Help...about to pull my hair out or tear down the pool!!!

[butterfly26_78382]

Thanks PoolDoc...no i don't have algae but my pool is in direct sunlight & I couldn't seem to keep my chlorine in the pool. However, i was using the test strips from Walmart & I'm pretty sure now that they were inaccurate. I went down & bought the $20 6 way test kit & according to it I have had chlorine in it the whole time I guess!! Night before last these were my reading with my new test kit:
TH:250
FC:3
PH:7.5
TA:180
CYA:30
Now this was @ 10pm after being in the direct sunlight all day so I figure my chlorine count isn't too bad considering. Because it in the sun all day I would prefer a FC level of about 6 at least & CYA of 50 at least, that would probably be ok, right?? In order to achieve that I added 47oz of bleach to raise it from a 3 to 6 and then i added 21oz of stabilizer tied in a sock to bring up the CYA to 50. With all this research & help from you guys I think I might be getting it under control! Please just let me know if i'm on the right track...Thanks again fro everyone's help Oh...I was retest my PH & FC when I get home this evening to see how we're doing!

[aylad]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!

In Texas, with the heat we've been having (I'm near Shreveport, LA, similar climate and maybe not even as hot as it is where you are), you'll find that the chlorine will stay in your pool a lot longer if you'll raise your CYA. We normally recommend around 40 ppm in most folk's pools, but in our climate I find that I still use too much chlorine. I personally run my CYa at 80-90 ppm, but that's much higher than most people around here. That does, however, allow me to maintain a Cl level of 8 ppm in my approx. 29K gallon pool using only 4-5 of the 1.4 gallon jugs of bleach weekly.

You're on the right track, a CYA of 50 ppm is a good place to start. See how well you're able to maintain a chlorine level with that, and you can adjust from there. One thing, though--in order to determine whether the water has something in it that is creating chlorine demand, or whether it's all just from the sun, try testing your chlorine at night and then again the next morning before the sun hits the pool. If you've lost more than 1 ppm of chlorine in that time, then there's something other than the sun eating it up, and you need to shock the pool.

Janet

[PoolDoc]

I'm glad you got the kit, but I would encourage you to go ahead and get the Taylor K2006.

One reason I recommend the 2 way OTO/phenol red is that it's so basic, it's hard to screw up. Walmart's pool chemicals have gone, over the past few years, from mediocre to TERRIBLE. I don't know that the kit you have is bad . . . but I don't trust it, either.

[aylad]

Ben, the $20 kit is the old hth drop kit that was $16 last year....but I agree, the Taylor kit is much better, and you can test for all of the things we need to know and be able to trust the result.

Janet

[PoolDoc]

HTH has been re-jiggering their products, and unless you're sure it's unchanged, I'm not. They are trying to out-do BioGuard in the games they play with products -- I don't trust them even a tiny bit. There's no relationship between this HTH and the old one I knew, except trademarks, bankruptcy courts, and lawyers.

Ben

[butterfly26_78382]

Thanks for all the advice, I have been trying really hard to keep up with the pool this past week so sorry for the late responses! But great news, I think I have got it under control for the moment, however when i can afford to I will upgrade to the Taylor kit. For now my simple test seems to be doing ok, my pool is sparkling clean & clear (minus the bugs i have to skim out everyday) lol! I have been able to maintain a clean clear pool for about a week & I'm so excited because I was really just ready to give it all up!! Thanks to you guys & my unwavering tenacity I think we've got it. Here are my current readings, please tell me if something looks wrong:
TH:220
FC:5 ( my test will only read up to 5)
PH:7.5
TA:160-180
CYA:50-70
Because my test only reads up to a 5, but there could be more! Is there any way to tell with my kit, any tricks to find out?? Is a 5 compatible with my CYA level?? We have been swimming in the pool & it doesn't have a strong chlorine smell, no burning eyes or anything. I figure as long as I can keep that chlorine level up to a 5 & there's no algae then I'm ok basically, right??

Thanks,
Candice

[Watermom]

Here is a way you can force your kit to read higher than 5 until you get a good kit. It loses accuracy with each dilution, but is better than nothing. Testing Without a Good Kit

[PoolDoc]

If you get a cheap OTO/phenol red kit, you can get a rough approximation. OTO changes from dark yellow (5+) to orange (~20) to brown (35+) as the chlorine level increases.

You could have a chlorine level of 15 ppm or more -- given your stabilizer level -- with no noticeable effects on swimmers.

Ben