Chlorine not coming down after Leslies Black Algae Killer and chemical smell

[Heg38]

I had some straight lines of black (what I assumed was black algae) along the natural stone at waterline. I acted quickly and should not have, (just joined this site) and put a whole bottle of Leslies Black Algae Killer in the pool. It was a proper dose. Before the dose of this, I have for the last year, (pool is only a year old) had a tough time keeping chlorine above .5. Many times 0, with my IC40. So a couple weeks ago added another IC40. Still, no 3ppm of chlorine! Only 2 on a good day.
A few days after seeing the black line, I dumped the black algae killer in afternoon, and then 3 bags of leslies powdered chlorine the next morning.-----
--- Now I have 3 new things. A chemical smell which I hate, slight foaming, and high chlorine. (7.5), that is not going down at all for the last 3 days, which is the complete opposite of what I have had since my pool was conceived. I have a 2.5yr old and I know he swallows water from time to time and I hate that, especially with that smell. (even though they say 15 mins after algecide is ok to swim) I recently opted out of the pool guy and am doing it myself now with TF-100
Any idea why my chlorine is hanging up high?

Here are today's numbers:
FC 7.5
CC .5
TA 70
CYA 60
Salt 3,600
PH 7.5
CH 450

 

[Patrick_B]

I don't know what's in the black Algae killer, but perhaps that is causing your foaming. Black Algae is generally in spots not streaks, but perhaps so since this is on a line in the pool.

In any event, it gets there from persistent low FC over time and your conditions sound ripe for it's formation.

Regardless. a 7.5 FC is not that high at all, but it is coming from the Powdered "shock" you put in. It will come down pretty quickly I assure you. Your salt cell may be out or need cleaning, but I can't say. Whatever is happening, it's not making enough FC it sounds like.

As 7.5 FC and CYA 60, it is more than safe to swim in with regard to FC levels.

Please spend some time in Pool School as much as you can. Start with the ABC's and then Recommended chemicals. Work it from there as you can absorb it. Education is key to what we teach here, and the more you have, the easier this will become.

 

[Casey]

I agree with Pat. And if you are smelling chlorine, it is more than likely CC's. How does your water look? If it's cloudy and on the verge of being green, I would SLAM it!

 

[Butterfly]

Now I have 3 new things. A chemical smell which I hate, slight foaming, and high chlorine. (7.5), that is not going down at all for the last 3 days, which is the complete opposite of what I have had since my pool was conceived.

As said, the FC is not high based on CYA. With the foaming and chemical smell , I also suggest you SLAM the pool.
Use bleach/liquid chlorine for the SLAM.

Welcome to TFP

 

[Heg38]

Thanks guys, my water almost always looks great. Very clear. Just haven't been able to keep chlorine in the pool with my one IC40, for the last year, and waiting to see if the second one I installed a week and a half ago will do the trick. I read one thing on TFP that caught my eye. You can have algae and not see it. This may have been the cause from day one as we started the pool with no good advice from our builder, and a once a week pool guy, and tons of parties and kids once the pool was filled, and I knew little to nothing about pool care. I did have green algae on walls once, but water has pretty much always been clear. No cloudy craziness or anything horrible.
I was thinking maybe I had algae in the pool that was not visible (except at water line) eating all my chlorine. Then, after my black algae treatment last week, followed by shock, the chlorine went up, and for another day and a half, both IC40s were set to 80 percent, and they were now producing chlorine that wasn't being consumed any longer, so for a couple days, I was seeing high chlorine levels (8) second day and higher the first obviously, so this morning before I went to work, I turned both generators down to 20 percent, and figured I would come home to a lower reading, and I did. It's now 4.75 FC and CC of .5 I have a feeling, once it drops a tad more, and I bump both generators to a proper setting, I may for the first time, be able to sustain a respectable chlorine level in my pool. This may in turn, call for one or more of my wife's famous margaritas at the edge of the pool. As I type this, I am draining about 1/8th of my water, as I have kids that inadvertently drink the water, and with the addition of the algae killer, the foaming and the chemical smell, that ain't jiving with me, so whatever the ppms of whatever copper/ other chemicals that were in that bottle of black algae killer, I am reducing them for piece of mind. PS One salt cell is one year old, and the other is brand new. I will continue my reading here, but another quick question, as the kids want to play with daddy. Is the Leslies powdered chlor brite chlorine acceptable to add to the pool if my chlorine gets low again? Again, I will keep reading.

 

[Isaac-1]

If you will note the Chlorine / CYA chart from pool school http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock you will see that you should be maintaining an FC level of 4 ppm at all times with a CYA of 60 ppm to keep algae from developing.

Ike

p.s. Leslies chlor brite is a stabilized chlorine product, so either dichlor or trichlor, this will drive up your CYA so you should probably not use it unless you need to also raise your CYA level, too high of CYA levels can lead to algae problems.

 

[Heg38]

So drop the chlor brite and load up on the bleach bottles? Thank you, Jay

 

[UN1017]

Welcome to TFP by the way!

Just haven't been able to keep chlorine in the pool with my one IC40, for the last year, and waiting to see if the second one I installed a week and a half ago will do the trick.

I'm curious...how many gallons are we talking here?

 

[Heg38]

30,000 gallon pool.

 

[ping]

How many hours has the pump been running and what has been the SWG output % been?

Most likely you have had the nascent algae and have not been able to detect it visually, but it was consuming all the FC the SWG was putting out. I suggest to raise the FC to around 10 and run an OCLT to check for organics. Make sure the SWG's are turned off to perform an OCLT. Look in Pool School to learn about the OCLT.

 

[Heg38]

8 hrs on pump runtime and 60%. I do have chlorine now. So much, it's been tough to bring it down. I think I did have nonvisible algae, killed it now I think all is well...... It's amazing not having all chlorine eaten as fast as it was being made. I love it.

 

[UN1017]

8 hrs on pump runtime and 60%.

You are a prime example why oversizing your SWG is recommended. At those settings with one SWG you were only making 1 ppm a day of chlorine. That is assuming your SWG is capable of making 1.4 lbs. of chlorine a day. You could have done it with only one but you would have needed to put it at 100% and run the pump for almost 9 hours.