160
CYA: 60

So, I added 1 gallon of Clorox bleach (6%) directly to the pool water. I turned the auto chlorinator to 0 (there were 3 small pucks left in there). A couple hours later I added 15 lb. of Hardness Plus to increase the CH. I retested the chlorine in the afternoon and it was at 6. I thought things were looking ok till this morning.

My numbers today: only change was 0 chlorine and CH was 200. I retested the CYA and I think it's 60, although at 70 I could just barely see the black dot so maybe it's higher.

Could the Hardness Plus have wiped out my chlorine? This happened a few weeks ago after heavy rain (wiped out chlorine levels) but no rain last night-just the boys playing in the spa and swimming.

I added about 2.5 gallons of bleach this morning. What else should I do?

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Do an overnight test tonight.

6% clorox comes in 96 oz and 182 oz. Did you add one small jug or one large?

You want to use a target of 8 for now, and try to keep your FC above 5 at all times. This means testing in the evening and adding bleach to reach your target. Targeting 8 or 9 in the evening should keep you above 5 by the next evening.

Do an overnight test tonight, post back if you lose more than 1ppm.
Overnight FC Loss Test

 

[gobeavers88]

Will do. I added about 1 1/2 of the large (182oz.) jugs. My FC is now at 6 (10 am). I'll add some more to bring it up to 8 and get back to you tomorrow. It looks like there might be rain tonight. Will that affect the overnight test?

 

[PaulR]

Depends on how much. Normal amounts of rain won't really affect the overnight test. Flooding the place and dumping half a yard of soil in the pool, yeah that might invalidate the results.
--paulr

 

[gobeavers88]

Did the overnight test-but we did have lots of rain (about 2 in). FC went from 8 to 7 and CC was at 0.5. I think I'll do it again tonight if it doesn't rain, just to be sure. Should I consider shocking with this loss of FC?

 

[PaulR]

No, we say 1ppm loss is acceptable. Repeating the test seems like a good idea though.
--paulr

 

[gobeavers88]

I repeated the test and came up with the same numbers: 1 ppm loss. Still a bit concerned that it went to 0 a few nights ago, but now I know to add the chlorine in the evening and keep the levels a bit higher than they were. The water is clear, though, so maybe I worry too much. Still have a lot of backswimmers, though. Ugh!

Thanks!
Cindy