Low PH eating ALL chlorine?

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pwise79

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Jul 10, 2015
34
Blackstone, MA
I have a 30,000 gallon in ground chlorine pool with a Hayward sand filter. Water has been clear and no problem holding chlorine with pucks in feeder until this week (even after we had our hottest week ever in the Boston area last week). Last week was in the 90's, this week the 80's, but all of a sudden we aren't measuring any chlorine even with 2-3 chlorine pucks in the feeder. We showed chlorine one day after adding 2 bottles of bleach, but the next day it was 0 again (with pucks in feeder). PH was low at around 7.0 and I got it back up to around 7.6 last night. CYA has been at around 50 since beginning of summer.

Is it possible for low PH to literally eat up ALL chlorine so you aren't measuring any even with chlorine being fed into the pool with pucks?

The other thing is that I did use some citric acid to get rid of staining - could that be the problem? If so, what do I need to do to fix that?

Sorry I don't know TA, but if that could be the problem, I can test when I get home. Thanks for your help!
 
I joined 3 years ago but haven't been active until this year because I didn't have a pool for that period in between. Still learning, sorry.

I checked CYA yesterday and I am using a Taylor K-2005 kit. I know I need a better kit but I bought this one by accident and haven't been able to replace it yet. Was planning to replace for next year.
 
Hello pwise79...a signature line with pool and equipment details would be good. What test kit are you using? Agree with Mike1162 as to when was the last time you checked CYA? Can you post all test numbers?

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA

Read This BEFORE You Post
 
Mike1162 said:
I'd start a SLAM as soon as possible. What's the highest level of FC you can measure with the Taylor K-2005?
https://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl
Click to expand...

10ppm at best. You cannot do the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test with a DPD test.

What really needs to be done is to determine a CYA level ASAP. If this pool has been fed a steady diet of trichlor, I would suspect high CYA, along with too low a FC has allowed algae to take hold.

pH will not 'consume' chlorine, but sunlight and organic matter sure will.
 
Just tested CYA yesterday and it is at 50. Not using anything on the non-recommended chemicals list. Just store bought chlorine bleach, chlorine pucks and I used citric acid the other day for staining.

I will post all numbers when I get home. My feeling is it is the citric acid that is eating up the chlorine. Would doing a SLAM help with that?

I am going to stop using the pucks, didn't realize the issue with the stabilizer building up. Will only use chlorine bleach from now on.
 

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A SLAM would be the normal answer, but it could cause the stains to come back. You can try just increasing the chlorine slowly until it holds or you can be more aggressive and risk some staining.
 
Thanks for the responses...JamesW just confirmed your suspicions on the Citric Acid. With that added info, stopping the pucks and adding bleach maybe just testing daily for a few days may resolve the issue. As for the SLAM one of the TFP experts will have to way in on that!

Make sure you use pool math (look at the tabs at the top of the page). Also bleach seems to be changing all over the country so take that into consideration. I use to be able to get 10% all day long but now 6% is the norm and its in 96oz jugs vs 121oz....

Keep us posted!

pwise79 said:
Just tested CYA yesterday and it is at 50. Not using anything on the non-recommended chemicals list. Just store bought chlorine bleach, chlorine pucks and I used citric acid the other day for staining.

I will post all numbers when I get home. My feeling is it is the citric acid that is eating up the chlorine. Would doing a SLAM help with that?

I am going to stop using the pucks, didn't realize the issue with the stabilizer building up. Will only use chlorine bleach from now on.
Click to expand...
 
Sorry for delay in update here but I did a SLAM which worked great. However once we started letting the chlorine drift back down it got to around 10 for 3 days and then all of a sudden went from 10 to 0 in 24 hours and we got an algae bloom almost immediately. So I did another SLAM which worked of course and now we are clear and at around 13.5 ppm. Ph 7.6 and CYA still 50.

Any idea why we may have lost that 10 ppm so quickly? Something got into the pool? The citric acid still wreaking havoc? I am worried it is going to happen again so thinking of keeping the level above 10 but that’s a bit high for CYA 50 isn’t it?

Thanks for your help!
 

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