Free chlorine is non existent

[Mdpools]

Night 2. Five more gallons of bleach. Reading 1 hour later are ph 7.2 and chlorine 1.0.

Next day chlorine is still very low. Will continue for 2 more days.

Question, any idea what is eating up all the chlorine? Going back to the 20 plus bags I put in last week? Very curious about that. Thanks.

[PoolDoc]

Without stabilizer, you can lose 90% of the chlorine in your pool (regardless of how much is there) in 2 hours of full sun. There are lots of variables here -- how clear is your water, how "full" is the sun, how deep is the pool -- but you get the idea, I hope.

Also, if you HAD stabilizer in your pool last year and didn't, when you opened this year, and did NOT drain your pool, you may be WORSE than unstabilized: you may have no stabilizer AND have ammonia left over which bacteria 'pooped' out after eating your stabilizer.

Best way to check: add chlorine late in the day; test levels an hour later and then again in the morning within 2 hours of sunrise. If there's a big difference, you have some sort of goo in the pool that's using up your chlorine.

In general: lose chlorine at night = goo; lose chlorine during day = many things but often, no/low stabilizer.

Ben

[Mdpools]

Thanks. Adding CYA may help?

[aylad]

Yes, if you're losing your chlorine to the sun. CYA and stabilizer are the same thing. Also called "balancer", "conditioner", look at the ingredient label. If the main ingredient is cyanuric or isocyanuric acid, it's the right stuff.

However, if you're losing your chlorine to stuff in your water, the stabilizer isn't going to help you much.

Janet

[Mdpools]

Houston, we have a problem. I am losing chlorine overnight. Please advise on next steps.

I presume the following. Drain the pool as much as possible. Open up the filter and throughly clean the grids.

Refill and chlorinate/stabilize

Experts please help.

I have owned this pool for 10 years. The first 8 years were a breeze. The last 2 have been difficult. The issue this year has never happened before.

Thanks!

[CarlD]

I would start by putting in 7 gallons of 6% bleach tonight--that should push your FC to around 15ppm.
In the morning be prepared to add up to 7 gallons more and keep FC up until it doesn't drop so drastically overnight.

Carl

[Mdpools]

OK will do.

Local pool shop suggested I check for phosphorous. They checked a sample. It registered at 1000 ppb. They gave me a chemical that reduces the phosphorous. I will try that. Anyone have any experience with this?