Confusion on FC CC test

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Do you have the OTO quick check test...what does it read? And did you try diluting the sample? How old are your reagents? If your tap water is chlorinated you should get a low FC reading...if so, have you tested your tap water?

If my calculations are correct you have added > 55 ppm of bleach to your pool!
 
When using the 10ml sample and 1 scoop, how many drops of regent to go clear? And what number are you multiplying by? Ex: 10ml and 1 scoop of powder, takes 10 drops to go clear. Multiply by 0.5, so 10 x 0.5 = 5 ppm of FC. (or quick math on a 10ml sample, divide the number of drops by 2, so 10 drops = 5 FC).
 
I have the Taylor K-2006 test kit. Purchased in April of this year on Amazon. I'm only getting a pink color (not red) when adding two scoops powder. 9:30am it took 4 drops to go clear at 25ml=0.8ppm. When I did it just now it only took one drop to clear at 10ml= 0.5ppm, so it appears to be dropping.

Maybe I need to take a sample to the pool store and see if they find anything out of whack.
 
I took a pool sample into the pool store and phosphates are high at 2144. They wanted to sell me remover, but I declined for now. Could that be the reason chlorine is leaving so fast? Or just that I didn't keep adding chlorine until I got to shock level for a 30000 gal pool? It was steadily rising, but after 22 gal of bleach in a day, I was only at 1.8ppm FC, I just couldn't keep up with it. Then one area of the liner looked lighter than it did before. I'm just stumped on what to do.

Water is very clear, so maybe I should have our water treatment plant check it for bacteria.

Again, any suggestions would be helpful. I had no idea how hard this would be to do...:(
 
Pam Jo said:
I took a pool sample into the pool store and phosphates are high at 2144. They wanted to sell me remover, but I declined for now. Could that be the reason chlorine is leaving so fast? Or just that I didn't keep adding chlorine until I got to shock level for a 30000 gal pool? It was steadily rising, but after 22 gal of bleach in a day, I was only at 1.8ppm FC, I just couldn't keep up with it. Then one area of the liner looked lighter than it did before. I'm just stumped on what to do.

Water is very clear, so maybe I should have our water treatment plant check it for bacteria.

Again, any suggestions would be helpful. I had no idea how hard this would be to do...:(
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Sorry, I have been helping someone with a similar situation as yours! Good for you on declining the PO4 remover, it will not help you in the least. I would not check for bacteria, no need...I'm thinking you problem is Ammonia. Tinkerpt has a problem almost exactly like you, can't hold FC. That pool is 12K larger! I would suggest getting an ammonia test kit from the local aquarium store or Pet Smart, API makes a tester that is cheap, easy to perform and easy to read.

In the mean time you can check your FAS-DPD reagents by mixing 1.5 ml of bleach into a bucket filled with 5 gallons of tap water. Test that mixture, if your FC is >8 or so your reagents are good.

If your ammonia test is positive you will need bleach, bleach, bleach and more bleach...keep hanging on, we will get you fixed up.
 

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tortose said:
If ammonia is high, the CC should also rise after addition of many liquid chlorine. I suspect that the liquid chlorine has expired.
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It is possible...but I have seen pools with 2 - 8 ppm of ammonia and slightly elevated CC (my own pool being one), once they start holding FC the CC will rise. Her problem is 1 of 3 things 1) expired bleach 2) Bad reagents or 3) Ammonia. If I had to guess, at this point, it is ammonia. The ammonia test will either prove or disprove my thinking. I have instructions in my above post to check both the bleach and the Reagents. If she gets a FC reading, the bleach and the reagents are good.
 
Ok, thanks so much for suggestions!
I'll check my ammonia and old bleach bottles to see if they've expired, when I get home. Will also check my reagents with the bleach/water test. Was hoping to get this handled before I left town for the weekend, but wasn't able. Closed the pool and will see where I am the I get back tomorrow evening. I'll post back Monday.
 
Ok! So I'm FINALLY getting somewhere!

Picked up an ammonia kit on my way home last night. Ammonia was 0.25. Maybe just a hint of lime green, but almost yellow. FC-0, so I shocked with 3 gal 10% liquid pool shock from Rural King. 4 gal for $7.99! I think that's a good deal.
I checked 2hrs later and FC 1.5. Added 3 gal more.
1hr later FC 8.8, CC 0.8. Added 1/2 gal 10% bleach

This morning at 7am FC 8.8 First time it held overnight. CC-0.4. Added 1 gal 10% bleach
1 hr later FC 11 and CC 0.4

I'm hoping it holds over night, again, because I'm just about out of powder and my order won't be in until Wednesday.

I did the ammonia test, again, and color was yellow, so 0 ammonia!

So Jaduck, I think you were right all along on the ammonia. I Think with all the slamming I did last week before I left, that must have brought the ammonia level down so when I started back up last night, it took care of the last bit of ammonia, then started holding the FC.

Thanks so much for all your help, everyone! I'm hoping this is the end of this saga! I will be a TFP promoter if I can keep this going all summer!
Pam
 
Also, wanted to mention that my CYA may be a bit low. I can just barely see the dot when water is to the brim, so I'm guessing it's around 20. Recommendation is 30-60. Pool calculator says I need to add 40oz by weight or 42oz by volume stabilizer. Or 104oz of liquid stabilizer. Is one type better than the other? They have granular at Walmart, but I can get liquid at the pool store.
 
Chlorine dropped, again! Maybe this is normal, but I was surprised after it stayed the same overnight that it dropped this much since this morning.
1pm FC 1.5 and CC0.5. Added 2 1/2 gals 10% bleach.

I'll plan to get some stabilizer later today.

Sorry, JoeSelf! I have been testing in 10ml, when I'm guessing chlorine is high. I'm still learning and all this is quite confusing in the beginning.
 
Great news! Your ammonia was probably very high 4 days ago! I would get your CYA up to 30/40 now using the amount you calculated! Solid or liquid is fine. If solid use the sock method hanging in front of the return and assume a CYA of 30. You can add liquid it is just more expensive. Now that the ammonia is at bay you can start your real SLAM. This should go pretty fast because your water is clear!

SLAM Proceedure:

Seeing that you are low on test reagents you can use a 5 ml sample and each drop = 1ppm. Go back to the 10ml sample when you get refill reagents.

1. Get your CYA to 30

2. Test your pH and get that value to 7.2 (make sure your FC is less than 10 before you test your pH)

3. Get your FC up to 12 (assuming a CYA of 30) and MAINTAIN that level by testing your FC ( at least 4 times a day) and bringing that FC back up to 12. The more often you test the faster this will go!

4. When the FC appears to be holding overnight perform the OCLT (see pool school).

You are done if the following conditions are all true:

Water is crystal clear
CC <= 0.5
OCLT = lose 1 ppm of FC or less

Pam Jo said:
Chlorine dropped, again! Maybe this is normal, but I was surprised after it stayed the same overnight that it dropped this much since this morning.
1pm FC 1.5 and CC0.5. Added 2 1/2 gals 10% bleach.

I'll plan to get some stabilizer later today.

Sorry, JoeSelf! I have been testing in 10ml, when I'm guessing chlorine is high. I'm still learning and all this is quite confusing in the beginning.
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Nope, this is normal, as explained above, now you need to SLAM the pool and that means you need to MAINTAIN the FC until that pool is a TFP! You must MAINTAIN that FC at 12 as best you can by testing that FC and getting it back up to shock level as often as possible. No worries you got this!
 
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