Newbie needing Advice!!!

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Thunder Fan

0
Jun 13, 2012
4
Edmond, OK
First Happy Fathers Day!!!

I only found the forum 10 days ago while on vacation but wish I had found you guys several years ago!!!

Just received TF-100 kit Friday and performed my 1st test yesterday. Am confused why I am not showing any FC after adding 9 gallons of 6% unscented bleach over my results are as follows:

FC - 0
CC - 0
TA - 120
CH - 450
CYA - 50

I live in Edmond, OK. My water temp is 74 and my pool is in direct sunlights all day.

I performed a water change about 2 weeks ago removing 6,000 gallons. Refilled using my city water (very hard). Replaced cartridge filters last month.

Any insight would be much appreciated :)
 
Hi Thunder Fan:

Welcome to TFP and Happy Father's Day to you as well. :wave:

If you added 9 gallons of 6% bleach (1,152 oz), that should have raised your FC in a 13.5K pool by 41, per the Pool Calculator. Chlorine additions usually appear quickly on a test soon after adding, though I usually wait 30 min or so with the pump on before testing.

Was the bleach recently purchased or was it sitting around for a year or so? The shelf life of 6% bleach is longer than for the higher concentrations. Probably a long shot that it lost all its potency, but worth asking to rule it out.

I also use the TFT Kit. Were you performing the FAS-DPD test? Are you absolutely sure you tested properly? As often as I have tested, there was one time last week when I was feeling a bit "punchy" and I mistakenly added R0003 right after adding the R870 powder (should have used R-871 after adding the powder). After wasting a couple dozen drops of R0003, I caught my error, slapped myself upside the head and re-did the test the right way. Made a big difference :mrgreen:

The proper procedure to test for FC using the FAS-DPD test is:
  • 1. Rinse and fill the “Chlorine only” graduated cylinder to the 10mL mark
  • 2. Add ONE heaping scoop of the R-870 powder and swirl to mix. The solution will turn pink unless you have no chlorine
  • 3. Next, carefully add R-871 solution one drop at a time. Count each drop and swirl until the solution turns back to clear. Multiply the number of drops you added times .5 (14 drops X .5 = 7ppm). Record your results as FC.

The full text of this procedure, including testing for CC, can be found here:http://tftestkits.net/Test-Kit-Instructions-10.html

Your CYA looks good, so I would leave that alone.

As for your CH, it is a little high but nothing I would lose sleep over especially since you have a plaster pool. Nevertheless, if you are considering doing a partial drain & refill to lower CH, I would first test your source water CH before going through all that. If your fill water CH is over 100, it might be more cost effective to manage the CH by keeping TA and pH slightly on the low side. I don't see pH test results in your post, so I'm not sure where that stands.
 
I apologized, I left the ph results off my original post it was 7.2. I tested the chlorine one hour after adding and 24 hours after adding. This last time I tested doing the FAS-DPD through the TF-100. I just re-ran because I think I left the R-0003 out. The FC was 1.0.

My water is crystal clear. One point I failed to mention is I've been adding muratic acid every six hours for the last 4 days bringing my TA from 200 to 120.

Also added brand new bleach that I purchased from local grocery store (3 gallons) and Sam's Club (3 gallons).

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
Thunder Fan:

Thanks for the pH update. For the record, its a little low but at least it is in the 7's. Wouldn't worry about that now. Top priority is figuring out what's going on with your FC level.

I get most of my bleach at Sams Club or Costco. Given their high turnover rates, you should have a fresh product.
 
Thunder Fan:

Another thought...When you administer your next dose of chlorine, I would suggest running the chlorine test in the blue box that comes with the TFT kit as well as the FAS-DPD test. The chlorine test in the blue box is called the OTO Chlorine Test; it tests TC - Total Chlorine. The purpose of this test is simply to detect the presence of chlorine. It is not as precise as the FAS-DPD test, but is worth running to see what it shows as a TC level as a "sanity check" against your FAS-DPD results. With the amount of bleach you added as outlined in your previous posts, you should have had an FC (and TC) level greater than your test result of 1.

Recall that the FAS-DPD test gives FC and CC; add these two amounts to arrive at TC. Compare the TC from FAS-DPD to the TC from the OTO test. If, for example, you were to run the FAS-DPD test and get a TC of 1 while the OTO test shows a TC of 5, then something is awry in the testing procedure.

To run the OTO Chlorine Test that comes in the blue box (adapted from http://tftestkits.net/Test-Kit-Instructions-10.htm),

1. Rinse the test block and fill the yellow side up to the thin black line about ¼” from the top (doesn’t have to be perfect).
2. Next, add 5 drops of R-0600 to the yellow side. Replace the caps and shake well.
3. Hold the test block about 2-3” away from a white sheet of paper as a backdrop. Match the colors of the solution to the colors printed on the test block to determine the TC level.

Although the chlorine scale on the OTO Chlorine Test block only goes up to 5, you can use this test to get a vague idea of higher TC levels, as follows: If the sample turns a particularly vivid yellow, the TC level is between 5 and 15, light orange is between 10 and 20, dark orange is between 15 and 30, and brown is 30 or higher. For more info, see: http://www.troublefreepool.com/extended-test-kit-directions-t25081.html (Look for the post titled OTO Chlorine Test TC - Total Chlorine)
 
Still having issues maintaining sanitizer. I put 5 1.82 gallons of 6% bleach from Home Depot two nights ago. Tested and here were the results.

FC - 16 (FAS/DPD)
CC - .05
CH - 420
CYA - 40
TA - 115ish
PH - 7.5

Water Temp is 88 to 90 degrees.

Tested this morning

FC - .5
CC - .5
CH - 420
CYA - 40
TA - 120
PH - 7.6

Added another 1.82 gal. of bleach waited 30 min and tested

FC - 8 (FAS/DPD)

everything else unchanged.

Unfortunately, green algae is still present :rant: :hammer:

Just need some direction on next steps? Thanks in advance for your help!!
Chris
 
Thunder Fan said:
Unfortunately, green algae is still present :rant: :hammer:
Click to expand...

This is your whole problem right there. The chlorine is doing it's job killing the algae and whatever else is in there. So keep adding and at some point soon the FC level will start to hold.

It really doesn't matter what kind of chlorine you use - if there is contamination in the pool the chlorine gets "consumed" in the course of doing it's job.

Your pool may very well go cloudy for a few days while you continue to shock and filter. This is dead algae and is normal.
 

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