Closing Soon

[Mr. Muriaticacid]

Last Sunday, Oct. 29 I added 6 gallons of 8% bleach. That brought my free chlorine up to 29 ppm. Today, Nov. 4 my FC is at 23. My pool guy is coming on Thurs. Nov. 9 to close my pool. My question is, is it okay to close with the FC that high? I plan on adding 1 quart of Kemtec 60% algaecide on Wed. Nov. 8 and let it circulate all night before closing. I just thought my FC would drop faster than this but I suppose it is a good thing, at least nothing is consuming my chlorine! I figure at 1ppm per day loss that my FC will be around 19 when I add the polyquat.

The other thing is that I can't get a reliable reading of my TA or pH. I ran a TA test today and the colors were light blue and turned to tan after 7 drops so I figured my TA is 70. I added 1/2 pint of MA just to be safe because the pH was reading 8.0 but I understand the pH isn't reliable at high FC. Am I on the right track?? Any feedback is appreciated!

 

[Catanzaro]

Adding MA may have caused your PH to drop too low, (not sure), as the PH reading is not reliable over 10 ppm. Where is usually your PH on a day to day basis?

Regarding TA, did you wipe the tip between drops during the test?

Also, the Algaecide will consume your chlorine, so I would not recommend adding it at this point. You are too late in the season. Close the pool and do not worry about anything until the spring. Open up early and make sure that the pool company does not add any closing chemicals.

 

[Mr. Muriaticacid]

Thanks for the input Cantazaro. My pH was at 7.8, pretty normal for my pool. A half pint of MA would only dropped the pH a tenth or 2.
As to the TA test, yes I did wipe the tip. It’s just weird because I have never seen the blue and tan colors before. I assumed it was due to the high chlorine. I did the test several times with the same results.
I have a pH meter for dirt. I’ll try that and see what that shows. I’m closing tomorrow so I guess I’ll know something in the spring. Thanks again!