Hi everyone. Yesterday, I opened up the pool that came with the home we purchased over the winter. It's a 40x20 inground with a vinyl liner and (according to the previous owner) 28,000 gallons. I took off the cover and found very dark green water with many leaves in it. I took out all of the plugs, added DE to the filter and got the pump and filter going. I vacuumed and scooped out all the leaves that I could find and actually took a dive in the deep end to make sure there weren't clumps of leaves stuck in the main drain.
I planned ahead and got the TF100 test kit over the winter so I was ready to go.
I first tested the Ph it came back at 7.4 - so far, so good. I was worried about the CYA because I saw that the previous owner used pucks. However I couldn't get a reading when I did the test. The black dot was visible with the vial completely filled. I assume it's somewhere between 0-20. FC came in at zero. I can't test the CC as the bottle of the 003 reagent went missing (I'm blaming one of the kids.)
I put some stabilizer in a sock in the skimmer and added 3 gallons of 12.5% liquid chlorine. Tested 15 minutes later and FC came back at 1 on both the OTO and the FAS-DPD tests. I thought that maybe the chlorine was old and wasn't good, so I bought and added 4 182oz bottles of 6% bleach. Tested again 15 minutes later and the FC was still at 1. I repeated this exercise all day yesterday with the same results. I ended up adding 12 bottles of 12.5% chlorine and the four bottles of bleach.
I ran the pump overnight - I woke up twice to recharge the DE. The water was a bit lighter this morning. When I got home from work this afternoon I added 6 more big bottles of bleach and 8 more gallons of 12.5% liquid chlorine. I tested almost immediately after the chlorine went in the water and got 2FC. After 10 minutes and again at 30 minutes it's down to 1. I tried different OTO kits and tried the FAS-DPD tests again - same thing. I bought the bleach from 2 different stores and the liquid chlorine from 2 different pool stores, so I can't imagine that it all was bad.
I add the chlorine in front of the return with the highest pressure. I tried taking my sample from different spots in pool at different height in the pool. I tried brushing the bottom and used my aquabot to churn up any "pools" of chlorine that settled in the deep end. Still nothing.
Please help - I've spent $150 on chlorine and still haven't gotten FC above 1.
I've heard the CYA can turn to ammonia over the winter and that might attack my chlorine immediately. Could that still be happening after 30+ gallons of bleach/chlorine?
Test Results:
FC - 1
CC (unknown, but there's some as the OTO test turns bright yellow after being left in the vial for about 5 minutes)
PH - 7.4
CYA 0-20
CH - 300
TA - 160
I planned ahead and got the TF100 test kit over the winter so I was ready to go.
I first tested the Ph it came back at 7.4 - so far, so good. I was worried about the CYA because I saw that the previous owner used pucks. However I couldn't get a reading when I did the test. The black dot was visible with the vial completely filled. I assume it's somewhere between 0-20. FC came in at zero. I can't test the CC as the bottle of the 003 reagent went missing (I'm blaming one of the kids.)
I put some stabilizer in a sock in the skimmer and added 3 gallons of 12.5% liquid chlorine. Tested 15 minutes later and FC came back at 1 on both the OTO and the FAS-DPD tests. I thought that maybe the chlorine was old and wasn't good, so I bought and added 4 182oz bottles of 6% bleach. Tested again 15 minutes later and the FC was still at 1. I repeated this exercise all day yesterday with the same results. I ended up adding 12 bottles of 12.5% chlorine and the four bottles of bleach.
I ran the pump overnight - I woke up twice to recharge the DE. The water was a bit lighter this morning. When I got home from work this afternoon I added 6 more big bottles of bleach and 8 more gallons of 12.5% liquid chlorine. I tested almost immediately after the chlorine went in the water and got 2FC. After 10 minutes and again at 30 minutes it's down to 1. I tried different OTO kits and tried the FAS-DPD tests again - same thing. I bought the bleach from 2 different stores and the liquid chlorine from 2 different pool stores, so I can't imagine that it all was bad.
I add the chlorine in front of the return with the highest pressure. I tried taking my sample from different spots in pool at different height in the pool. I tried brushing the bottom and used my aquabot to churn up any "pools" of chlorine that settled in the deep end. Still nothing.
Please help - I've spent $150 on chlorine and still haven't gotten FC above 1.
I've heard the CYA can turn to ammonia over the winter and that might attack my chlorine immediately. Could that still be happening after 30+ gallons of bleach/chlorine?
Test Results:
FC - 1
CC (unknown, but there's some as the OTO test turns bright yellow after being left in the vial for about 5 minutes)
PH - 7.4
CYA 0-20
CH - 300
TA - 160