We just bought a house with a pool and have no idea what we are doing. I am trying to take care of it myself since my husband would rather fill it in than deal with it. I've been to the pool store and managed to get it from green to cloudy (previous owners filled before we moved in but didn't put any chemicals in so it was green two days after we moved in). I've been back a couple times now and they keep giving me something else to try but the pool is still cloudy. The last water sample I brought in on the 11th showed the Free Chlorine at 0, I shocked it again yesterday and bought some test strips from Walmart (ordered a test kit but it's not here yet) and as of this morning Free Chlorine and Total chlorine are at 0. Is this why it's cloudy? The CYA is also low at 24 and pH is high at 8.
I have no chlorine
- Thread starter tmrobinson
- Start date
What are you using to chlorinate it? You should be using bleach.
The first thing to do is get the pH down. Do you have any acid? If you do add a quart in front of a running return. test it again in 30 minutes and report back the result.
In the mean time you need to read Pool School if you haven't already.
Which kit did you order?
The first thing to do is get the pH down. Do you have any acid? If you do add a quart in front of a running return. test it again in 30 minutes and report back the result.
In the mean time you need to read Pool School if you haven't already.
Which kit did you order?
Don't worry, we can help, but before we can do much we do need to know a bit more, most importantly post a full set of test results when you can, in the mean time, like Richard said, read over pool school, most people get more out of it the second or third time through and you might want to start stocking up on some bleach (plain, not scented, no thickeners, not outdoor bleach which has detergents, either 6% or 8.25% or higher), 10-20 gallons would not be out of line as a starting point, you will use them soon enough one way or another.
So far I have just been using shock. The pool guy I had come out to show me how to use the equipment told me to put 10 lbs. in after he tested it and it was green. I put another 3 lbs. in a few days later and then on Friday after my 4th trip to the pool store they told me to put in another 5 lbs. When I went in today with another water sample he gave me two gallons of liquid chlorine to pour in. I just started reading the forum yesterday so didn't even know there was another way to do it. I am a little nervous about just dumping bleach in though.
I don't have any acid on hand, I am making a shopping list so is this something I should pick up to have on hand besides bleach?
I did read pool school yesterday but it was overwhelming so I know I need to go read it again and probably a third time.
I ordered a k-2006 test kit, should be here Monday.
I don't have any acid on hand, I am making a shopping list so is this something I should pick up to have on hand besides bleach?
I did read pool school yesterday but it was overwhelming so I know I need to go read it again and probably a third time.
I ordered a k-2006 test kit, should be here Monday.
Do you know if the active ingredient on the shock is dichlore or calcium hypochlorite?
zea3 said:
I just dug through my recycling bin......the liquid chlorine I put in today was sodium hypochlorite and the stuff I put in on Thursday was calcium hypochlorite.
now it doesn't have to be bleach...Bleach IS liquid chlorine. Liquid Chlorine IS bleach. The word bleach is just whats used to describe your choice of chlorine.
Whatever gives the best value. I get the best deal on 12.5% liquid chlroine from a pool store. My 2nd best deal for me is 10% liquid chlorine from walmart. I have not found a store with bleach prices to beat them yet.
As you should learn from pool school in the future...shock is a process not a product.
Whatever gives the best value. I get the best deal on 12.5% liquid chlroine from a pool store. My 2nd best deal for me is 10% liquid chlorine from walmart. I have not found a store with bleach prices to beat them yet.
As you should learn from pool school in the future...shock is a process not a product.
You have put a lot of chlorine into the pool, and it may be that something organic is consuming all the FC, however I am also wondering if your FC is so high it is bleaching out the test strips you are currently using. As an experiment try adding 1 part pool water to 3 parts bottled drinking or distilled water and test it to see if any chlorine registers on the strip. I am also curious to know what your current calcium level is. Do you have a recent test result for calcium?
tmrobinson said:
If you have a gallon of laundry bleach....go ahead and look at the ingredients on that.....then try to tell us your still worried about using bleach.
Welcome! 
If you want to learn how to take care of your pool, you're in the right place.
To do it right, the single most important thing is a test kit. I'll save you the reading. Just go to http://tftestkits.net and order a TF100. The speedstir and the XL options are great additions, but not mandatory.
The second most important thing is understanding - which you can get from Pool School. However, until you reach that point, you can pick our brains, but to do that, we need test results, which puts you back at the last paragraph.
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If you want to learn how to take care of your pool, you're in the right place.
To do it right, the single most important thing is a test kit. I'll save you the reading. Just go to http://tftestkits.net and order a TF100. The speedstir and the XL options are great additions, but not mandatory.
The second most important thing is understanding - which you can get from Pool School. However, until you reach that point, you can pick our brains, but to do that, we need test results, which puts you back at the last paragraph.
[center:1q3vjeb4]
zea3 said:
Even the print out from the sample I brought to the pool store has a FC level of 0. The Total Hardness which I think is the calcium is 110. I am just confused because from the printout they gave me it looks like the numbers are low but he also said the computer tries to sell stuff you don't need and he said the readings are fine except for the FC. I am impatiently awaiting my test kit so I can see for myself what they actually are.
Total hardness and Calcium hardness are not exactly the same thing, but are close enough to give us an idea, if the pool store test is to be trusted. We generally find pool store free testing to be worth about as much as you think your paying for it, If you want to see this for yourself, get a water sample, divide it into 3 parts, take each part to a different pool store for their testing, then compare the numbers. Sure some are better than others, but you never know which one it will be, and if it will be good the next time you go in and a different person is running the test. As to the FC reading of 0 this likely means you have organics in your pool consuming all the chlorine, most commonly this is in the form of algae. To put things simply chlorine kills algae, but it must be maintained at shock level until all of the algae is dead. If the chlorine level is not high enough, then it can't kill the algae faster than the algae reproduces, if not kept high long enough, then a fraction of the algae remains alive and then starts multiplying again out of control as soon as the chlorine level drops drops down and within a few hours your back to square one. This is part of the reason it is so important to have a good test kit, and dose frequently when trying to clear an algae bloom. Once you get your new test kit in we can get a better idea of your real situation, and get you on course to clear things up.
Ike
ps on the issue of bleach and liquid chlorine, as Richard said, they are the same thing, just liquid chlorine is typically more concentrated, when it is 3%, 6% or now 8.25% (the new concentrated bleach that showed up on the market this year) it is typically called bleach, 10% -12% is typically called liquid chlorine (10% bleach though is common in industrial laundry programs like at hotels, etc.), and anything over 12% tend to only be used in industry as it has a very short shelf life.
also it is hard to compare levels being called low or high, as we do not typically agree with pool stores on these terms for the accepted ranges, for some things they may say things are in the normal range, and we may think it is insanely high, and vice versa.
Ike
ps on the issue of bleach and liquid chlorine, as Richard said, they are the same thing, just liquid chlorine is typically more concentrated, when it is 3%, 6% or now 8.25% (the new concentrated bleach that showed up on the market this year) it is typically called bleach, 10% -12% is typically called liquid chlorine (10% bleach though is common in industrial laundry programs like at hotels, etc.), and anything over 12% tend to only be used in industry as it has a very short shelf life.
also it is hard to compare levels being called low or high, as we do not typically agree with pool stores on these terms for the accepted ranges, for some things they may say things are in the normal range, and we may think it is insanely high, and vice versa.
As for your shopping list a few things you are going to need are
31.45% muriatic acid ( to lower pH ) I would get 2 gallons ( Lowes, home depot, Rural King)
Bleach search for the best deal (Walmart, aldi's, sam's) just regular unscented bleach remember no thickeners or dripless, look at the % if it doesn't have it on the jug don't but it
Cya/ stabilizer ( sunblock for your fc) it protects your fc so the sun don't consume it so quickly.
Patience and more patience
I would stay away from the pool stores for any of these pool products as they tend to charge more
31.45% muriatic acid ( to lower pH ) I would get 2 gallons ( Lowes, home depot, Rural King)
Bleach search for the best deal (Walmart, aldi's, sam's) just regular unscented bleach remember no thickeners or dripless, look at the % if it doesn't have it on the jug don't but it
Cya/ stabilizer ( sunblock for your fc) it protects your fc so the sun don't consume it so quickly.
Patience and more patience
I would stay away from the pool stores for any of these pool products as they tend to charge more
