Our pool is green and pool store says to replace sand

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Two hours ago it was 15tc and now it’s 13. Pool math says to add 94oz to get to 16. But I’ve consistently added extra and still haven’t gotten to 16 I also want to quit for the day. How much should I add to the pool?
 
When buying bleach/liquid chlorine, get in the habit of looking at the date code stamped somewhere near the top of the bottle. Chlorine degrades over time and degrades even faster if stored in a hot environment. If you are buying old stock then it is no where near the strength that is on the label. I remember seeing a way to dilute a sample of your liquid chlorine with distilled water and testing that to determine the actual percentage of your chlorine, but I don't remember the details. Perhaps someone will have that information handy.
 
Chlorine date code decoder <--- Link to learn how to decode manufacture date codes. Usually a best by date is one year past manufacture date. So I'm thinking your bleach is 7 months old. Is it listed as 6%, 8%, 10%, or 12% on the label? If it is 6% bleach and it is 7 months old and if it was stored in a hot warehouse or outdoors, then you may be only adding 2%-3% chlorine to your pool.

I found this quote in this thread about testing how fast bleach degrades over time.
JasonLion said:
If you do a 9999 to 1 dilution with chlorine free water the resulting concentration in ppm will equal the original concentration in percent. There are various ways to do the 9999 to 1 dilution, none of them particuarly easy to get right without some lab equipment. One thing you can try is 10 ml of bleach into a 1 liter soda bottle and then dilute that again 10 ml to 1 liter. Most people have a test kit vial which can measure 10 ml and 1 liter soda bottles are not that difficult to come by.
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Smileysjs said:
I have some bleach in the house and they all have the best by 11/11/21/20 (not a typo). I purchased these all from ALDI today.
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Just don’t use bleach with anything other than bleach in it. Clorox has a bunch of extra stuff you don’t want. Best to use the chlorinating liquid if available.
 
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Yes, good point @Bperry, use plain bleach. Not scented, splashless, or anything else added. My wife brought home a jug of clorine free Clorox one time, it was some kind of oxygen based bleach. That's no good either.
 
Bperry said:
Just don’t use bleach with anything other than bleach in it. Clorox has a bunch of extra stuff you don’t want. Best to use the chlorinating liquid if available.
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The only place I’ve seen liquid chlorine is at Walmart but I saw a post about that being terrible.

I guess my local pool store might have it.
 
I've used the liquid 10% bleach from Walmart many times. In the spring, it's usually old stock from the previous summer and it really is terrible, but once that old stock sells out and they start getting fresh stock in, then it's pretty good. I've even found old stock right next to new stock on the same shelf. That's why I always check the date codes.
 
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Smileysjs said:
The only place I’ve seen liquid chlorine is at Walmart but I saw a post about that being terrible.

I guess my local pool store might have it.
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Lowe’s and Home Depot generally have it as well. My small Pool store even have it at higher concentration.
 
Smileysjs said:
121oz x3=363oz is what I added around 8pm. I just check and the tc is now 18.5!
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Ok, so according to the Pool Math calculator your chlorine is approximately 4% strength. So, if you still have some from this same date code to use, you should plug in 4% as the strength when making additions tomorrow.

Smileysjs said:
So now I just keep doing this until it’s clear?
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Yep, if you can get up around sunrise to do your first test then you can see how much chlorine was burned up by algae without having any loss to sunlight included.
 
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Progress is always good, but don't let your guard down. Maintain that proper elevated SLAM FC level as much as you can. That's going to be key. There should be nothing in the pool so that the chlorine can work solely on the water.
 
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I would consider pink to be what they mean by red.
When using these tests you're looking for change rather than the color. Obviously it needs to be close to the correct color (pink, red and not blue etc)

For example the FC test it starts a pink or reddish color and then turns almost clear and then 1 more drop turns it totally clear. That's all you're looking for is the change.

When testing PH make sure the lighting is correct. If it's too dark out it'll be impossible to really tell and if it's too sunny I find it equally impossible.
I try to check mine just as the sun is going down against a light backround. Using outdoor lights isn't going to work.


EDIT : AND I somehow missed that there was 4 pages so I replied to an old post. Sorry. :(
 

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