Hello. I attempted to prep our above ground 7500 gallon pool for opening a month ago. It was dark green and full of algae. I had Burnout 73 from our local pool store and I used that first for the first week. The pool cleared to a light green, cloudy color. My ph was high at 7.8 so I used muriatic acid to lower it to 7.2. I was still loosing chlorine and the pool was still light green and cloudy so I took a sample in to my pool store to have it tested (I ran out of reagents to test my CYA and TA at home). Their results were:
pH 7.7
Total Alkalinity 141
Ca Hardness 110
Optimizer 2
Free Chlorine 0.2
Total Chlorine 0.9
Combined Chlorine 0.2
CYA 15
Phosphate 2975
I added pH down to lower the pH. They said my chlorine was locked (I thought CYA was high when it was locked) and to lower pH, add 1lb of Burnout 3, Backup (copper free algae prevention), and to clean my filter with Kleen It after adding the aforementioned and scrubbing/sweeping the pool. I did all of that and I was still not holding any chlorine the following morning. So, I proceeded to SLAM it by adding 2 gallons of liquid pool chlorine (12.5 %). I did this for three days, until the chlorine level only dropped 1PPM overnight. The pool was still cloudy and had a strong chlorine smell. When I tested it last night, it was at 2PPM. I added 1/2gallon of liquid chlorine to bring the level up, in case the algae was still present. When I got up this morning and tested it, the pool was blue but cloudy. My Chlorine was at 1PPM. I wanted to check the CYA again (but I was out of reagent) so I took a sample to the pool store. My results were:
pH 7.2
TA 134
Ca Hardness 109
Optimizer 1
FC 0.7
TC 1.7
CC 1
CYA 12
Phosphate 2869
They said to add 0.25 of pH down (as their other recommendations would raise it), 3 pounds of Burnout 3, and 11 lbs of optimizer, plus add 3 chlorine tabs into my floating chlorinator. They said I still had chlorine lock. ?I asked about my CYA being low and if that could cause the FC/TC to be low and they said that could be the problem. They said to add 1.5 pounds of stabilizer into the pool (I do not have a skimmer) and see how that goes.
Should I use the Burnout 3 or my liquid chlorine? Am I really in chlorine lock or is it merely my CYA being low that is causing my chlorine loss? I wanted to make sure before I dump more chemicals into the pool.
Thank you for your help!
pH 7.7
Total Alkalinity 141
Ca Hardness 110
Optimizer 2
Free Chlorine 0.2
Total Chlorine 0.9
Combined Chlorine 0.2
CYA 15
Phosphate 2975
I added pH down to lower the pH. They said my chlorine was locked (I thought CYA was high when it was locked) and to lower pH, add 1lb of Burnout 3, Backup (copper free algae prevention), and to clean my filter with Kleen It after adding the aforementioned and scrubbing/sweeping the pool. I did all of that and I was still not holding any chlorine the following morning. So, I proceeded to SLAM it by adding 2 gallons of liquid pool chlorine (12.5 %). I did this for three days, until the chlorine level only dropped 1PPM overnight. The pool was still cloudy and had a strong chlorine smell. When I tested it last night, it was at 2PPM. I added 1/2gallon of liquid chlorine to bring the level up, in case the algae was still present. When I got up this morning and tested it, the pool was blue but cloudy. My Chlorine was at 1PPM. I wanted to check the CYA again (but I was out of reagent) so I took a sample to the pool store. My results were:
pH 7.2
TA 134
Ca Hardness 109
Optimizer 1
FC 0.7
TC 1.7
CC 1
CYA 12
Phosphate 2869
They said to add 0.25 of pH down (as their other recommendations would raise it), 3 pounds of Burnout 3, and 11 lbs of optimizer, plus add 3 chlorine tabs into my floating chlorinator. They said I still had chlorine lock. ?I asked about my CYA being low and if that could cause the FC/TC to be low and they said that could be the problem. They said to add 1.5 pounds of stabilizer into the pool (I do not have a skimmer) and see how that goes.
Should I use the Burnout 3 or my liquid chlorine? Am I really in chlorine lock or is it merely my CYA being low that is causing my chlorine loss? I wanted to make sure before I dump more chemicals into the pool.
Thank you for your help!