New Above Ground Pool, Says 0 Chlorine even after adding liquid chlorine and shocking twice

[erynn85]

Hi guys,

I'm a little at a loss of what to do! We got a 12x30" pool for the kids to keep them cool this summer and they've gotten to swim a grand total of one time because I cannot seem to get the levels right. I bought test strips (which, after poking around this site, seems to have been the wrong thing! Going to get a real test kit!). I added 2.5oz of liquid chlorine last night, left the pump on and this morning, it was still zero. Thus far, we've changed out the 330gph pump for a 1000gph pump, we've shocked it with Clorox 4in1 twice and the liquid chlorine. We've scrubbed it, vacuumed it and it constantly has 1" chlorine tablets floating in it. The water is beautifully clear - we did have some slimy build up, but seem to have taken care of that. I just don't know how to keep the chlorine levels up. Other levels so you get the full picture (again, according to the test strip): Total Hardness: 110, TC: 0, FC: 0, pH: 8.4, TA: 240, Stabilizer: 100. Thank you so much for any help you can offer!!

 

[Newdude]

Hey Erynn and Welcome !!!!

The guess strips aren't doing you any favors. If the CYA is actually 100+ when the real test kit comes, you'll need to drain at least half if the pool to bring the CYA down to 50 or less. The tabs jack the CYA level and then you need proportionately more FC to sanitize at the same level.

All lines on this chart are equal for sanitizing. You see how the FC goes up as the CYA goes up ?



Have some reading :

FC/CYA Levels
Test Kits Compared
Pool Care Basics

 

[JJ_Tex]

I added 2.5oz of liquid chlorine last night, left the pump on and this morning, it was still zero.

We already covered the guess strips, but you are not adding enough chlorine.

Do you know how big your pool is (in gallons)? Even if it is very small, 2.5 oz is not going to do much. Tell us your pool size and we can guide you better.

Generally we tell people to add 5 FC of chlorine to their pools daily until they get a good test kit if they are having issues. For reference, if you have a 10,000 gallon pool 5 FC would be half a gallon of liquid chlorine. 2.5 oz would add 0.2 FC.

 

[erynn85]

Thank you so much for your help!! The pool is 1700 gallons. So, it seems like maybe my first thing to do is drain half the pool and start from scratch??

 

[Newdude]

my first thing to do is drain half the pool and start from scratch??

Not without reliable data. Your test strip reports 30 to 50, 100 and 250. That's a prettttttttty wide gap when we go by the 10s. But real data will probably say you require a large drain.

 

[erynn85]

How much liquid chlorine should I add every day until then?

 

[Newdude]

4ppm daily is probably about right for TX loss right now. 5 FC would ensure you didn't lose more than you gained, and the higher CYA will give you plenty of wiggle room on the high side. You're safe up to SLAM FC per any CYA level. We just don't know if it's high or sky high yet.