No Free Chlorine, pool is cloudy...high phosphates

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The salt is important but getting you FC to stay stable overnight is way more impotant at this moment and you can not do that with you SWG. You need to keep doing this with liquid chlorine and keep it at shock level until < 1PPM loss overnight and then you can deal with the salt level which is not a big deal.
 
The salt level is important for the proper operation of your SWCG. However, while you're shocking your pool, you should turn off your SWCG and only use liquid chlorine to get your pool to shock level (based on your CYA level) and hold it there until you lose less than 1 ppm FC overnight and have .5 ppm or less CC.

If you've met the overnight FC loss test goal, THEN it's time to start troubleshooting your SWCG. For now, it should be off.
 
My SWG is 0% and the pool has been clear for several days now but it is not holding FC.
Readings are: (using the TF100) pH is 7.3 (I think); Total chlorine is 2; CYA is 80 (I think); FC is 3.5. The free chlorine was yesterday morning was 5.5 (I added 2 gal of chlorine yesterday afternoon..it was a very hot and sunny day). Didn't check last night, but I lost 2 points, even thought I had added 2 gal of chlorine.
I am about to add 4 gal of Chlorine to try to force the FC to a very high number with the thought that it will then not keep losing FC. Is this the right thing to do?
 
You're not close to shock level for you CYA. Shock level for your CYA is 21. You can lower your CYA by doing a partial drain/refill if you would like. Also Total Chlorine is Free Chlorine plus Combined Chlorine (TC = FC + CC), so Total chlorine will always be at least the same as FC and sometimes higher if you have combined chlorine.

You're going to need to get your pool to shock level and hold it there to get whatever is in your water cleared up.
 
Tom, the right thing is to hold shock level til whatever is using your chlorine is all used up. Sometimes it's fast, many times it's not, but you just gotta wait! If it's been a little while, cleaning your filter cartridges could help, since there could be stuff caught in them that is slowly oxidizing and using your chlorine.

You're almost done!!!
 

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CYA reading....I am just learning. This seem to be quite difficult to read. Is there a more accurate reading that can be preformed?
When reading fron the TF100 kit, should I look into the tube until I see absolutely no trace of black on the bottom of the test tube? At times I think the reading is over 100, then I look and see a trace of black, add more water and then guess at 80.
 
rember that you should keep it at shock level, until your overnight test confirm as loss of less than 1ppm overnight, otherwise you have to keep the FC at shock level until that occurs. With CYA at 80, your shock level is 31. Keep at 31 or above until conditions in A&B below are met...otherwise, you are just wasting chlorine :goodjob:

Shocking:
Measure the FC level

Add enough chlorine to bring FC up to shock level

Repeat steps 1 and 2 as frequently as practical, as often as once per hour, and not less than twice a day, until:
A. CC is 0.5 or lower;

B. An overnight FC loss test shows a loss of 1.0 ppm or less;
C. And, if you don't have a FAS-DPD test kit, the water is clear.


The black dot should not be visible...if your CYA is at 100 or higher, you should reduce your CYA level to the 70-80 range, before trying to shock.
 
I am a little frustrated, so please allow me to ramble.............How much chlorine is too much? My pool is crystal clear but I have added more than 40 gal of Chlorine in the past 11 days. Yesterday, I had a FC reading of 5 and put in 4 gal of chlorine (2 gallons at 3pm and 2 gallons at 7pm). I tested at 9:30 and had a FC reading of 23.5. Were were not home this am and I just now tested (2:15pm) and got a FC reading of 12.
I am testing this so much I am running out of the R0870 powder from the TF100 test kit.
Unusual in Ohio but it has been very sunny and if I add chlorine during the day I feel that the sun is eating it up.
My SWG is at 0% and my pump is running 24/7.

Not really sure if my CYA is 40 or 80. I used the test kit and felt it read 80. We took a sample to the pool store and they told me it was 40. Of course, they also said my pH is 7.8 and the TF100 is indicating 7.35
 
Tom, I would trust your own CYA reading over a pool store.
Even though it wasn't a overnight loss test, losing 11.5 ppm FC in a 17 hour period means your chlorine is almost certainly still being used up by something. To get that much loss from sunlight, you'd have to have practically zero CYA. Still, please do a formal overnight FC loss test (if you can) as Jason suggested. That will clearly define how much of your FC loss is from sunlight and how much is from organics.
 
Yup...stop listening to the pool store. Assume your CYA is 80 and perform the overnight FC loss test. If it's organic...you need to raise it to shock level and continue adding liquid chlorine until you get there...5ppm FC is not going to cut it with CYA at 80.

What is your CC reading?
 
Status update: My pool continues to be chrystal clear however I have been adding so much liquid clorine.
My SWG is set at 0% but he failure light is on indicating the saline is too high.
I think we are finally doing a better job of shocking the pool now but I am still losing FC. My current reading this evening is 27.5 and the CC is 1.5.
I have added chlorine throughout the day as each test indicated a loss of a few points.
 

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