Can't get chlorine up - not sure what to do

[roger-write]

I've lived in our house with pool for over 7 years now. I've never had too much trouble maintaining it until now. Last year I had the pool painted with supposedly the best epoxy pool paint you can buy and had heard all the virtues of doing so. Our guntite was starting to look aged and I opted to do that as a cheaper option than a full replaster job.

At any rate, I cannot seem to get things balanced now. I stumbled across this website and have already started buying chemicals from a local chemical company instead of the pool store. That has helped. I bought one of the recommended test kits and I've now managed to get the pH, TA, CH and CYA balanced pretty well. But I can not get the chlorine level to come up. At all!!!

From the chemical company I bought a 5 gallon bleach container at industrial strength 12.5%. In an effort to get rid of an algae problem, my intentions were to shock the pool as advised. I ended up putting 3 gallons of the stuff in and it got the FC up to about 3 (when it should have raised it much higher). Laster in the day it was right back down to 0.5. Being out of bleach, I added 3 pounds of shock. This morning the bloody FC hasn't budged from 0.5. The pool is at least blue now (but terribly cloudy).

I feel like I'm burning through chlorine so fast I'm concerned I'll end up spending a fortune and not getting anywhere.

Let me know if you have any ideas. Thank you for this website and for any advice.

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

The first step is to post a complete set of water test results. What you think of as balanced and what we think of as balanced may not be the same thing. Then I suggest you do some reading in Pool School, especially the article on how to shock your pool.

 

[roger-write]

Thanks for your reply. I've read quite a bit in the pool school section over the past few days, as well as the section on shock.

My levels are:

pH: 7.3 to 7.4
CH: 320
CYA: 40-50
TA: 110
FC: 0.5

 

[Butterfly]

Welcome to the forum

Your #'s look fine - except, of course for the chlorine!

You should start the shock process as outlined in Pool School.

I suggest you use a shock level of about 20 FC. Try to maintain shock level as best as you can, especially in the evening and when the sun is off the pool. Only use bleach/liquid chlorine for the shock process.

You have organics consuming the chlorine (possibly ammonia) at a fast rate.

If you have questions, just post back here. Someone will be around to help.

 

[duraleigh]

Yep. +1 what Butterfly said. You are going to have to keep adding chlorine and it will start to last longer and longer as it burns up the organics that are in your pool.

 

[roger-write]

Okay, I'll make a run to sams club and load up on more bleach. Looks like its pretty much "all in" at this stage or turn my pool into a giant flower pot.

Thanks for your help. I'll keep you posted.

 

[flyweed]

with pools..you are always "all in" or "all out"....LOL..no pun intended. GO big or go home. Do you have any type of chlorinator system, or maybe you want to possibly go with a SWCG...I find it very easy to maintain FC levels with either of those options.

 

[roger-write]

All I have ist the hockey puck dispenser. SWCG sound good, but finances are a bit tight at the moment.

 

[duraleigh]

Don't rely too much on that hockey puck dispenser either. Use it for vacations but otherwise use bleach.

 

[roger-write]

On latest go-round, one hour after putting in more bleach, my FC is 13.5 and CC is 2.5. Adding more to bring FC up to 20

 

[jblizzle]

Already you can see progress with the FC reaching higher levels. The high CC is a sign that something is using a lot of chlorine. Keep at it and follow the process until you pass all 3 criteria to stop shocking.

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone

 

[roger-write]

Thanks for the encouragement and advise. Much appreciated.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Keep after it as often as you can. It makes the process go faster and makes sure you don't lose ground. Losing ground is not something you want to do when shocking.

 

[roger-write]

Got it. I'll retest again within 2 hours. I've got quite a bit of bleach on hand now and can always make another run to the store tonight or in the morning if I need to.

 

[roger-write]

I'm baffled. I just rechecked my levels. As you recall, this morning I had FC up to 13.5 and had added 2.8 gallons of 6% to bring it up to 20 (my CC was at 2.5). Now, a couple hours later, FC is not even registering and CC is at 1. I realize I need to dump a whole lot more in. But does this mean I am making progress because CC is lower now? Or am I fighting a losing battle?

 

[roger-write]

Also, would it be better to hold off until evening or should I hit it hard again right now?

 

[Bama Rambler]

Hit it right now and test again in an hour.

Keep at it. You're making progress even if it looks like you're not. You're doing good that the CC's are going down.

 

[roger-write]

I'll do it now then. Thanks.

 

[roger-write]

FC: 12.5 - CC 0.5 - So it looks like the CC is getting depleted. Added more to theoretically bring it back to 20.

Now I'm down to about 4 gallons of 6% so I better make a run this evening to get more. I'm considering buying stock in the company that makes Clorox. LOL.

 

[Bama Rambler]

I know right?? :-D

Keep after it!