Chlorine Lock ????

[chem geek]

I know for sure I put in 3 gallons of ammonia on start up by suggestion of the new pool guy (who I don't use anymore). Can 3 gallons in a 33k pool , do so much damage ??

Ok, the reults are in :
the Ammonia test came out with 0.25 ppm (mg/L) so I don't think ammonia is the problem.

I don't know the concentration of ammonia that was used, but let's say it was 10%. That would be about 2.5 pounds or in your 33,000 gallon pool that's 9 ppm which is a lot and would require a cumulative amount of 90 ppm FC to get rid of. Also, you could have had ammonia before you even added it, from soil bacteria converting CYA into ammonia.

The fact that you are measuring even a little ammonia along with CC probably indicates that this was the problem -- but the good news is that you may be close to done! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Richard