High Tot. Chlorine, low Free Chlorine

[hobby1]

Hey everyone,
I've been lurking around for few weeks as I am trying to figure my water. I am giving up and need some help. I have a 15ft Intex pool with the intex SWG. I have on order the TF100 test kit and should have it next week. I did have a problem where I was not running the SWG long enough (thanks to some bad test strips). My water was a little cloudy so I brought my pool sample to the local pool store and here are the results:

FC: .2
TC: 4.7
CYA: 120
TA: 165
aTA: 129
pH:7.3
TH:210
Minerals: 3500

The pool store told me to add 3lbs of BioGuard Super Soluble which from the label is Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate. After doing a lot of reading here on this forum, this will raise my CYA, right? I don't want to do that. How can I lower my Total chlorine and raise my free chlorine? I am starting to use the BBB method so should I just add bleach to my pool?

Thanks for you help,
Dan

 

[JohnT]

Yes, just add bleach to the proper shock level according to the chart in Pool School http://www.troublefreepool.com/category/pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock for your CYA level. The trichlor will increase your CYA even higher.

 

[hobby1]

Thanks for the quick reply. Will my tot. chlorine eventually drop? Do I even need to worry about that?

 

[JohnT]

Thanks for the quick reply. Will my tot. chlorine eventually drop? Do I even need to worry about that?

The total chlorine isn't really the problem. The problem is the difference between the total and free chlorine. It should be below 0.5ppm.

 

[JasonLion]

Your CYA level is quite high, which is going to make things a bit more challenging. It would be best if you could lower your CYA level by replacing some water.

Bringing your FC level up to shock level, around 30 with CYA of 120, will take care of the combined chlorine (CC). TC - FC = CC. Ideally, you want CC to be zero. CC tends to go towards zero if you maintain appropriate FC levels. The cloudiness is probably algae, and you may need to bring it back up to shock level a couple of times to get all of the algae.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I agree, I would replace enough water with fresh water to bring your CYA down to 80 at least, then it will be more manageable. The Intex pool filters seem to take longer to clear the cloudy water, so be sure to have some extra POP make sure you are running the filter 24/7 till it clears.