Am I just stupid? Troubles with all chems

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With no visible algae you should not be consuming FC that quickly. Do not go above shock level for your CYA. When you go way above shock level that FC does burn off much quicker.
 
Alright, I have just done a test and FC seems to be (at least) 32. I say at least, because the water usually turns from red (high FC) to pink to transparent. Now it turned to orange/yellow-ish colour after 32ppm. I kept dripping to 38ppm but the colour didn't change any more and I don't have a lot of chlorine reagent left any more.

So now I test again in 2 hours time and see how we go? The pool is almost out of direct sunshine now.
 
I have never heard of that kind of result using a fas-dpd test. You are sure you are doing the right test?

What should your last chlorine add taken your FC to?
 
Yep I am positive that it is the right test. Additionally to reading the label, there is no other bottle with powder (detection) like that and I have no other bottle that is so empty as the Chlorine reagent :)

This time I just chucked in heaps of liquid chlorine (I know I shouldn't do it like that). I chucked in roughly 5L yesterday and it went to 0ppm FC overnight. I threw in roughly 8Liter now (based on feeling how much there is still left in the can - no exact measurement) which should bring it to 40ppm.
 
No reason to go above shock level. It is just a waste of chlorine and can be damaging to your pool equipment.
 
Welcome to TFP! Good to have you here :) You're getting great advice above. In case it wasn't clear, pH at 7.2 is ideal for right now, so just leave that one alone.

For the CYA test, don't go crazy on the shaking. That will cause bubbles in the mixture which make it more opaque. Just invert the tube, then upright, back and forth gently for 30 seconds. Practice with your 50 ppm standard solution (the test stuff). By the way, it's obvious you did plenty of reading here before posting. Much appreciated!

Order some FC reagent and powder; you're going to need it. Maybe some CYA indicator as well.

Estimating your chlorinating liquid is fine, but again, don't go crazy on it. If CYA is 60, shock is 24 ppm FC and anything above that is just wasting chlorine at this stage.

Grab an old sauce bottle (squeeze bottle) and fill it 1/4 full of chlorinating liquid and then top it up with water. Use it to squirt some algae death straight down that hole. Maybe get a small scrub brush on a handle to scrape around in there.

If you've drained a few times, I'm thinking your 60 ppm CYA is more likely correct.

You're getting great advice above, absorb it, ask questions... It'll be sweet in the end, and pool care will get easy.
 
This is VERY extreme..............with no visible algae............is there any chance there was a large amount of people in the pool or a small child that "added" something to the pool?

Grasping straws here............have you deep cleaned the filter?
 

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There's a few possibilities for rapid chlorine loss, the most common is because it's killing algae or neutralizing wee and other contaminants. Another source can be contamination coming in from farm dust or runoff from a garden. Free-floating algae is not visible until the population gets very high.

The first step is to get your chlorine to hold somewhere near what you expect it to be. If an algaecide containing ammonia was used in the past, it can take many additions of chlorinating liquid to get to that point. For example, Bunnings has an ammonia based algaecide listing benzalkonium chloride as the active ingredient. You'll probably need to add reliable amounts of chlorinating liquid to know what's happening, so maybe find a plastic measuring cup around 1-2 litres capacity. Raise your FC to 10 ppm, pump running, and measure 30 minutes to an hour later. Do this a few times times and let us know what's happening. For 10 ppm FC in your pool, add 2.4 litres (assuming 12.5% chlorinating liquid from the returnable blue 15 litre jugs)

If the pool ever got bromine in it, that can make things difficult, but you wouldn't be getting readings of zero FC.

There are some other products that would make this confusing. Let us know every pool store potion used. We can look them up which might be helpful. What are you seeing for filter pressure through all this?

The other possibility for fast chlorine loss is zero stabiliser, but that one doesn't sound likely.
 
needsajet said:
The first step is to get your chlorine to hold somewhere near what you expect it to be. If an algaecide containing ammonia was used in the past, it can take many additions of chlorinating liquid to get to that point. For example, Bunnings has an ammonia based algaecide listing benzalkonium chloride as the active ingredient. You'll probably need to add reliable amounts of chlorinating liquid to know what's happening, so maybe find a plastic measuring cup around 1-2 litres capacity. Raise your FC to 10 ppm, pump running, and measure 30 minutes to an hour later. Do this a few times times and let us know what's happening. For 10 ppm FC in your pool, add 2.4 litres (assuming 12.5% chlorinating liquid from the returnable blue 15 litre jugs)
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Needs is on to something here! I was just going to suggest the "fast turn around test" like he talks about.

Kim TFP MOD
 
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