The quick summary is that I currently have 0.4 Free Chlorine, and 22ppm Combined Chlorine (using Taylor K-2006 FAS-DPD test kit). I have never seen anything like that before, nor any online posts mentioning CC that high. Now I'll give the longer story of how I got to this point. I don't know how much is relevant, so I'll tell everything.
I bought a new house with a pool last year. As part of the sales contract, the previous owner had the pool resurfaced. What I gathered after the fact is that resurfacing a pool should involve someone attentively taking care of it for the first 30 days after - but I'm pretty sure that did not happen (we did not own the house yet). When we got in, we noticed the pool walls were very rough - like sandpaper. If you rubbed them too hard, it could draw blood. I asked around for advice - one person told me to dump some bottles of Jack's Magic Blue stuff in and it would clear up.
I called Jack's Magic to get their take, and they directed me to take their stain identifier test. I did that, and the #2 (Copper and Scale) did smooth out the wall at test spot. So that seemed like a promising solution, and they gave me specific instructions on what to do:
- first get the calcium hardness down. I was getting readings between 500-600. Will need to drain and refill some of the water
- when refilled, balance to less than 7.4pH, get TA down less than 80ppm, and FC between 1-3.
- when we are at pH7.4, add another gallon of muriatic acid
- then add 2 full bottles of Jack's Magic Magenta (not blue, as the instructions state)
- then add 15 lbs of Jack's Magic #2 Copper and Scale
- keep adding acid to keep pH and TA down
- run pump 24/7. watch filter pressure. if it goes up by 5lb, backwash it. this will happen often
- keep brushing it
- cannot use pool during treatment. should be about 2 weeks
- bring TA back up when done
So the time I figured all of that out, it was late May and full swimming season. I did not want to drain the water and lose usage for a few weeks, so I decided to wait until next year. The water was crystal clear - just the walls were annoying.
Now it is a year later. Early in April, once it was warm enough (about 65), I drained about half of the pool and refilled. Got it to the balance they suggested, and then followed the rest of those instructions.
After about 2.5 weeks, I thought it was about done. The filter wasn't getting backed up as fast as earlier. However, the walls were not much better.
I decided to give up on the walls - I wanted to get the pool ready for swimming. The pH was low so I tried adding liquid chlorine (I had used dichlor all last year until I learned about CYA). The FC stayed low, but my CC was high - about 5ppm. Went to the pool store, and they wanted me to shock it. Had me put about 20lbs of baking soda in the pool to get the TA back up (5lbs every 2 hours). Then dumped 5lbs of calcium hypochlorite in, which I had never used before. It made the pool very cloudy - I had never seen that before. After it cleared up, there was white powder on the pool floor. I kept brushing it, and it would get cloudy again. It eventually cleared up for good. That's when I started seeing readings above 15 CC. Went back to the pool store, and they sold me some chlorine eliminator. Said to put 2/3 of the bottle in, and it should bring all the chlorine down to 0 in a couple hours, then I should shock it again. Well, the chlorine eliminator seemed to have no effect at all. I dumped the rest of the bottle (2lb total), still no luck.
My filter is still getting blocked up pretty quickly. It has gone up about 3lbs since I last backwashed it 2 days ago. I think I only backwashed it twice all of last season. This makes me think the sequestrant (Jack's Magenta) is still interfering, holding on the CC - but that's just a guess based on bits of information I've picked up. I continue to run the pump 24/7.
I'm at a loss on where to go next. I've read the SLAM procedure, but that seems to refer to algae issues. I don't have algae issues - my water is perfectly clear. I just need to get rid of the combined chlorine to get it to safe levels. All last season I never saw higher than 0.4CC, so getting measurements at 22ppm just seems crazy. Especially when I read I need to use 10x that amount to shock it. That's a lot of chlorine. I was always skeptical of the pool stores, and now even more so.
Is this something I have to wait out? Do I need to dump water again? I'm not sure I have anywhere safe to dump water with that much chlorine in it.
Or is there something I can do to actively get it back in control?
Any advice would be appreciated.
-Josh
Pool: 15000 gallon in ground, white quartz plaster. DE filter. single speed pump.
I bought a new house with a pool last year. As part of the sales contract, the previous owner had the pool resurfaced. What I gathered after the fact is that resurfacing a pool should involve someone attentively taking care of it for the first 30 days after - but I'm pretty sure that did not happen (we did not own the house yet). When we got in, we noticed the pool walls were very rough - like sandpaper. If you rubbed them too hard, it could draw blood. I asked around for advice - one person told me to dump some bottles of Jack's Magic Blue stuff in and it would clear up.
I called Jack's Magic to get their take, and they directed me to take their stain identifier test. I did that, and the #2 (Copper and Scale) did smooth out the wall at test spot. So that seemed like a promising solution, and they gave me specific instructions on what to do:
- first get the calcium hardness down. I was getting readings between 500-600. Will need to drain and refill some of the water
- when refilled, balance to less than 7.4pH, get TA down less than 80ppm, and FC between 1-3.
- when we are at pH7.4, add another gallon of muriatic acid
- then add 2 full bottles of Jack's Magic Magenta (not blue, as the instructions state)
- then add 15 lbs of Jack's Magic #2 Copper and Scale
- keep adding acid to keep pH and TA down
- run pump 24/7. watch filter pressure. if it goes up by 5lb, backwash it. this will happen often
- keep brushing it
- cannot use pool during treatment. should be about 2 weeks
- bring TA back up when done
So the time I figured all of that out, it was late May and full swimming season. I did not want to drain the water and lose usage for a few weeks, so I decided to wait until next year. The water was crystal clear - just the walls were annoying.
Now it is a year later. Early in April, once it was warm enough (about 65), I drained about half of the pool and refilled. Got it to the balance they suggested, and then followed the rest of those instructions.
After about 2.5 weeks, I thought it was about done. The filter wasn't getting backed up as fast as earlier. However, the walls were not much better.
I decided to give up on the walls - I wanted to get the pool ready for swimming. The pH was low so I tried adding liquid chlorine (I had used dichlor all last year until I learned about CYA). The FC stayed low, but my CC was high - about 5ppm. Went to the pool store, and they wanted me to shock it. Had me put about 20lbs of baking soda in the pool to get the TA back up (5lbs every 2 hours). Then dumped 5lbs of calcium hypochlorite in, which I had never used before. It made the pool very cloudy - I had never seen that before. After it cleared up, there was white powder on the pool floor. I kept brushing it, and it would get cloudy again. It eventually cleared up for good. That's when I started seeing readings above 15 CC. Went back to the pool store, and they sold me some chlorine eliminator. Said to put 2/3 of the bottle in, and it should bring all the chlorine down to 0 in a couple hours, then I should shock it again. Well, the chlorine eliminator seemed to have no effect at all. I dumped the rest of the bottle (2lb total), still no luck.
My filter is still getting blocked up pretty quickly. It has gone up about 3lbs since I last backwashed it 2 days ago. I think I only backwashed it twice all of last season. This makes me think the sequestrant (Jack's Magenta) is still interfering, holding on the CC - but that's just a guess based on bits of information I've picked up. I continue to run the pump 24/7.
I'm at a loss on where to go next. I've read the SLAM procedure, but that seems to refer to algae issues. I don't have algae issues - my water is perfectly clear. I just need to get rid of the combined chlorine to get it to safe levels. All last season I never saw higher than 0.4CC, so getting measurements at 22ppm just seems crazy. Especially when I read I need to use 10x that amount to shock it. That's a lot of chlorine. I was always skeptical of the pool stores, and now even more so.
Is this something I have to wait out? Do I need to dump water again? I'm not sure I have anywhere safe to dump water with that much chlorine in it.
Or is there something I can do to actively get it back in control?
Any advice would be appreciated.
-Josh
Pool: 15000 gallon in ground, white quartz plaster. DE filter. single speed pump.
The #2 contains Nitrogen this causes the CC. Just read total CL2 for 3-4 weeks and free reading will snap back when Nitrogen gasses off...
No, it is not normal, but then after reading your thread, neither is your situation. Pool store advice didn't help your cause either I see. But James is watching you closely. Until your pool sheds the residual from the Jack's products, you'll need to be somewhat aggressive with the chlorine/bleach to keep that FC in your target zone, otherwise you will definately have an algae issue on your hands. Temps in our area are slowly rising, so the FC will be important. Just stay far away from any cal-hypo products or tabs.