Chlorine tests don't match...and MORE!

[geempool]

Hello! We were off to a great start thanks to this forum, but then the pool got mostly ignored during a family thing. There are many layers of "not-ideal" happening with the pool. Can you all see my pool math logs?

1. When i do the chlorine drop test i get 6 free chlorine .5 combined chlorine, (so 6.5 total). When i do the chlorine test with the daily box tester i get nothing, which should be true since we've added no chlorine.

2. Back-story: We had started the effort to get the CYA numbers up weeks ago but the granules from the big canister will NOT dissolve with drill-in-bucket method, with sock-and-kneeding method, even now-- WEEKS of trying. However an individual plastic sleeve of CYA bought the same time dissolved almost instantly -- did we just get bad CYA in the canister?

3. A bunch of "Clorox Oxi Chlorine Free Shock Oxidizer" was added recently to try to keep pool from swampifying while until we could pay attention. Probably 5-6 lbs. Is it maybe giving me fake chlorine readings? No Chlorine has EVER been added due to cya never getting up to snuff -- we figured chlorine would just get destroyed by UV anyways, then pool got ignored. Should we add chlorine now or start with new cya in the sleeves first?

4. It is also pollen dump season and the pump was left off for a week and the pool became golden soup -- it has been running for 48 hours now with filter basket sock changes during the day and no sock at night. And backwashed 3 times to clear up pollen. And we've been cycling the pool robot (Dolphins100) throughout the day. Any other tips?

5. Pool math says to add borax -- based on everything else should i really do that now or sort out other stuff first?

What should i do first? Thanks very much!

 

[Mdragger88]

#1 - trust your fas/dpd results the oto kit in the box is not super accurate & only tests total chlorine (fc+cc) & if you’ve left it outside or its old the regeant might be toast as well it’s basically a “yellow = some chlorine, clear = none” anyway.
#2 - 5 ppm cya is not possible to read on the test. If the test got mildly cloudy you can assume u have some cya but not a readable amount. I don’t know what the drill in bucket method is but some have reported certain granular cya having dissolving issues. You may just have a weird batch if the sock method didn’t dissolve it over the course of a day or so. (Mine usually takes a couple hours) use the good batch to get the cya up to 30 ppm - if you have dissolved it (via sock method infront of a return) already assume it is there. If you did it via skimmer you could have backwashed it away.
#3 - MPS can/will read as cc on the fas/dpd test. That has probably dissipated now as it’s usually higher cc readings than u have.
#4 - i hope u mean skimmer sock - please don’t put one on your pump basket it can get stuck in the impeller & you will have a whole new set of problems
#5 - Your ph is fine.
If you’re pool is cloudy/ not clear you need to SLAM Process with liquid chlorine
Get the cya going in the sock & assume that amount is in the water - go to slam fc level for that cya level
Retest cya in 24hrs to see where u are & adjust fc slam level as necessary.

 

[geempool]

#1 - trust your fas/dpd results the oto kit in the box is not super accurate & only tests total chlorine (fc+cc) & if you’ve left it outside or its old the regeant might be toast as well it’s basically a “yellow = some chlorine, clear = none” anyway.
#2 - 5 ppm cya is not possible to read on the test. If the test got mildly cloudy you can assume u have some cya but not a readable amount. I don’t know what the drill in bucket method is but some have reported certain granular cya having dissolving issues. You may just have a weird batch if the sock method didn’t dissolve it over the course of a day or so. (Mine usually takes a couple hours) use the good batch to get the cya up to 30 ppm - if you have dissolved it (via sock method infront of a return) already assume it is there. If you did it via skimmer you could have backwashed it away.
#3 - MPS can/will read as cc on the fas/dpd test. That has probably dissipated now as it’s usually higher cc readings than u have.
#4 - i hope u mean skimmer sock - please don’t put one on your pump basket it can get stuck in the impeller & you will have a whole new set of problems
#5 - Your ph is fine.
If you’re pool is cloudy/ not clear you need to SLAM Process with liquid chlorine
Get the cya going in the sock & assume that amount is in the water - go to slam fc level for that cya level
Retest cya in 24hrs to see where u are & adjust fc slam level as necessary.

Thanks so much @Mdragger88 !!! I followed all your suggestions (and i DID mean skimmer sock, not pump sock!) The pool already looks so much better just since this morning and i feel we are back on track. I appreciate your detailed answer so much! I will test the water again in the morning and go from there.