Help, little to no chlorine readings all summer. 2 pool stores later and plenty of money. Phosphates high, stabilizer was low, treated as told. A friend told me about this site and the TF-100 test kit, I purchased it since my original kit and the 2 different test strip kits give different readings. As of today , I have a 17000,gunite pool, with a fiberglass DE Filter flow rate is 150GPM. My numbers are: FC-4,CC 1-1.5, TC 5-5.5, PH 7.2, TA 120, CH 470,CYA 100
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From your numbers the most immediate probolem is too high CYA and too low chlorine for that CYA level causing a nascent algae bloom, which is why you have so much CC. Stop using trichlor tabs right now and bring your FC level up to 35 with bleach to shock and keep it there until there is no CC. Then start on a series of partial drains and refills to lower your CYA to the proper range. Also, click on the pool school link at the top of the page and start reading everything there in order it's listed. Then read it all again. It will explain a lot of what you need to do and we will help you with the rest.
Welcome to TFP!
Welcome to TFP!
Welcome to TFP!
Your CYA level is too high, possibly way to high. You need to get your CYA level down below 100, preferably all the way down to somewhere around 50. One of the challenges is that the CYA test can read 100 when the CYA level is actually much higher, so it is difficult to be sure what the CYA level really is. The only practical way to lower the CYA level is to replace water.
I hope your flow rate isn't really 150 GPM. That is way to high for a pool that size. Perhaps you are listing the maximum flow rate the filter allows rather than the actual flow rate?
Without lowering the CYA level you would need really huge amounts of chlorine to fight algae, far far more than you have probably been using. It is much more practical to lower the CYA level first and then try to fight the algae.
You also need to look at how your CYA level got so high. Trichlor tablets and dichlor granular "shock" both contain CYA. If you continue using them your CYA level will continue to go up and things will get even worse. I suggest you switch to bleach as your primary chlorine source. It won't add any more CYA or CH, both of which are already higher than ideal levels.
Your CYA level is too high, possibly way to high. You need to get your CYA level down below 100, preferably all the way down to somewhere around 50. One of the challenges is that the CYA test can read 100 when the CYA level is actually much higher, so it is difficult to be sure what the CYA level really is. The only practical way to lower the CYA level is to replace water.
I hope your flow rate isn't really 150 GPM. That is way to high for a pool that size. Perhaps you are listing the maximum flow rate the filter allows rather than the actual flow rate?
Without lowering the CYA level you would need really huge amounts of chlorine to fight algae, far far more than you have probably been using. It is much more practical to lower the CYA level first and then try to fight the algae.
You also need to look at how your CYA level got so high. Trichlor tablets and dichlor granular "shock" both contain CYA. If you continue using them your CYA level will continue to go up and things will get even worse. I suggest you switch to bleach as your primary chlorine source. It won't add any more CYA or CH, both of which are already higher than ideal levels.
Thank You for your help. We are gonna start emptying and replacing tonite. As far as the chlorine level. To get the fc up to 35 I 'll have to put about 9 gallons of bleach in . I'm I correct.
Denise
Denise
Hi Denise and welcome to the forum! 
Yes, you are correct that you would need about 9 gals. of bleach to reach a FC of 35ppm.
If you are going to start your water reaplacement tonight to lower the CYA, I'd wait on schocking the pool. Once you reach your target CYA level, you will be able to shock at a much lower FC level and use much less bleach to get there!
Please be sure to read the article in Pool School on "Shocking your Pool".
Let us know how things are going!
Yes, you are correct that you would need about 9 gals. of bleach to reach a FC of 35ppm.
If you are going to start your water reaplacement tonight to lower the CYA, I'd wait on schocking the pool. Once you reach your target CYA level, you will be able to shock at a much lower FC level and use much less bleach to get there!
Please be sure to read the article in Pool School on "Shocking your Pool".
Let us know how things are going!
After multiple drainings and refillings, I got my CYA down to between 35-40, Ch is 390 ,0 for FC,CC,TC , PH 7.8, ALK. 110. i SHOCK THIS MORNING WITH BLEACH TO RAISE THE FC TO 15-16. HOW DO I KEEP THE FC AT THE LEVVEL IT NEEDS TO BE ON A REGULAR BASIS.
You have to keep adding it!
The thing with liquid cholorine and algea blooms is that you have to babysit the pool, checking and adding chlorine 2-3 times a day for a couple days and then you can start slacking off... but not totally!
BBB (the prefered method at TFP) requires 5 minutes a day.
If you give it 5 minutes a day, you won't have problems with algae. Least I don't and you don't have to either!
So~ You have to continually add chlorine every 4-6 hours til it stops consuming so much through the day and taper off to evening doses.
You're on the right track! Good luck and please do post pics! We love pictures!
The thing with liquid cholorine and algea blooms is that you have to babysit the pool, checking and adding chlorine 2-3 times a day for a couple days and then you can start slacking off... but not totally!
BBB (the prefered method at TFP) requires 5 minutes a day.
If you give it 5 minutes a day, you won't have problems with algae. Least I don't and you don't have to either!
So~ You have to continually add chlorine every 4-6 hours til it stops consuming so much through the day and taper off to evening doses.
You're on the right track! Good luck and please do post pics! We love pictures!
Maybe i'm mis understanding, I don't have any algae. Is there any pucks out there that doesn't add any thing else.
You had a CC of 1-1.5 ppm. That is often an indication of a nascent algae bloom. The shock level you need is because of the high CYA levels in your pool.[email protected] said:
Trichlor is a slow dissolving chlorine that is made from chloirne and CYA , which is why it's called stabilzied. It adds stabilzier.
There is a cal hypo capsule but it cannot be used in a feeder. It's used in the skimmer and only lasts about 2 days. It will also raise your calcium hardness over time so it has it's own set of problems. If you want to automate your chlorination without the problems of trichlor or cal hypo then you need to invest in either a SWG, peristaltic pump or the liquidator. The first one makes chlorine in your pool from salt, the second two are ways to automatically dose liquid chlorine or bleach. Non of them will cause overstablization or cause calcium hardness to rise.
If your CYA is down to about 40 ppm then you need to add enough bleach every night to maintain your FC at about 4 ppm. It won't take that much bleach each time BUT it needs to be added every evening unless you use one of the automated systems I suggested above. Most pool lose about 1-2 ppm FC daily that needs to be replaced.