Chlorine level makes no sense, need advice

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S

Slm3rob

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Bronze Supporter
Mar 16, 2016
109
Conroe, TX
Long story which I will post later once things are resolved. I'm experiencing something that I don't know what to do.
My pool was acid washed the beginning of December. The pool builder had his guy start up the pool with some acid and calcium. I was under the impression he would be back out to add chlorine (it's a SWG but due to calcium nodules/spotting/and what the plasterer and wet edge call scale - blaming all these issues on the SWG... we decided this winter to use chlorine to sanitize).

He never came and two weeks later (I thought he had come) my pool was looking weird. Called the builder- nope not coming. So I slammed the pool over the weekend. Got the FC up to 11 and kept it there for a full day. Passed all the tests and thought it was good. Today I tested the chlorine and it is .5. The pool is completely clear. I tested it yesterday morning and it was still at 11.

The pool gets very little sun during winter. So sun is not eating up the chlorine. The temp in the pool is below 50.

Help... I just tested it three times... the quick way once just to check and twice with the DPD powder.
 
Ok. What is weird is that I had it at 5 for several days thinking it was good and it started eating up 2-3 parts for a couple of days. So I really stayed on it over the weekend. There isn't even any debris in the pool. I'll give it another go. Thanks
 
Remember S&R, a SLAM here at TFP isn't a 1-night thing. If you actually do have algae, it can take a few days or more to complete a SLAM (link below). As James noted, an overnight (OCLT) test is in order. Pool School - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT)

We know with cold water, the SWG is of no use, so you add chlorine (bleach) manually. But first you have to know how much bleach to add to reach the proper FC (Free Chlorine) level. For that we need to know your CYA (stabilizer) level. Do you know it? Your sig shows test strips. You aren't still using those are you? If you have a TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C, please post a full set of results for us. That might help us get you more answers.

As for your pool builder issues and concerns with the plaster, keep very good notes on what was done, when and by whom just in case you need to elevate your concerns to the proper authority for assistance. Just in case, here is the TFP Pool School - Start-up New Plaster page if you've never seen it before. You might compare notes and see if things match.
 
Ok I just wrote a really long post explaining the whole story and lost it. So I'll sum up

Yes, I understand the SLAM process and have read all of Pool School a dozen times. I had a mustard algae issue last spring. I thought the pool just needed some chlorine which I added to get it up to 5. It kept going down to 2 or 3 after 24 hours. I quit messing around with it on Thursday and SLAMed it - I slightly over chlorinated on Saturday morning, bringing the FC level to 11. It stayed there all day. I did an OCLT yesterday morning around 7 am. Still at 11. Too busy yesterday to retest. When I retested an hour and a half ago it was .5 or 1. Been brushing as least once a day and taking all leaves out of the pool.

I understand the SWG will not work in the cold. We decided to chlorinate over the winter due to the builders subs telling us it was the SWG causing the issues. I've been using 8.25% bleach. There is no CYA in the pool as I was going to put some in but was working on the FC for the past week. Pool was just refilled 3 1/2 weeks ago. Pool builder left me under the impression his guy was coming out for a month. They have told us the water chemistry is the problem so I didn't want to do anything without their approval.

The calcium has again been rising. It was 220 when the pool guy started it up. Went slightly down to 200 a week later (had some rain). Then up to 220, then today 250 and we have had rain. My fill water is turned off right now.

Test strips are for salt. I use a TF-100 kit from day one (Sept. 2016). Pool gets very little sun during the winter (late afternoon for maybe 1/2 the pool for 3 hours).

I've added more bleach to get it back up to 10.

Test Results:
FC - .5 or maybe 1
CC - .5
PH - 7.6ish
CH - 250
TA - 100
CYA - 0

Let me know if I'm missing something here. My next step is to re-clean the filter tomorrow if I need to. It was clean before they acid washed the pool.

Thanks for your help,
Linda

By the way, onbalance has been helping me through the process with the pool builder. The issues have been extensive and none of my notes or numbers were relevant to them. They are requiring me to have weekly "professional" water tests done on the pool.
 
You need to get 30 ppm of CYA in the water. Your chlorine is being burned off by UV.

Take care
 
Yes I realize I needed to add the cya. I actually didn't take a break. The OCLT came back good. My mistake was the cya. It's being added now. With no sun on the pool, it just escaped me how Important that would be. Thanks for the help.
 

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