How Chlorine works.....for newbies

[waterbear]

One more thing to add about Chlorine. It's effectiveness is influence by the pH of your pool. Chlorine is only half as effective at a pH of 7.8 then at 7.2! (I will spare everybody the chemistry involved!) This is why pH and chlorine are the two paramters that need to be monitored most closely, perhaps daily, until you learn how YOUR pool operates.

Lot's of good info here, IMHO it should be rewritten into a FAQ and made into a sticky for the newbies (and as a good refresher for the more experienced members!)

[duraleigh]

Hi, again,

I'm on a roll about Chlorine this morning.

I think we could parse this thing to death and, in so doing, may very well detract from the basic info we're trying to convey.

I hope we can keep the peripheral issues at bay (or in a new thread) and let the principles of Cl use in your pool stand alone. (just for this thread)

[gonefishin]

Hi, again,

I'm on a roll about Chlorine this morning.

I think we could parse this thing to death and, in so doing, may very well detract from the basic info we're trying to convey.

I hope we can keep the peripheral issues at bay (or in a new thread) and let the principles of Cl use in your pool stand alone. (just for this thread)

Thanks for starting the thread...and I do understand that you don't want to go to far off course ...for newbies sake

But I couldn't be any more of a newbie if I tried. I have my first pool this year and have no experience with any of this stuff. This forum should really get more credit for teaching us newbies about water management rather than chemical dispensing.

thanks,
dan

[SS 396]

One more thing to add about Chlorine. It's effectiveness is influence by the pH of your pool. Chlorine is only half as effective at a pH of 7.8 then at 7.2!

Okay, I checked my pool tonight and have the kit shown below which said I was high on both counts . I dumped it before I took the pic, but it was high on both sides. So I want the chlorine to be high to get rid of my algae problem ( water is crystal clear) but I need to get my pH level down. What am I to do/use to bring that level down?

[waterbear]

If your chlorine readings are high (dark yellow to orange) then your pH readings are bogus. High clorine readings will interfere with the pH test and cause it to read as very high pH even though it is acutally much lower. Wait until your chlorine readings are in normal range before trying to check the pH.