Can't balance free chlorine - nothing is working

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scoobasteve1982 said:
Good morning :) Tested around 8am.

FC = 14ppm
CC = 1.5ppm

I added 2 more jugs of liquid chlorine. Going to be sunny and HOT today in the North East.

Water is about the same as the last photo (http://staging.weedlecomm.com/pool/pool_4th_water_load.jpg) but to me seems a tad clearer - could be wishful delirious thinking haha.

Off to visit with my father today and will test when I get back. I'm going to have to stock up on bleach again at Walmart as I only have 2 or 3 jugs left.

I do have 2 pounds of powder shock that I had from the pool store that is Calcium Hypochlorite (78%)...is this okay to use at night until I get to Walmart? It's only 2 pounds and I recall the guy saying at the store it doesn't have any stabilizer.

Happy Fathers Day everyone.
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I can't remember where you tested for CH, but the Calcium Hypochlorite should be fine to use. No, it does not add CYA to the water it adds CH.

I would recommend you start taking a picture each day looking down at something in the pool like steps, ladder or main drain if you can see it. This is where you can seee the progress rather than trying to remember how it looked yesterday. Is it clearer?
 
tim5055 said:
I can't remember where you tested for CH, but the Calcium Hypochlorite should be fine to use. No, it does not add CYA to the water it adds CH.

I would recommend you start taking a picture each day looking down at something in the pool like steps, ladder or main drain if you can see it. This is where you can seee the progress rather than trying to remember how it looked yesterday. Is it clearer?
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I will start taking pictures every day as suggested. The pool is crystal clear, just a greenish / aqua tint, but it does seem a little less green today...hard to say. I'll take pictures every day.

My Calcium Hardness yesterday after my final water delivery was at 170ppm.
 
11:30 am test.

FC = 17ppm
CC = 1.5ppm

and now, my CYA seems to be around 30 - 33. Yesterday when I tested it was right after they added water and only had about 1.5 hours to circulate and now it's been circulating over 24 hours so I thinking I'm leaning more towards the 33 range. I'm not a huge fan of the Taylor CYA test. I happen to have really good eyes (pilot vision so the doctor says) so I can see the black dot pretty good :)

Anyway, seems like I'm making progress. Going to add another gallon before I leave to visit my Dad and will test again when I return and likely use up the 2 lbs of Cal-Hypo tonight before bed. As mikemass said, why not...
 
7:15pm test

FC = 15ppm
CC = 1ppm

Water is looking MUCH clearer. Still have a bit of an aqua color but well on my way I believe. I added two bags of Cal-Hypo that I bought from the pool store a while back. Leaving that for over night and will test in the morning...
 
WOW! What a ride! I just got caught up on your thread.

My input is on the CYA test.......I used to hate it but have found a way to help me and others do it with out too much pain LOL Try this:

-fill the CYA tube to the first line (100) and GLANCE in. If you can still see the dot, fill to the next line. GLANCE in. If you can still see the dot, fill to the next line...........well you get where I am going. Do NOT stare looking for the dot. You WILL see it if you do.

Going line by line makes life easier because we are going to tell you to round up so....why not go line by line?

Kim:cat:
 
Thanks for the recommendations kimkats! I'll give that shot this afternoon.

So an update...water is getting clearer and clearer. Tested this morning:

FC - 19ppm
CC - 1.5ppm

Last night I used the two bags of Cal-Hypo and I found what looked like a decent amount of Baqua good at the bottom of my pool in morning. Tried to vacuum as much out as possible bypassing the filter while draining into the driveway. I know the FC level is a bit high but it's super sunny and hot here in Connecticut so I added another jug of liquid chlorine before leaving for work. I'll test again when I get home.

Here's a picture of my pool as of now:

http://staging.weedlecomm.com/pool/pool_june_20.jpg

Still have a little aqua color going on and hoping to clear that up. To do so, I'm assuming I just need to keep my FC level at least at 16 or 17 until my CC is at 0.5 and holds steady over night. Then I can let the levels drop down to normal and balance out the rest (Alkalinity, etc.)?

Thanks again everyone...I feel like I'm almost there :)
 
I do see progress! :goodjob: Definitely keep that FC elevated until the water is uniform and clear all the way across. If you found some goo that settled in the pool, you may also have some back in the filter, so that may need to attention later as well. But you look to be making positive gains. Good work!
 
Texas Splash said:
I do see progress! :goodjob: Definitely keep that FC elevated until the water is uniform and clear all the way across. If you found some goo that settled in the pool, you may also have some back in the filter, so that may need to attention later as well. But you look to be making positive gains. Good work!
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That's what I was thinking as well. I already cleaned the filter once about a week or so ago but will clean again and recharge with DE if I keep seeing it I guess...

Heading home in a few hours to test again...(with a quick stop at Walmart for more LQ).
 
Tested when I got back from home from work...it's been about 9 hours and my results are

FC - 12.5ppm
CC - 1ppm

It's was sunny ALL day today and very hot in the North East. I did another CYA test and I'm coming back in the 30s...when I got home the pool lost all the greenish color in the deep end and is now blue with the rest of the pool :) Going to bump my FC levels up again and to go through the night. Wondering now if I should keep slamming until I get a CC 0.5ppm or less and then do this - Pool School - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT) ?
 

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For a baqua conversion, the final step is passing two consecutive OCLTs. You can try one tonight if you wish, but only if all the green is visibly gone. If you still see goo, you'll want to keep at it until there is no more to be found. Glad to hear your FC is doing so much better. That's fantastic.
 
Tested this AM....

FC = 16ppm
CC = 0.5 / 1ppm - the first drop was ALMOST crystal clear but the second did the job haha...

Unfortunately I over slept (worked LATE) and the sun did hit the pool for about and hour or two before I could test :(

Pool is looking FANTASTIC! Seeing hardly any goo on the bottom of the pool. Going to vacuum that out today....bumped the Chlorine up again and will test tonight and early in the AM to see where I'm at. Not seeing any green, water is clear, losing very little FC over night and CC are low so thinking it might be time for my OCLT - two days in a row....then hopefully I'lll pass and time to balance :) I'm confident...will post pictures tomorrow. Debating if I should clean out my DE filter and recharge before balancing...
 
Tested this afternoon to see where I'm at. A couple questions have come to mind. But first,

FC: 11ppm
CC: 1ppm
CYA: 30ish - my Taylor kit doesn't go below 30 and I can see the dot around 30. Got a pool store test just for comparison sake and they have me at 37.

It's been sunny and 80 degrees all day and my pool gets sun all day. I'm thinking ahead here and wondering. My first test this morning had me at about 16ppm so I've dropped 5ppm over the course of the day. I'm not sure if this is because of Baqua, the intense sun my pool gets all day or possibly both. Below is a picture of my pool. Super clear! I'm wondering if it is the sun, how am I supposed to maintain a 2-4ppm without adding liquid bleach every day? That seems like a lot of work. I do have a Chlorine Feeder but I have those Tricholor tablets and I do not want to raise my CYA - been there done that if you've been following this thread ;) With liquid chlorine and all the sun, am I really going to have to add liquid chlorine every single day to maintain a 2-4ppm FC reading or am I jumping the gun here, it's my Baqua, and the FC usual lasts longer?

Pool Currently :)
http://staging.weedlecomm.com/pool/pool_june_21.jpg
 
One: Pool looks GREAT. I can't believe the transformation since you went through the water changes and was really able to bite this in the behind.

Two: You will need to add bleach every day. The pool is a body. It needs to be fed. It is the nutrition your pool needs to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Remember you are at a low CYA level right now because of making the conversion process easier. You may end up raising that a touch once this is done so your FC holds a bit longer.

Lastly. No need to constantly check your CYA right now. You are not doing anything to change it. You got it where you wanted it for this process. Save the reagent for now.

pic of pool embedded so users don't have to click:

pool_june_21.jpg
 
mikemass said:
One: Pool looks GREAT. I can't believe the transformation since you went through the water changes and was really able to bite this in the behind.

Two: You will need to add bleach every day. The pool is a body. It needs to be fed. It is the nutrition your pool needs to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Remember you are at a low CYA level right now because of making the conversion process easier. You may end up raising that a touch once this is done so your FC holds a bit longer.

Lastly. No need to constantly check your CYA right now. You are not doing anything to change it. You got it where you wanted it for this process. Save the reagent for now.

pic of pool embedded so users don't have to click:

pool_june_21.jpg
Click to expand...

And so shall it be :) Part of me wishes I could use this Chlorine Feeder I bought to help :/ at least so maybe I could add bleach like once or twice a week...I know the pucks contain hidden chemical and CYA so I guess I'll just have to live with not using it...a pool store guy did tell me way back there's pucks that do not contain stabilizer but I'm not sure if that's true. He said you add them to the skimmer however...which I've also read is not a good idea...
 
Maybe look into a chlorine feeder/liquidator down the road is you don't want to dose every day. There's a ton of info here on it. But let's gets this process complete. It looks like there's the proverbial Light at the End of the Tunnel for you.

And whether or not they exist or not, I don't understand why we don't hear about Cl sticks or pucks that are pure Chlorine.
 
mikemass said:
I don't understand why we don't hear about Cl sticks or pucks that are pure Chlorine.
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Because in its natural state chlorine is a gas, not a solid. There are many commercial pools that have gas chlorine systems and even pool services in some areas of the county that have special trucks to inject the gas into the pool.

To convert chlorine into a form we can use it needs to be bound to something. The common things it is bound to are CYA, calcium, lithium or get this, water.

There are pucks mated with calcium but the are not as "solid" as standard CYA pucks and turn to mush quickly. They can not be used in a standard puck chlorinator.
 
mikemass said:
Awesome Tim. Thank you for the explanation. Makes perfect sense. After all Cl #17 on the periodic table is a Gas. So I guess the pool store saying there are non stabilized pucks is yet another Pool Store Falacy just trying to sell something.
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It just shows the knowledge level of the common pool store employee. They look at the ingredients and see 90% TriChlor and say, see no stabilizer not understanding that TriChlor is about 40 CYA. More than one new member has related that exact story.
 

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