Saltwater pool no free chlorine

[Jutlandestate]

Bought a house with a 25k pool 2 years ago (going on our third summer with the pool). The pool has always had issues keeping FC levels above 0 and high phosphates. This year we decided to switch to salt with a pentair ichlor30 and have been keeping it at 60%. The water is 85, and the pump and ichlor run 24/7 no timer on the pump. The pool was crystal clear since the opening of the pool, but noticed what we thought was light staining on the bottom of the pool. The FC levels were not registering, checked the phosphates and they were extremely high. I treated the phosphates with 3 bottle of phosfree, checked and then one more bottle. Phosphates cleared up. Unfortunately that stain wasn’t a stain and apparently black algae. We super shocked the pool 8lbs of hypo chlorite, while treating with a black algae remover. The stain was gone almost instantly. The FC was still low the following day and were told to add 8 more lbs of chlorine…same result. Checked phosphates they were low. The algae stain also re-appeared. Next guess was chlorine lock. Was told to put in 25lbs of hypochlorite. The FC registered off the charts for 2.5 days. The afternoon of the 3rd day the FC went from 8 in the morning to almost 0. The cover was off all day and the CY was low at 38. I added I gallon of pool conditioner for the CY last night and put my ichlor on 100%. I also added 1/2 of PH up since my ph was around 7.0. Also the water isn’t clear anymore and there’re white granules in the pool filter (my guess is calcium from all the shock). Any help is appreciated! The pool has been opened since the end of May with the ichlor. I have dumped almost 50lbs of hypo and 9 gallons of liquid since the opening of the pool….extremely frustrated with not much solutions from the pool stores.

thanks!

matt

 

[Katodude]

Ouch, and

Welcome!!!

You have been pool stored. First thing is to stop relying on their testing. Get a good test kit. Do that right now. Nothing we tell you will work without you testing your own water. Pool store tests are a waste, actually worse they are bad information. Pool store testing and advice got you to where you are now.

Read this, but fundamentally you should just buy a TF-100.

Swimming Pool Test Kits Compared

What pool test kit should I buy? Why not use test strips? Our recommended test kits will pay for themselves in no time!

www.troublefreepool.com

Then read this:

ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry

There are several items things every pool owner should know about swimming pool water. We share details on the basics of Pool Water Chemistry.

www.troublefreepool.com

You are most likely going to have to SLAM. But you will need the test kit to do so.

SLAM - Shock Level and Maintain

We’ve all had to deal with a green pool. Clear algae from your pool with a SLAM! Read here to use shock level and maintain to clear your pool.

www.troublefreepool.com

There are a great group of folks here that will get you through this.

 

[Newdude]

^^^^^. All of that.

and Welcome. We got you now.

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! We really need to see a set of current test results to analyze your problem. Our recommendations don't follow conventional pool industry recommendations, and when you say "chlorine was off the charts" that doesn't give us enough information to troubleshoot your problem. An FAS/DPD test kit such as the TF 100 or Taylor K2006 will have the testing materials needed to take control of your pool. No pool store employee is going to care more about your pool than you do. A good pool test kit is an investment in the quality and safety of your pool.

Sorry for the following lengthy explanation, but this explains why we don't follow conventional pool industry recommendations. The problem with conventional recommendations is that they treat each chemical value as a separate entity that has no relationship to any other chemical value. For example, conventional recommendations only look at chemical values in their individual ranges, such as FC (chlorine) must be between 1-3ppm, without taking into account how other chemical values interact with each other. This is why they will say a CYA of 90 and FC of 2 are "perfect", because they both fall within the acceptable range for each value. However, CYA and Chlorine must be maintained in a proper ratio to each other. If you look at the FC/CYA Chart you will see that if CYA is 90 in a manually chlorinated pool, FC of 2 is far too low and algae will form under those conditions.

TA and pH are another example. Conventional standards want a TA of 90-120 and pH of 7.5 TA is generally only a concern when pH is difficult to balance. If you have a TA of 70 and a pH of 7.5 there is no need to adjust the TA just to meet an arbitrary value. If you do raise the TA to 90, then your pH is also going to rise. If you lower the pH the TA will also drop. pH can be 7.0 to 7.8 in most pools without causing further issues. There is no need to chase a perfect TA and a perfect pH if your pH is in the acceptable range and fairly stable. TA by itself means nothing.

pH and calcium also have a relationship to watch. Conventional recommendation for calcium is 250-450ppm and in most pools this is not a problem. However if you live in an area with very hard water it may be next to impossible to keep the calcium below 450. In that case it is important to keep your pH low, around 7.0, to prevent calcium scale formation in the pool.

Strictly following conventional recommendations can lead you to a pool full of problems if you don't know how the relationships between chemicals work. Knowing these relationships also guides what types of products to use in the pool. If CYA is high enough you don't want to use dichlor granules or trichlor tablets in your pool to provide chlorine. Both of these products contain CYA and will cause CYA to rise over time. The only way to get rid of excess CYA is to drain water out of the pool. It does not evaporate out with the water. Calcium hypochlorite adds calcium to the water along with chlorine. Like CYA, the only way to get rid of excess calcium is to drain water. Liquid chlorine is the only chlorine source that does not add either CYA or calcium to a manually chlorinated pool.

TFP has the real life experiences of thousands of pool owners, plus the opinions of professionals who have read peer reviewed research that supports our pool care method. Our methods work for the majority of private pool owners.

 

[BowserB]

Welcome. Only been here just under three years, but it has made me confident in what I'm doing. And compared to my pool owning neighbors, I'm an expert! Go here and get the Pro kit. It has everything you need to test properly and conveniently. Yes, it's not cheap, but it's still a good value. Seriously, you must become a competent water test technician before anything else. Be sure you calibrate the pH meter. And read the TFP pool school articles.

It looks like you may have undersized your SWCG. Usual recommendation is double your pool capacity. Confusing, isn't it? I wouldn't know that were it not for TFP! I think what you bought would probably have to run 24/7 at 80-100% to properly chlorinate your pool. It will never generate enough to fix an algae problem...not is it designed to. Did I mention the TFP pool school?

However, get the test kit and see what you really have and really need. If you have to add chlorine, and it sounds like your'e going to need a lot right now, liquid chlorine 10-12.5% is the only way to go. Supermarket bleach is often mystery percent ("Concentrated" may be 6% when you read the fine print) and may have undesirable additives. Walmart has 10% at a reasonable price here in southeast Texas. Check your big box stores, as most places up north and northeast seem to have better chlorine prices than down here in the south.

Good luck to you. Since the day I opened my pool, preventing algae has been my "job one." Job two has been getting wax myrtle leaves out of the pool. So far so good. I tend to keep to the high end of recommended FC ranges.

 

[Jutlandestate]

Wow! Thank you for all the feedback! I will start by saying I’ve been taking the easy way and relying on the stores and haven’t been researching and reading up as much as I should have been. I do have a Taylor 2005. And will test and get some readings on here. The posted articles have been great!

 

[Katodude]

You will need to add a FAS-DPD test to your K-2005. You will need that to test your FC properly.

FAS/DPD Chlorine Test Kit

tftestkits.net

 

[Jutlandestate]

Alright so ichlor 30 was at 100% cycle starting last night. Readings this afternoon are as follows: FC 3, TC 3, PH 7.2, CYA 40. The CYA is up from 30 yesterday after adding 1gal of stabilizer…definitely a promising sign after my test yesterday of FC 0, CYS 40, PH 7.0. My thoughts are to put my chlorinator at 80% and test…thoughts?

 

[mknauss]

Use liquid chlorine to raise you FC to target level. Use you SWCG to generate 3-4 ppm FC per day to maintain.

 

[Jutlandestate]

Alright. I Chlor30 I moved to 80% after the 24hr 100%. I was planning on adding the liquid chlorine per the post above, but after a test after work, it seem like we’re tracking in the right direction. FC rose from 3.0 to 7.5, PH is up to 7.6 CYA 40. As posted above I’m going to try and titrate down the chlorinator to find the perfect %. I’m going to try 75% and see what the verdict is. I appreciate all the great post. I even referred this site to a dozen people at work.

 

[Newdude]

It will take you a season or two to get a good feel and just ‘know your pool’. In the meantime, pay attention to the UV demand trends (up or down) and be ready to adjust as necessary.

once it’s ‘dialed in’ you’ll usually get a few weeks (4 ?) of being right where you need to be. Many of the problems out there stem from folks getting lulled into thinking it will work forever because any given time you test, it’s probably ok. 20 tests later you stop testing and BOOM. Pea soup a few days later.

 

[cowboycasey]

Welcome to TFP

You really want to get your CYA to 70.. BUT.. You need to do an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to see if you have anything growing or eating chlorine in the water.. You can do it tonight, just leave the pump running and shut off the SWG at about 7pm tonight..

let us know tomorrow morning what the results are and we can go from there

 

[Jutlandestate]

Good morning TFP! I haven’t had time to go the FC loss check, I was just on vacation. I had my SWG ichlor30 at 80%. Tested the water and got FC 10!, PH 7.8, CYA 30. I dropped the SWG to 60% last night and tested this morning and all test showed the same. I have the cover open today (usually closed). This should reduce the FC level…correct?? Happy I have FC…trying to understand why it’s so high?

 

[mknauss]

When you cover a pool, the loss of FC to UV drops to nil. So you must adjust how much FC is being added to the pool.