Is my test kit no good?

[Jrock817]

Did my first test today, let the pool run for 2 days after opening, out some shock packets in that I had. Today the results
FC 1
pH 6.8
TA 0, my vial turned red immediately, never turned green, after adding 008
CYA 100
Temp 46
I am super confused. Also, since bleach is nowhere to be found unless it has cloromax, can I just fill my in line chlorinator set it to max, and put some tabs into skimmers to get FC up? Not sure if low temp is what is messing up my results either? My kit is just under 2 years old, always stored in the house.

 

[Richard320]

Those test results look like your pool has been fed a steady diet of tabs. You have all three symptoms of a trichlor overdose. Trichlor pucks raise CYA and are very acidic, so they lower pH and TA. And if those packets of "shock" were dichlor, they made it worse.

Short answer: No. You can't just stuff the chlorinator full.

Well.... you can; it's your pool. But you'll be making a bad situation worse.
You need to replace some water to lower that CYA level. And then recheck things and fine tune pH & TA. And depending on your CH level, you could possibly chlorinate with Calcium hypochlorite until the liquid bleach situation improves.

 

[thetekgeek]

I think your test kit is probably fine. Extended use of tri-chlor is your problem. Your CYA is probably north of 100, you will need to re-run the test using a diluted sample. See Here, start at step 8. CYA - Cyanuric Acid Test - Trouble Free Pool

Tri-chlor tablets are acidic, which explains the low PH and TA. It looks like at least s 50% drain is in your future, but you won't know for sure until you get a good CYA result.

 

[Jrock817]

ok, so the tabs are causing problems. this is my third year owning a pool, so maybe it has caught up using the tabs. why would FC be so low then? if it is adding chlorine, and cya is high, then shouldnt i have higher chlorine? my calcium hardness read 0 as well.

 

[Richard320]

ok, so the tabs are causing problems. this is my third year owning a pool, so maybe it has caught up using the tabs. why would FC be so low then? if it is adding chlorine, and cya is high, then shouldnt i have higher chlorine? my calcium hardness read 0 as well.

FC can disappear very fast in the presence of algae. Even if you can see through the water, if it's at all cloudy or if the walls are slick, you have algae.

 

[Donldson]

I would be much more worried about your TA at the moment than chlorine. Your pH is bottomed out well below the testing range of your test and at the moment the acidic water is eating away at your pool and equipment. Unless you are going to do a water change right away, that TA needs corrected ASAP.

 

[Jrock817]

so, my solution is going to be to dump a bunch of water, until my CYA is normalized, then address chlorination. i can still use the tabs, but i need to keep a closer eye on the cya? when i need to adjust chlorine levels, use something other than turniong up the dial on the chlorinator, which may be difficult at the time because of whats going on. are there other tabs that are better for the pool?

 

[Jrock817]

I would be much more worried about your TA at the moment than chlorine. Your pH is bottomed out well below the testing range of your test and at the moment the acidic water is eating away at your pool and equipment. Unless you are going to do a water change right away, that TA needs corrected ASAP.

i can briung up acidity once i correct my cya? or should i add more chemicals now to correct ph? i have hours of light left, so i dont mind draining and filling to correct that now.

 

[mknauss]

Can you fill out your signature? The type of pool you have directly effects how you can safely drain/exchange the water in the pool.

 

[Jrock817]

Should be updated, had it on profile, but never added it to signature

 

[Jrock817]

I’m just dumping and have the hose on. I’ll continue this for the rest of the day and Re-test cya tomorrow. Thank you all for the help. I also have plenty of things to bri g the pH up according to the forums, but I’ll see where cya is before adding, is this the best way?

 

[mknauss]

Great.
You have a vinyl liner pool. You can only drain down 18-24" at a time or your risk damaging your liner.

Depending on how much you need to drain, you may have to do that multiple times.

See Draining - Further Reading

 

[Jrock817]

Ok after a diluted tests, looks like CYA is 120. A calculator stated to replace 30% of my water. Looks like that won’t happen overnight.

 

[Jrock817]

I’m just gonna leave hose running, and waste from pump when levels get high until I go to bed tonight.

 

[mknauss]

You can do it that way. Will be very inefficient. But eventually it will work.

 

[Jrock817]

I need to release 15.8 inches of water total by calculating the amount of gallons that occupy my 18x36 pools surface. 6 inches makes about 2500 gallons, and I have to replace approx 6300 gallons of water

 

[Jrock817]

Unfortunately I only have one hose, my other one got eaten by the lawnmower about 4 days ago.

 

[thetekgeek]

30% of your water will only drop CYA into the 80's range. That is still a bit high for a manually chlorinated pool. I'm confused, your sig shows you have a Salt water generator, why have you been using trichlor tabs all this time?

 

[Jrock817]

i do not have a SWG, i changed my mind when the equipment was being installed, my bad.

 

[mknauss]

i do not have a SWG, i changed my mind when the equipment was being installed, my bad.

Then you need to drain more like 70% of your pool volume.