I am a brand new to pool maintenance. We bought a house with an above ground pool that had a TON of algae growth. We had to buy a new pump and filter for the pool and I went with a DE filter. I have shocked the pool multiple times and had to clean and precoat the DE filter at least 4 times in order to get all the algae out of the pool. We also scrubbed the walls and floors and used our robotic pool vacuum. The water is now a beautiful blue color and clear. That being said, my total chlorine is constantly reading 20+ppm while my free chlorine is somewhere in the 3-5ppm. I was concerned at one point about chlorine lock but my CYA levels are between 30-50ppm so I do not think it is that. In other reading, people have said that a large difference between your free and total chlorine levels means that you have lots of chloramines and you need to shock again to break these down. But they also said that chloramines are what gives the pool a strong chlorine smell which I haven't noticed. I did buy new testing equipment (TF-Pro recommended by TFP) that I am waiting to arrive because all my testing data so far has been from test strips. Any help you can provide would be much appreciated. I have called several pool companies who have told me they don't service above ground pool so I'm really at a loss....
Total Chlorine won't come down
- Thread starter saockers
- Start date
- May 3, 2014
- 62,696
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Welcome to the forum!
Great decision to order a quality test kit!
Add 5 ppm FC worth of liquid chlorine each day with the pump running until you get your test kit. Then run a full set of tests and post them up here.
I suggest you read through Pool Care Basics - Trouble Free Pool and even look at a few of our videos TFP-TV - Trouble Free Pool
Great decision to order a quality test kit!
Add 5 ppm FC worth of liquid chlorine each day with the pump running until you get your test kit. Then run a full set of tests and post them up here.
I suggest you read through Pool Care Basics - Trouble Free Pool and even look at a few of our videos TFP-TV - Trouble Free Pool
I've been adding the 5ppm of liquid chlorine (10%) as you suggested. I got my test today and I practiced with the standards first. Here are the test results for my pool:
pH 7.8
Total Chlorine 21.5ppm
Free Chlorine 20ppm
Combined Chlorine 1.5ppm
Total Alkalinity: 150ppm (I did attach a picture because it is definitely not as red as when I practiced with the standard so not sure if I should have kept going/adding more drops?)
CYA: 100ppm
Seems like I've got a big problem....do I need to drain a lot of the pool and refill with fresh water?
Thanks!
pH 7.8
Total Chlorine 21.5ppm
Free Chlorine 20ppm
Combined Chlorine 1.5ppm
Total Alkalinity: 150ppm (I did attach a picture because it is definitely not as red as when I practiced with the standard so not sure if I should have kept going/adding more drops?)
CYA: 100ppm
Seems like I've got a big problem....do I need to drain a lot of the pool and refill with fresh water?
Thanks!
