Hi. I have lurked all winter and was really excited to open the pool this year with my new found knowlegde. I just recieved my test kit...the tf-50 -today and couldn't wait to test my water the right way. Well, I don't think it likes me very much. First thing I did was my CYA. It showed up a NADA. Stayed clear as a bell the whole way through....three times. I figured since I have been "pool stored" up until now(pucks in skimmer, bags and bags of "shock"), there should surely be high levels of cya in there! Atleast something! We lowered to below skimmer line when we closed up for the winter and I have backwashed four times so far in the past week while cleaning the brownish green mess I opened up to. ( winter cover developed nasty holes and crud leaked in). Why wouldn't I have any sort of cya reading?
While reading up and learning what I can, I have seen people with same sized pools as I and dealing with same type mess and the wild amount of bleach they have had to dump in their pools. So...while I waited for my test kit to arrive, I used my other drop kit and got a reading a zero for FC when I opened. I took it upon myself to start adding bleach so it didn't get worse(my water) and it IS nice and clean now although not bright and sparkly. It's a little cloudy now. Throughout a week, I added a total of eight 128oz jugs of bleach. With oto drop test, it still read at a 5 at the dark yellow earlier today.
Now, when I used my brand spankin new test kit to test my chlorine, it would NOT change from pink! I actually sat there and counted those drops to 200. It cannot be right. I gave up and came here after getting overly frustrated(and got even more frustrated trying to figure HOW to post, lol). I tried it twice actually....gave up the second time at 100. Surely I don't have a fc reading of a billion? It doesn't SMELL like bleach, there's no smell at all actually....it DID smell like a swamp when we took the cover off! What could I have done wrong with the chlorine test? Filled it to 10, added heaping scoop of powder, swirled.... started to add drops as I swirled..count, count, count, etc....PINK? Ugh.
I bragged and bragged about everything I've learned, I don't want to feel like an idiot now, lol. And... I reeeeeaallly hate to ask questions so this is hard for me but one thing I love about this forum is how nice and helpful everyone is. So...help? I might not be able to check back until tomorrow as it's dinner time and just me and my daughter here tonight and I have tons of mommy stuff to do.
While reading up and learning what I can, I have seen people with same sized pools as I and dealing with same type mess and the wild amount of bleach they have had to dump in their pools. So...while I waited for my test kit to arrive, I used my other drop kit and got a reading a zero for FC when I opened. I took it upon myself to start adding bleach so it didn't get worse(my water) and it IS nice and clean now although not bright and sparkly. It's a little cloudy now. Throughout a week, I added a total of eight 128oz jugs of bleach. With oto drop test, it still read at a 5 at the dark yellow earlier today.
Now, when I used my brand spankin new test kit to test my chlorine, it would NOT change from pink! I actually sat there and counted those drops to 200. It cannot be right. I gave up and came here after getting overly frustrated(and got even more frustrated trying to figure HOW to post, lol). I tried it twice actually....gave up the second time at 100. Surely I don't have a fc reading of a billion? It doesn't SMELL like bleach, there's no smell at all actually....it DID smell like a swamp when we took the cover off! What could I have done wrong with the chlorine test? Filled it to 10, added heaping scoop of powder, swirled.... started to add drops as I swirled..count, count, count, etc....PINK? Ugh.
I bragged and bragged about everything I've learned, I don't want to feel like an idiot now, lol. And... I reeeeeaallly hate to ask questions so this is hard for me but one thing I love about this forum is how nice and helpful everyone is. So...help? I might not be able to check back until tomorrow as it's dinner time and just me and my daughter here tonight and I have tons of mommy stuff to do.
