Confusing test results - end of my rope!

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C

Cameronspool

0
Jul 3, 2011
5
I am heading to the pool store tomorrow, but now that I've finished repairing my leak, my water is horribly out of balance.

I can't seem to raise the Chlorine level.
FC is .5
TC is .5
PH is 7.8
TA is 110
CYA is???? I did the test and it never got cloudy, does this mean it's low if the test water never gets cloudy?

A little background is I already drained and refilled the water as previous owners of the house didn't close the pool correctly and it had a lot of algae growth. All appeared well and then I went on vacation for 10 days and had someone come and clean the pool half way through - however we had a big storm after and a lot of leaves/etc sat in the pool. I removed all the debris, brushed the pool and have added a lot of shock and algeside. I just don't seem to be able to get the chlorine level up.

The water is a little cloudy (especially after I brushed of course) but I can still see the bottom. It's definitely not clear and greenish blue.
I am a novice and keep reading everything online, but I'm still a little lost as to what I need to do to get this thing balanced. Draining and refilling is not an option.

Husband is close to winning the fill it vs. enjoy it argument!

Thank you!
 
If the CYA test never got cloudy when you mixed the sample with the reagent, it means you have no CYA. You have to add it; tap water doesn't have any. Without any CYA, sunlight destroys the chlorine at an amazing rate.

You'll need to go somewhere and buy some CYA, some acid, and some chlorine. Walmart, Lowes, lots of places sell stuff besides the pool store - and you won't get sweet-talked into buying an expensive bucket o'snake oil that promises to cure all but won't. Walmart is open late; why are you still reading this? :lol:

Use http://www.poolcalculator.com/ to figure out how much acid you need to get pH to about 7.2 and add that first. Do the same for CYA, use 30 as the target for now, pour the stuff in a sock or nylon (no runs!) tie it off, and hang it in front of a return. Then calculate how much bleach you need to get that up to a target of 12 and add that, but let the acid circulate for at least half an hour before pouring in the bleach. Brushing also helps mix things.

Test the FC again in the morning, and again add bleach to get to 12. Then go sit down and reread things in Pool School. After an hour or so, check FC again, and replenish. Keep doing that until the water is clear. By then, you'll have read enough in Pool School to know what to do next. :wink:

Don't worry about pH; it won't read correctly at shock level, so get it right before you start then ignore it.
Don't worry about TA. Once the pool is clear and balanced you can fuss with that to amuse yourself.
 
Horribly out of balance? Draining and refilling? Please relax, nothing you've said comes anywhere close to that.

"I can't seem to raise the Chlorine level." - How have you been trying to get your chlorine up, what have you been adding?

You do need to get your CYA up (BTW - adding cya should bring your PH down)

Also - please give as much info as you can in your signature (pool size/type, etc) - you'd be amazed on what these gurus on this forum pick up on.
 
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