too many chemicals?

[Occasional Swimmer]

We haven't been able to get chlorine levels to show up at all on the test strips this year, despite adding many bags of powdered shock. Our pool store did a chlorine demand test and gave us the following fix -- add 13 bags of 73% shock and 11 gals of liquid shock. This seems like a lot of chemicals to add all at once. Thoughts?

 

[JohnT]

Welcome to TFP!

You probably have a couple of issues working against you. First is that test strips will bleach out at high chlorine levels and show no chlorine. The second is that when a pool has algae or other contaminants, it can consume large doses of chlorine in as little as an hour.

You really need to do two things: First is to get a decent FAS-DPD chlorine test. The second is to add enough chlorine to SLAM Your Pooland keep checking it at least hourly until you get a consistent chlorine reading.

You can find information about recommended test kits at Test Kit Comparison

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

Get one of the Recommended Test Kits, I use the TF100 from tftestkits.net.

When you get it give us some test results and get ready to SLAM Your Pool.

Here are some of my fave Pool School articles to check out while you wait for your kit.
TFPC for Beginners
ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry

Here are the Recommended Levels for your pool.
Here is the Water Balance for a saltwater pool.
Here are the Recommended Pool Chemicals and how to add them.
Use PoolMath to figure out how much to add.

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

My thought is that your stabilizer decomposed into ammonia over the winter, in which case HUGE amounts of chlorine are needed. And that's just to be rid of the ammonia. Killing the algae will take even more. But that's just a thought. Without good test results, it's just a guess.

 

[pooldv]

Also, if you haven't already, scoop everything out of your pool with a leaf rake. That will help the SLAM go faster and use less chlorine.

 

[Occasional Swimmer]

There's nothing to scoop from the pool. The water looks fabulous, very clear, very "normal" looking. According to the tests done at the pool store, everything is absolutely in perfect balance except for the chlorine. TC is 0.8 and FC is 0.1. From everything that I've read on here thus far, I'm afraid if I add 13 bags of shock, as suggested by BioGuard, my CYA levels are going to become unmanageably high. I'd like some guidance before purchasing and adding all that they suggested.

 

[smforte]

I can't believe no one has said STAY OUT OF THE POOL STORE. They're test as well as the strips are terribly inaccurate. Do yourself a favor and get one of the recommended test kits and take charge of your pool. You will very seldom have to go to the pool store again and save $$ too!

 

[Patrick_B]

There's nothing to scoop from the pool. The water looks fabulous, very clear, very "normal" looking. According to the tests done at the pool store, everything is absolutely in perfect balance except for the chlorine. TC is 0.3 and FC is 0.1. From everything that I've read on here thus far, I'm afraid if I add 13 bags of shock, as suggested by BioGuard, my CYA levels are going to become unmanageably high. I'd like some guidance before purchasing and adding all that they suggested.

Welcome to TFP!

That's why you want to test you own water. Otherwise you will be guessing. Without numbers that's all we can do, and we can't do that.