Testing water with red/yellow drop tester.. question.

[mastamoon]

Hey PoolDoc,

The granular chlorine is 47.6% Calcium Hypochlorite and 52.4% "other ingredients".

Thankfully I can see the bottom of my pool finally, though the water is still cloudy. I have tried to keep the chlorine tests in the dark yellow range but didn't realize the stuff I was using was not sufficient. Of course I was following the label in regards to the "shock level" and actually thought I was putting in a little more than necessary. Guess not!

Ive also been putting in "Jumbo slow-poke" tablets thinking that would help keep the levels up.. Those are listed as 99.5% Trichloro-a-Triazinetrione and .5% other. Basically keeping 2 or so in a floater and dropping one in the skimmer basket.

If my pool is no longer green and semi clear.. should I still follow your recommendations to finish clearing before closing?

I guess that's good news about the pH. According to my tester.. the color for 7.6 is more of a purplish/lavender color.. so the color the water was showing wasn't like any of the colors listed on the tester.


Thanks again for the info.

[PoolDoc]

Hi Mastamoon;

I didn't know that what you were using was bad -- I just didn't know if it was good. So much goop is blended in these days, in order to lower the manufacturer's costs AND raise the price, it's hard for us to know just what you are putting into your pool, or what effect it will have.

If the pool is clearing that's very good, and indicates that you do not have a super-high stabilizer level, or a chlorine resistant strain of algae. But, the advice I gave you is still correct, especially the bit about testing pH with a 50:50 pool water / distilled water mix.

And, do keep your chlorine in the orangish yellow range till the algae is ALL gone.

Best wishes,

[mastamoon]

If the water is slightly cloudy is it always an algae problem and/or a chlorine fix?