Calcium Hypochlorite vs. Sodium Hypochlorite, CLOUDINESS,

[xxreddoor24xx]

Water was really clearing up, could see bottom this am, but FC was extremely low, went to hardware store to look forstronger bleach, none, so I ended up buying Super Shock & Swim, label said Minimum availableClorine was 49%, so I scrubbed sides and added 1lb.(its powder form).
Almost instantly the water clouded up , so I compared the old liquid form I had with this powdered one, difference is Liquid was Sodium Hypochlorite and this powdered on is CALCIUM HYPOCHLORITE, I had used this previously before water cleared and before I knew anything about the Chems.
Do you know what exactly happens to cause this cloudiness and how long it might take to Clear, and if there's something I can do to correct this?
ANY advice would be extremely helpful and I'd be very grateful.. Previous History in Chemistry 201 under "Rusty colored water"

Im going to test now post results in a minute....

 

[JasonLion]

Cal hypo can cause calcium clouding when you add it. Depending on what your other levels are, it will usually clear up on it's own. However, if some combination of PH, TA, and CH are too high it won't clear up until you bring the levels down. The simplest thing to try to clear it up is to add some acid to lower the PH by perhaps 0.2, which will usually take care of it.

When you post a full set of test results I can give you more specific advice.

 

[anonapersona]

The powder you used is what we refer to as cal-hypo, since the full name is rather long to type in. I find cal-hypo to be a useful item to keep on hand as it stores well over time, unlike bleach that degrades in high heat over time.

1 lb in 10,000 gallons raised FC by 4.7 ppm and CH by 4ppm. I can't recall your earlier CH values, but you would expect it to be nearly the same on a test, you can't really measure 4 ppm on a drop test or strip.

OTOH, a rise of 5 ppm might have gotten you up to shock level so that algae was being killed off. Bravo, keep it up, assuming your CH is not too high. Too high is a number we need to ask an expert, but my CH is 330 ppm now.

 

[xxreddoor24xx]

What is CH? Its not on my Test strips, although Im not surprised about that.
Water is clearing up already but no increase in FC?, here are my numbers from noontime (TH) 100, (FC) 2, (PH) 7.8, (TA) 150, (CYA) 10-20

So my (TA) has always been 100 before today, and the (FC) looked like it was gonna be 5 but then fadede very quickly, I've never seen it do that before..

 

[JasonLion]

CH is calcium hardness. TH is total hardness, which will always be higher than CH.

Bring your PH down to 7.5 and the clouding should go away.

FC might do that if it was very high. Sometimes the strips bleach out. If FC is very high, it can cause some problems for some of the other numbers from the test strip, which could account for the TA reading.

 

[xxreddoor24xx]

The cloudiness has cleared although the water looks a little greener, I've gotten tons of rain for 3 days, and just had a small shower for about 45 minutes, on top of that my (FC) has been dropping rapidly since yesterday, the combo probably invited some algae.. The pool shock (49%) didn't increase the (FC) AT ALL :grrrr: , in the past week I've literally put 3,090 oz. of (6%) bleach & 3lbs of powdered shock in my pool and as of right now my (FC) is 1ppm :?: . I'm really ready to cry.
The water has gone from murky rusty brown to clear light green, so I should be happy but I'm so afraid the water will regress before I can figure out WHY its not holding any (FC).. The (CYA) however, has went back up from 0 to 30-50, HOPEFULLY, that will help, if not correct the issue. Im afraid to add a bunch of bleach that wont hold because I'm on a really fixed-low income.
I welcome any ideas or suggestions. I'm really getting desperate and discouraged. But in just 2 weeks I've sunk $200.00 into this and I dont want it to be in vain..

Here are my Test results from 5pm...
(TH) 100, (FC) 1, (PH) 7.8, (TA) 150, (CYA) 30-50

 

[JasonLion]

This would all be much easier if you had a real test kit instead of those test strips. You are getting inconsistent test results, and there is no way to know just how far off they are without getting a good test kit. Test strips can do a whole variety of strange things if the FC level is actually very very high.

 

[xxreddoor24xx]

ok so water look great, surface feels clean, water smells clean , but, (FC) is at 0, and has been decreasing since Saturday. It was at shock level for 6 days,so I thought maybe strips were bleaching out. So I havent added anything since yesterday although I did scrub and vacuum thoroughly.. But (FC) is at zero and has been very low since saturday even though I added 100 oz (6%)bleach on saturday and on Sunday I added 1lb (49%)Super-shock (cal-hypo)...
So my question is should I add enough bleach to bring me back to "Shock-level", or just enough to bring me to a goal level ??? and I want to add "SOME" now because pool is in direct sunlight all afternoon, but would like to start evening doses to see i f that will help maintain a healthy (FC) level...
any advice would be appreciated, time is of the essence here as you all well know, thanx so much for your Knowledge & Support

 

[JasonLion]

With CYA relatively low, it is best to add chlorine in the evenings. That way it has all night to work before you start losing it to sunlight.

It is crucial at this point to know if your CYA level is closer to zero or to 50. If CYA is close to zero then losing chlorine during the day is completely normal. If CYA is up around 50 you have some undetermined problem. The test strips have proven that they are unreliable for measuring the CYA level, so you need to find another way to measure your CYA level. It would be a huge help if you ordered a real test kit. Otherwise we are just making guesses and things will go wrong if we guess wrong.

 

[xxreddoor24xx]

I added 182oz (6%) bleach at 2pm , tested at 2:30 which I know is probably too soon but curiousity & impatience got the best of me.. Here are the results.........

(TH) 100
(FC) 5
(PH) 7.8
(TA) 100
(CYA) 20-30 , the reason im giving this answer is because the results start with 0, then 30-50, then 100, next 150, then 300, the (result) color ranges in between the 0 box and the 30-50 box . The resulting color is closer to 30-50 color than the 0 color. If it were closer to the 0 color but not exactly I would estimate 10-20.. which is exactly why i need a better kit. The (TA) is difficult too because the shades of green go from light to dark up till 120 , then 180 is more like a faded-green and 240 a bluish-green shade ..

 

[xxreddoor24xx]

At 4pm (FC) is back down to 1ppm, should I add another 182oz of bleach now or wait till its dark?, and should I add it to the skimmer or in front of return?
Will stabilizer help or just complicate things even more ? , There is a drop test at hardware store but it only checks for 3 things, im not sure which, but maybe there just the ones I need, or atleast one of them anyways.. Gonna go check it out now, before I do anything else, let ya know .. thanks

 

[JasonLion]

The most likely possibility is that your CYA level is very very low and you are losing all of your chlorine to sunlight. Wait till sunset before adding more chlorine. If you can, measure the FC level an hour or more after adding chlorine, and again first thing in the morning. If what I think is going on is really what is going on, the FC level in the morning will be very similar to what it is after you add chlorine tonight.

Assuming the overnight check comes out as I predict, raise the CYA level by about 30, which should help dramatically. On the other hand, if you lose all of your chlorine overnight, then something else entirely is going on.

I recommend getting a TF-100 test kit from TFTestKits.net. The Taylor K-2006 is also good. TFTestKits ships quickly and you will have a hard time finding a test kit nearly as good locally.

 

[xxreddoor24xx]

I'm goint to try your suggestion tonight , I agree thay the (CYA) may be a big factor also. Yesterday At 2pm (very sunny) I added 182oz of 6% bleach. (FC) went up to to about 7ppms within 45 minutes, then dropped down to 1ppm by 4pm. So at 4:30 I added another 182oz of bleach , (FC) got up to almost 10ppms ppms at 5pm, then started dropping again. at 7pm the sun was not directly on the pool but it was still "daylight" (FC) was about 2-3ppms.
This morning (FC) at 0. Gonna add some Liquid Chlorinator 10% tonight. Is sunset (still light out) ok or should I wait til its dark ?? may sound like a dumb question but im desperate .. Oh and gonna buy some stabilizer should I add that first or after I add the Liquid Chlorine .. I'kll wait for your response before I do either. :?:

 

[JasonLion]

You should try to relax and figure things out before spending lots on chemicals. With a good test kit we could figure this out much more easily and stop having time pass while we speculate about which direction the test strips are wrong in.

 

[xxreddoor24xx]

Well I just went to to find an affordable drop test kit. All they had in stock was a 2-way for PH and Chlorine. I got it for now, because PH is one of the hardest to judge with the strips. They do have a 6-way test but its out of stock so I'll get one as soon as it comes in.
I did purchase some HTH stabilizer & conditioner, even if its not the answer to my problems, it can't hurt, right considering my (CYA) levels have been consistently low.
Here are the product specs.. Cyanuric Acid 96%, INERT INGREDIENTS 4%, Total 100%.. its a granular form. I also purchased 2 gallons of 10% liquid Clorinator. I haven't added either yet because I'm not sure which to add first :?: , BTW the sun is setting now.. I was hoping someone could offer me some advice on that .
Here are my levels from 6pm.. (TH) 100, (FC) 0, (PH) 7.8, (TA) 100, (CYA) 0-10.

 

[xxreddoor24xx]

You were right, I added clorine after sunset checked numbers 3 hours later then at 6am the (FC) was the same. So i have the stabilizer, says to add it to skimmer, but I've read some posts that said put it in a sock in front of return hose, its a granular form, what do you think would be best?

 

[zea3]

For granular CYA it is best to place it in a sock and hang it in front of a return and let the CYA dissolve.

I would like to take the opportunity at this time to stress the importance of a high quality test kit. An FAS-DPD test kit will be the most complete and will allow you to accurately dose the pool for both daily maintenance and in the event that you need to shock. You can find the TF 100 hereand the Taylor 2006 is available from many online retailers. Just Google Taylor 2006 to find out prices.