Interesting Chlorine Situtation

[shupp872]

20,000 gallon, vinyl liner, SWCG pool
Water is clear, looks good
Test results (LaMotte ColorQ 2x Pro):

FC: 8.74
TC: 12.44
CC: 3.7
pH: 7.4
ALK: 57 (already working on increasing)
Hardness: 225
CYA: 30 (working to get this up to 50 as well)

Because the CC is very high, i have turned the SWG down and have been adding liquid chlorine (2 gallons over 3 hours so far). However, I did a quick test of FC and TC again, and they were around:

FC: 20.34
TC: 23.5

This feels like very high chlorine levels. I don't believe this is Chlorine lock, as I still have a ton of free chlorine. Should I not worry about the CC levels right now, and just let the chlorine levels drop, or should I continue adding liquid Chlorine to reach "breakpoint" (10x the CC level)?

The pool doesn't smell like chlorine, and as mentioned, the water is clear. I have backwashed the filter and the pool is clean. Everything looks great!

Am I overthinking this?

Thanks for advise,
Justin

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
Are you sure that test kit measures chlorine above 10 ppm?
You need a proper test kit for accurate water chemistry results.
I suggest the TF-100 or Taylor K2006C. A proper test kit is needed to get the accurate water chemistry results needed to follow the TFP protocols.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

 

[wireform]

As Marty said ,but don't raise the CYA until you're out of the woods. Why the calsium hardness as for vinyl it's more than enough and not needed. Treat the pool as a non salt for now. Slam level where your at with CYA 30 is 12.

 

[shupp872]

Thank you. My test kit is a ColorQ 2x PRO 7
supposedly a pretty decent test kit, however the ranges do mention 10 being limit for chlorine (even though it gave me the value in my original post).

thanks for the reading recommendation, I have gone through it a few times, as well as many other articles from the pool school.

I didnt raise the hardness intentionally to this level. It is just a result of my local hardwater used for fill. I will not worry about increasing my cya for now.

I am just not sure why I have high combined chlorine with so much free chlorine present. Either way I will keep monitoring. The cc should start dropping now, based on the amount of liquid chlorine added.

 

[zea3]

As per LaMotte's website this test kit is designed to read 0-10 ppm. ColorQ 2x PRO 7
results above 10ppm may not be accurate.

 

[shupp872]

thanks, I mentioned that in my above post that the stated limit is 10.
I am sure the readings that I lost recently saw (in the 20s) aren’t super accurate, but directionally indicates that I have very high levels of chlorine.

based on the numbers I have reached the SLAM level now and will continue to monitor.
Thanks everyone.

 

[Donldson]

based on the numbers I have reached the SLAM level now and will continue to monitor.

Based on what numbers? You literally cannot measure your FC at the levels required to perform the SLAM Process. Until you get a kit that allows you to measure these levels you are not following the process. None of this "highly directional" nonsense, you need real numbers to do the job correctly.