I will start by trying to give you as much background on this problem as possible.... We just bought this house 2 months ago. We didn't know anything about pools... Went to pool store for advice. Had water tested @ August 10. It was okay. Was advised to add 1-2 pounds of Chlor-brite a week until we figured out what we were doing. Followed that advice and for the next several weeks focused on moving in and getting out of our old house. We were waiting for delivery of a new pool vacuum so couldn't clean it well except for what we could get out with the net. Pool continued to look fine.
It's and in-ground vinyl liner pool. Approximately 10,000 gallons. A Hayward DE4820 filter.
First week of September had someone come to clean the filter and he tested the water and there was no chlorine. At all. Which was weird since husband had put 2 pounds of Chlor-brite in 2 days previous. Added another two pounds and started this cycle of adding more Chlor-brite every couple days and testing to see that there was no chlorine a couple days later. Using a Taylor K-1004 test kit (as recommended by they guy we had come clean the filter) Also cleaned pool super well that first week with new pool vac. Pool always looked clear. Alkalinity kept dropping a little so were adding baking soda pretty regularly also. Finally got frustrated and started googling - and found this site. Had water tested at pool store again since my kit did not test CYA. It was 100. Probably because of all the dichlor we'd added over the previous 2-3 weeks.
Decided to try the SLAM thing, but had to get CYA down first. Backwashed to drain pool and refilled several times (plus it rained at ton) over the next week. Retested on last Friday 9/28 and CYA was down to 70. 0 FC, 0 CC, 80 TA, PH 7.4. Also bought a FAS-DPD test kit to measure higher amounts of chlorine. There is a few tiny bits of green algae on the shady side of the pool now.
On Saturday vacuumed the pool and started adding bleach in the amount prescribed on pool math to get to shock level (4 gallons I think). Checked chlorine an hour later - FC=0, CC up to 3.
Added 4 more gallons. Checked chlorine an hour later - FC =0, CC still 3. WTH!!!
Sunday morning bought more bleach this time a concentrated form at Lowe's. Vacummed again
Test results - FC:0; CC: 3; PH: 7.2; TA: 80 Added 3 more gallons. Checked a couple hours late. FC=0, CC =4. Pool looks beautiful though.
Summary = 11 gallons of bleach. No Free chlorine in the pool.
Started Googling again and read on here about possible ammonia contamination that would eat up that much chlorine. Decided not to do anything else until I test ammonia. Sent DH to pet store, and to buy more bleach. Test results as follows.
FC= 0
CC: 3
PH: 6.8
TA: 50
Ammonia: .5
Read about trying to get FC to hold at 10 and measuring in 10 minute increments before getting to shock level when trying to deal with ammonia. Need to get water balanced again first. Added 3# of baking soda - all I had.
Monday 10/01
FC :0
CC:1
PH:7.2
TA: 60
Ammonia .5
Added 3 more pounds of baking soda as recommended by pool math.
Tuesday (today) 9:25 am
FC:0
CC:1
PH: 7.2
TA: 80
Ammonia .5
So now I can add bleach again. Added 1 Gallon of 10% bleach
For the next two hours I tested and added more bleach in 15-20 minute increments. (Wait 10m. pull water. Test, get on pool math, add the recommended bleach). I'll spare you every single test result, but FC ranged from 3.5-4.5, and CC stayed at 1.5.
Decided to try to add chlorine up to 15ppm instead of 10ppm as I wondered if the lag between pulling water and getting ready to add the next round of bleach was letting the level drop too low to make the math invalid.
Over the next hour did three more rounds of bleach and test.
Last test at 12:30pm
FC=7.5
Cc: 1
PH: 7.2
TA: 90
Ammonia: .25
So maybe making progress on the ammonia... but I'm out of bleach at this point.
Tested again after 30 minutes 1:00pm
FC: 4
CC: 1
PH: 7.2
TA: 90
At 2:00pm
FC: 1
CC: 1.5
So I'm sure there is no chlorine again at this point. And I don't know what to do next.
To summarize I've put in over 20 gallons of bleach in the last 4 days. and still not keeping any FC. But the pool looks very nice. It's super clean. I've been cleaning out every little leaf and bug twice a day for the last week. Vacuumed twice. I see no signs of any algae.
Is ammonia my problem? Do I keep just doing what I'm doing? If so how much bleach do I really need because I've got 2 kids and can't go to the store all the time.
Am I missing something? I'm pretty detail oriented by nature and have done hours of research on this site and others, but as I stated originally I'm new to this, and science and math was never really my forte (Thank God for the pool math calculator).
I hope someone has some insight because this pool is going to kill me.
Jessica
It's and in-ground vinyl liner pool. Approximately 10,000 gallons. A Hayward DE4820 filter.
First week of September had someone come to clean the filter and he tested the water and there was no chlorine. At all. Which was weird since husband had put 2 pounds of Chlor-brite in 2 days previous. Added another two pounds and started this cycle of adding more Chlor-brite every couple days and testing to see that there was no chlorine a couple days later. Using a Taylor K-1004 test kit (as recommended by they guy we had come clean the filter) Also cleaned pool super well that first week with new pool vac. Pool always looked clear. Alkalinity kept dropping a little so were adding baking soda pretty regularly also. Finally got frustrated and started googling - and found this site. Had water tested at pool store again since my kit did not test CYA. It was 100. Probably because of all the dichlor we'd added over the previous 2-3 weeks.
Decided to try the SLAM thing, but had to get CYA down first. Backwashed to drain pool and refilled several times (plus it rained at ton) over the next week. Retested on last Friday 9/28 and CYA was down to 70. 0 FC, 0 CC, 80 TA, PH 7.4. Also bought a FAS-DPD test kit to measure higher amounts of chlorine. There is a few tiny bits of green algae on the shady side of the pool now.
On Saturday vacuumed the pool and started adding bleach in the amount prescribed on pool math to get to shock level (4 gallons I think). Checked chlorine an hour later - FC=0, CC up to 3.
Added 4 more gallons. Checked chlorine an hour later - FC =0, CC still 3. WTH!!!
Sunday morning bought more bleach this time a concentrated form at Lowe's. Vacummed again
Test results - FC:0; CC: 3; PH: 7.2; TA: 80 Added 3 more gallons. Checked a couple hours late. FC=0, CC =4. Pool looks beautiful though.
Summary = 11 gallons of bleach. No Free chlorine in the pool.
Started Googling again and read on here about possible ammonia contamination that would eat up that much chlorine. Decided not to do anything else until I test ammonia. Sent DH to pet store, and to buy more bleach. Test results as follows.
FC= 0
CC: 3
PH: 6.8
TA: 50
Ammonia: .5
Read about trying to get FC to hold at 10 and measuring in 10 minute increments before getting to shock level when trying to deal with ammonia. Need to get water balanced again first. Added 3# of baking soda - all I had.
Monday 10/01
FC :0
CC:1
PH:7.2
TA: 60
Ammonia .5
Added 3 more pounds of baking soda as recommended by pool math.
Tuesday (today) 9:25 am
FC:0
CC:1
PH: 7.2
TA: 80
Ammonia .5
So now I can add bleach again. Added 1 Gallon of 10% bleach
For the next two hours I tested and added more bleach in 15-20 minute increments. (Wait 10m. pull water. Test, get on pool math, add the recommended bleach). I'll spare you every single test result, but FC ranged from 3.5-4.5, and CC stayed at 1.5.
Decided to try to add chlorine up to 15ppm instead of 10ppm as I wondered if the lag between pulling water and getting ready to add the next round of bleach was letting the level drop too low to make the math invalid.
Over the next hour did three more rounds of bleach and test.
Last test at 12:30pm
FC=7.5
Cc: 1
PH: 7.2
TA: 90
Ammonia: .25
So maybe making progress on the ammonia... but I'm out of bleach at this point.
Tested again after 30 minutes 1:00pm
FC: 4
CC: 1
PH: 7.2
TA: 90
At 2:00pm
FC: 1
CC: 1.5
So I'm sure there is no chlorine again at this point. And I don't know what to do next.
To summarize I've put in over 20 gallons of bleach in the last 4 days. and still not keeping any FC. But the pool looks very nice. It's super clean. I've been cleaning out every little leaf and bug twice a day for the last week. Vacuumed twice. I see no signs of any algae.
Is ammonia my problem? Do I keep just doing what I'm doing? If so how much bleach do I really need because I've got 2 kids and can't go to the store all the time.
Am I missing something? I'm pretty detail oriented by nature and have done hours of research on this site and others, but as I stated originally I'm new to this, and science and math was never really my forte (Thank God for the pool math calculator).
I hope someone has some insight because this pool is going to kill me.
Jessica
Well, if it's not ammonia (could have been), there were some other chemicals eating up the chlorine. Yes, you need to continue. Don't get side tracked with TA or anything else. The pH is at 7.2-ish and that's all that matters. The thing about ammonia is that if it was in there, it would probably have eaten up the CYA as well. I would suggest the following:
