Brown pool

[aylad]

I think you'll be very happy with the K-2006--it's nice having reliable, accurate testing at hand!!

Bleach, cal-hypo, and dichlor are all acceptable forms of chlorine. The fact that your water turned brown was not because you used cal-hypo, but because you put in a large amount of chlorine at one time. If you'll keep your pH low (7.0-7.2), and stay on top of your chlorine so that you don't have to shock the pool, as well as keeping a metal sequestrant in the water, then you shouldn't have any problem keeping clear water all summer. You might want to add a dose of Polyquat 60 algaecide (the only one that we recommend) as an added protection against algae. The dichlor and trichlor will add chlorine and help keep your pH low, but you'll need to keep an eye on your stabilizer levels, since they both add CYA....and the higher the CYA, the higher your chlorine will need to be in order to keep the algae away.


Janet

[Riverpixy]

Thanks Janet. I have added the Polyquat 60 algaecide. I've added Metal sequestrant -probably too much. The pool store kept telling me to add it. I have put 5 -32oz bottles in the pool.

Both of my current substandard tests that I have right now do not even measure Chlorine yet. I just did a little test with the shocks that I have bought. Honestly when l add the Cal-hypo it turns brown when it hits the water. When I add the Sodium Dichloro-s-triazinetrione it does not. I have one trichlor 3" tablets in my floater in the pool for at least a couple of weeks. I would think that alone would measure some chlorine. I need to work on getting Chlorine level up, but am scared too because of past experience. What would you suggest to get the chlorine up? Should I use the Sodium Dichloro-s-triazinetrione shock I have or should I just use some household bleach? Should I add another chlorine floater?

My pool is clear now. So just need to keep it that way. My readings on my trutest reader (which I know is unrealiabe) were Chlorine 0, PH - 7.2, Alk - 115.
I am going to order the Taylor K-2006.

I really appreciate this forum. So glad I found it. I have learned more from this forum than I have with working with pool stores for 4 weeks!!

[aylad]

The polyquat creates a chlorine demand of its own, so I'm not surprised that your chlorine now is zero--but you can't let it stay there long I suspect that your chlorine is also working pretty hard on the stuff that's in your water, so it's probably going to take some diligence to get chlorine to hold for awhile. You can keep the trichlor in the floater, which will help feed chlorine in pretty constantly--just keep an eye on your pH. Otherwise, the dichlor would probably be okay, but honestly I would go with plain, unscented bleach. With all the other things you have going on in the water, bleach is the least likely to complicate things worse than they already are. Besides, it's much easier to calculate doses. What is the volume of your pool?

[Riverpixy]

I think I found out what I did wrong when I sent my original reply to your very first response to me. I think I hit the reply to thread button again to send my reply instead of hitting the post quick reply button! I just did it again.

My pool is around 18,000 gallons. So how do I calculate how much bleach to use? How often do I add?

I just ordered my Taylor K-2006 kit. Pool Supply World had it for $45 with $8 shipping.

Thanks,
Diane

[aylad]

Here's a link to the bleach calculator that we like to use http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...18-bleach-calc

You need to add your bleach as often as necessary to keep your chlorine in the appropriate range as determined by your CYA level (see the "best guess chart" linked in my sig above). We recommend that you test your water every day and add whatever amount of bleach needed to come back up to your target level. I would recommend that you do this in the evening to reduce the amount of chlorine that you lose to the sun.