CYA and Chlorine disappearing

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D

deanbrew

0
Aug 27, 2007
32
Central Pennsylvania
I have been struggling with cloudy water and no chlorine due to a combination of shutting off the pump for a couple of days to fix a leak, followed by my pump going bad due to a power brownout. So, I shocked with 3 bags of shock, only to find out there was no free chlorine the next morning. Then I used 6 bags, again with no chlorine. Last evening, I dumped 9 bags in, and woke up today with no chlorine.

So, I read up on the SLAM method and am trying to keep adding chlorine bleach and shock today to keep the level up. I just decided to check my stabilizer level. It has always been in the 50 to 70 level every year once I get things going, never had a problem. Today, the test shows 0 stabilizer. Did my CYA really disappear? Was it eaten by whatever is consuming my chlorine?

I'm off to Wally World to buy stabilizer, something that I've never had to do. I read about the sock method, so I guess I'll do that while still adding bleach every hour or two.

ps. I know you will ask me to post a full set of readings, but I need to head to the store right now. I just checked and my PH is 7.5, but my chlorine is at 10 despite dumping enough shock and bleach today that it should be at 40.
 
I am using the DPD drop test for chlorine. FC kept returning to 0, no CC. I was using dichlor shock and then switched to call hypo, because I was worried about my stabilizer going too high. Since this afternoon, I have put in 10 gallons of 6 percent bleach and 4 bags of dichlor shock to keep the chlorine level up. I also added 4 pounds of CYA. I just now put in 10 bags of shock to last overnight. I hope I have FC in the morning.
 
What will the 4 pounds of CYA do to your current CYA level? Do you also know what the 14 bags are going to add to your CYA? Are all these factored into your plan to raise CYA to a specific level?

How did you test for CYA?

Which drop test are you using for FC? The one with powder, or the one from Taylor that is just drops and comparator block?

Actually to clear this testing question up, what model test kit do you have?
 
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I have the TF-100 test kit. The 4 pounds of CYA I added is supposed to raise my CYA to 30, given my pool size. And, yes, I know that the dichlor shock will also raise the stabilizer level, which I would like to get back up to 50 or so.

The good news is that the water is clear this morning. I will go out and get a full set of readings later this morning.
 
Last edited:
OK. My water is crystal clear for the first time in more than a week, which is good. But I'm getting weird chlorine readings. First, here is the results of the water testing I just did using the TF-100 kit:

FC: couldn't measure
CC: couldn't measure
PH: 7.5
CYA: 60
TA: 80
CH: 200

When I measured the chlorine using the PDP powder, it didn't turn red. I could see a little red around the little specks of powder in the vial. Not believing what I saw, I started adding the drops and it THEN turned red as I added drops. I kept adding and it stayed red and never went clear again. I stopped adding drops at a count of 40 because I didn't want to run out of the drops. Since it never got clear, I wasn't able to test the CC.

Why was the liquid clear until I started adding the drops?

I used another chlorine test (the one where you add five drops of agent #1 and then five drops of agent #2), and it showed I had at least 5 parts chlorine. So, is my chlorine so high that the DPD test isn't working properly? What do I do? My SWG is turned off. Should I now let the solar cover off and let the sun use up some of the chlorine? Am I out of the woods regarding my FC disappearing?

Thanks for any and all help!!
 

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Did you use 10ml or 25ml of water?

If your FC is expected to be high, then you need to use more power. I would try that to start. Too little powder can cause issues with the test, but you can't really use too much powder, within reason.
 
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