A month of tabs is not going to make your stabilizer high, by itself. If your pool ALREADY had high stabilizer, tabs will make it higher. The store that sold you the expensive products should be able to do some sort of CYA test, to get you started. Notice whether they use strips or not: 'guess strips' are particularly weak on CYA test results, but still better than nothing.
The chlorine 'danger' warnings were all set back in the 70's, on the basis of a WAG (Wild A__ Guess). The reasoning was, "What's the highest anyone ever runs a commercial pool at?" "1 - 2 ppm" was the pre-stabilizer-era answer, so the setting was 3 ppm. If they've upped it to 4, that probably reflects the potable water limit.If you maintain high CYA levels and have to maintain high Cl levels, is that bad for your body and swimsuits? Would it be better to get the stabilizer level down so you can maintain a reasonable Cl level. The Cl products all have a warning to not get in the water with Cl concentration greater than 4 ppm. Why?
The irony here is that, for YEARS, the EPA had NO upper limit on chlorine in drinking water. Occasionally companies would overfeed (accidentally, since it cost them extra money) with the result that you could fill your pool with potable water that the EPA said was perfectly OK to drink or bathe in, but was "TOO HIGH" for your swimming pool!
Currently, the EPA sets 4 ppm as the upper action limit on chlorine in potable water. That does NOT mean that the water company has to tell you that the chlorine is high, or take any emergency action. Rather they are simply required to check on it, and do something about it to make sure it doesn't stay that high forever. In other words, the EPA does not consider drinking water with 5 ppm FC dangerous, or even much of a problem.
However 4 ppm IS pretty high in UN-stabilized water -- higher than anyone needs. But the 'active' part of chlorine is MUCH lower in pool water, once you add stabilizer, so 1 ppm w/o stabilizer is actual 'higher' than 4 ppm with 50 ppm stabilizer.
About swimsuits: women's fashion swimwear is NOT very chlorine resistant. Speedo and other brands of competition suits use a special chlorine resistant Lycra, though more and more swimmers now wear all-polyester suits, at least for practice. Skin, on the other hand is VERY chlorine resistant. So what I've always told people is, if you want to swim when you are shocking your pool, were old, or no, swimsuits, and you'll be fine.
By the way, the "Best Guess" chart, linked in my signature, will show you what chlorine levels you need, once you know your stabilizer level.
HOWEVER, since you've had copper in the pool, you probably want to do this:
#1 - Run your filter/pump 24/7
#2 - Add a dose of Proteam Metal Magic, or better, Jack's Magic Pink Stuff (HEDP). Important: just ONE dose!
#3 - Adjust your pH to the low end of things, 7.0 - 7.2
#4 - Adjust your chlorine to the HIGH end of the NORMAL range (Best Guess)
#5 - Unless your CYA is way too high, use tabs in your skimmer to chlorinate -- this will help cause the copper to stain your skimmer and filter, rather than your pool!
#5 - Use small doses of borax -- 1/2 box at time, in the skimmer -- to raise the pH to 7.6. Take a week to do so. (Borax can go right on top of the tabs -- it's one of the few chemicals that doesn't react with other common pool chemicals.)
#6 - Then begin raising your chlorine to shock levels using small doses of bleach in the skimmer -- BUT REMOVE THE TABS FIRST!!! Do NOT pour bleach on top of tabs!
Then, hold chlorine levels at the low end of the shock value (determined by your CYA level) for several weeks, while you brush your black algae spots, and any green algae.
Doing it this way, should get the copper out before you start really raising the chlorine high, and should minimize any further staining.
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