Indoor Pool Help !

[Sentinal69]

Good Evening,
I'm having a hard time with my water for my indoor 10k gal pool. Not a lot of resources out there. My water seems to have lost its mind !! I have well-water.
TA100 - PH 7.2 - TC - 0 - I don't use a lot of stabilizer as I don't really need it being indoors - and that is usually the last thing I add.

I dumped 2 gal of chlorine in - turned the water yellow for a week (calculation would say that amount of Chlorine should have jumped the pool to 24 ppm). I scrubbed, vacuumed, and back-flushed until the water turned clear. Tested the Chlorine - no reading but the TA jumped to 140 and PH to over 8. No sunlight or rain to affect the TC.

Can the Calcium hardness be using up the Chlorine ?
Could there be some sort of metal reacting with the chlorine ?
I do not have the CH or metal test kit

One other odd situation is the color of my Chlorine, PH, and TA tests
Chlorine turns orange, PH varies from vivid purple to vivid orange (not the pastel colors on the test kit), and the TA goes from purple to clear yellow instead of clear. Could my reagents be too old ? Would something else cause the tests to come out like this ?

I'm guessing Calcium Hardness due to the scale I had to clean out of my heat exchanger.

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

Sounds like maybe you are using guess strips to test your water? If yes, now you know why we call them guess strips. I not, what are you using to test with? We recommend using a Taylor drop based test kit for much greater accuracy. I use the TF-100 from TFTestkits.net. Or you can use a Taylor K-2006 test kit, we recommend the C for better value. More here, Pool School - Test Kits Compared

We recommend 30 ppm of CYA in an indoor pool. CYA doesn't only protect FC from the sun it also greatly buffers the harshness of the chlorine.

No, CH or metals do not have any impact on chlorine. The only thing that uses up chlorine is organic matter like algae, algaecide or other pool store potions.

 

[Sentinal69]

No test strips ... Just a $20 kit from the local pool store ... Does not have a CH test in the kit. I was hoping not to have to drop 70 bucks on a test kit, but if that's the way to fix the water problem, then I'll need to do that ... tired of chasing the water.

I was under the impression from research that chemicals like ammonia affected chlorine. Couple years back, I added a couple gallons of shock to the pool, and pool was showing zero chlorine. Another reason I shy away from CYA - think that has something to do with the chlorine/ammonia relationship as well. So many different suggestions out there. I have come here hoping to find some truth instead of superstitions (like turning off the filter and dumping in MA to drop TA (even though I still do it) My TA and PH have been bouncing since I moved in.

LOL ! I have slid the axle's out of my truck and changed the bearings by watching you-tube, but cant fix my water.

 

[Richard320]

Good Evening,
I'm having a hard time with my water for my indoor 10k gal pool. Not a lot of resources out there. My water seems to have lost its mind !! I have well-water.
TA100 - PH 7.2 - TC - 0 - I don't use a lot of stabilizer as I don't really need it being indoors - and that is usually the last thing I add.

I dumped 2 gal of chlorine in - turned the water yellow for a week (calculation would say that amount of Chlorine should have jumped the pool to 24 ppm). I scrubbed, vacuumed, and back-flushed until the water turned clear. Tested the Chlorine - no reading but the TA jumped to 140 and PH to over 8. No sunlight or rain to affect the TC.

Can the Calcium hardness be using up the Chlorine ?
Could there be some sort of metal reacting with the chlorine ?
I do not have the CH or metal test kit

One other odd situation is the color of my Chlorine, PH, and TA tests
Chlorine turns orange, PH varies from vivid purple to vivid orange (not the pastel colors on the test kit), and the TA goes from purple to clear yellow instead of clear. Could my reagents be too old ? Would something else cause the tests to come out like this ?

I'm guessing Calcium Hardness due to the scale I had to clean out of my heat exchanger.

My guess is that the test kit uses shades of yellow? When you see shades of orange, you're way up into the 20FC range. And when FC is above 10, the pH test reads falsely high -- purple, just as you say. The TA test shifts from green>pink to blue>yellow, which is also what you're seeing.

So in essence, what you're looking at is a Chlorine overdose. And since it's an indoor pool, you don't have UV rays from the sun burning it off, so it won't drop in a couple days like an outdoor pool will. Yours is perhaps the first time I've ever suggested buying Chlorine Neutralizer from the pool store. When FC is down to 3-5, retest the rest and then make adjustments.

Even in an indoor pool, keeping 20-30 CYA buffers the FC so it isn't so harsh on the skin.

It's unlikely you'll find it in stock, but you ought to look for a FAS-DPD test kit when you go to the pool store to buy Chlorine Neutralizer. It will be a Taylor K-2006. Accept no substitutes.