I moved into a house with an existing pool.
24 ft Round x 48"
Hayward Sand Filter
When opening for the season and not knowing anything about pools, I guessed at what to do. The pool was dark in algae. I called a local pool shop and was told to just use shock and algaecide. I went to Walmart and looked at what they had to offer. I purchased 2 1 lb bags of shock and a bottle of algaecide that was suppose to be enough for my pool. The water cleared to a cloudy aqua color. I cleared the pool of leaves and debris and let the filter run for several days. I also added chlorine pucks. The water never cleared from the cloudy aqua color.
I then ran across your site and started reading about using bleach. I already had purchased test strips so I tested the water. And got approx the following results ( can't remember exactly now)
Total Hardness 250
Total Chlorine 0
Free Chlorine 0
pH 7.4
Total Alkalinity 120
CYA 100
I wanted to get the CYA down so I drained about 1/3 to 1/2 of the pool which brought the CYA to 30-50
I then used the PoolMath Calculator to find out how much bleach to add. I now had algae again, so I went by the FC value for algae, which was to raise FC to 24, to do this I needed to add 4 gallon and 3 quarts of bleach. I did so and the FC came up to above 20 (highest test strips will measure). I left the filter running, the water turned back to the cloudy aqua color in a few hours. The next evening (24 hrs later) the FC was 0 again.
I used the PoolMath Calculator again to get the FC to 3 and it said to add 1 quart 1 cup of bleach, I did so but the chlorine levels didn't rise at all they stayed at 0
What am I doing wrong, any help will be appreciated. I have put so much money in this I can't afford to buy a good drops test kit at this time so I hope the strips will do
Levels now
Total Hardness 250
Total Chlorine 0
FC 0
pH 7.2
Total Alkalinity 120
CYA 30-50
24 ft Round x 48"
Hayward Sand Filter
When opening for the season and not knowing anything about pools, I guessed at what to do. The pool was dark in algae. I called a local pool shop and was told to just use shock and algaecide. I went to Walmart and looked at what they had to offer. I purchased 2 1 lb bags of shock and a bottle of algaecide that was suppose to be enough for my pool. The water cleared to a cloudy aqua color. I cleared the pool of leaves and debris and let the filter run for several days. I also added chlorine pucks. The water never cleared from the cloudy aqua color.
I then ran across your site and started reading about using bleach. I already had purchased test strips so I tested the water. And got approx the following results ( can't remember exactly now)
Total Hardness 250
Total Chlorine 0
Free Chlorine 0
pH 7.4
Total Alkalinity 120
CYA 100
I wanted to get the CYA down so I drained about 1/3 to 1/2 of the pool which brought the CYA to 30-50
I then used the PoolMath Calculator to find out how much bleach to add. I now had algae again, so I went by the FC value for algae, which was to raise FC to 24, to do this I needed to add 4 gallon and 3 quarts of bleach. I did so and the FC came up to above 20 (highest test strips will measure). I left the filter running, the water turned back to the cloudy aqua color in a few hours. The next evening (24 hrs later) the FC was 0 again.
I used the PoolMath Calculator again to get the FC to 3 and it said to add 1 quart 1 cup of bleach, I did so but the chlorine levels didn't rise at all they stayed at 0
What am I doing wrong, any help will be appreciated. I have put so much money in this I can't afford to buy a good drops test kit at this time so I hope the strips will do
Levels now
Total Hardness 250
Total Chlorine 0
FC 0
pH 7.2
Total Alkalinity 120
CYA 30-50