Help with new pool owner

[tim665214]

I am not sure what type of test they used. They squirted some water in a small vial, that turned cloudy, then they inserted the vial into a machine that told them what the level was. What is confusing to me, is that as little as 1 1/2 months ago (I have only had the pool for about 3 months) the stabilzer level was holding steady at 40. I have been using their stabilized chlorine, but I dont think it would have made it that high that quickly. Could it have been the insane amounts of algeacide and phosphate remover that I have been adding?

This might sound dumb, but can you explain exactly how to shock? I can look at the best guess chart depending on my CYA level, but I am reading a lot of stuff about holding a certain level overnight. What if I see my chlorine level drop overnight? Do I add just enough chlorine to get it back to the level specified by the chart, or do I need to go above that level?

I just ordered the Taylor K-2006 kit, but until it arrives I am stuck testing with strips.

I actually found out about this forum through the poolsolutions.com website. That is where I have been reading for the past 2 days.

Thanks again for your help.

Tim

[aylad]

Stabilized chlorine will increase your CYa levels very, very quickly. In fact, if it's dichlor you've been using, it adds 9 ppm of CYA for every 10 ppm of chlorine!! The algaecide and phosphate remover don't affect your stabilizer levels, but they DO create a chlorine demand, which is probably one reason why you have algae you can't kill.

In order to shock your pool, you look up on the chart what your "shock" level is, depending on your CYA. For example, for a CYA of 140, you need to attain a chlorine level of 25 ppm. Then you need to hold it at that level as consistently as you can by testing and adding more chlorine as needed to get back up to that 25 ppm. The more consistent you are about keeping the chlorine up, the faster the pool will clear. You need to maintain that level until you can measure your chlorine at night and again in the morning before the sun hits the pool, and not lose any chlorine during that time. At that point, you'll know it's time to let your chlorine drift back down, but with a CYA that high, you never want it to get below 8 ppm.

Janet

[Watermom]

When is your kit supposed to arrive?

Jan is right in that dichlor (which I'm pretty sure is what you've been using --- check the bag) will increase your CYA pretty fast. But, even still, adding 140ppm of CYA in 6 weeks seems like a lot. If your kit is due to arrive within a day or two, I think I might hold off taking the chlorine that high until you can test your CYA yourself. If you find that it is actually that high, then you will need to follow the 'shocking' advice that she wrote above.

[PoolDoc]

post moved to correct location; you have access now. Ben