Chlorine & PH & Alkalinity, oh my!

[annaerussell]

Send help!

Of course I found this wonderful group AFTER possibly making mistakes. We just moved to a house with an in ground pool. It’s clean and beautiful looking. Seems well maintained, but I don’t know much in the way of pools. I downloaded the Clorox pool app and based on results it told me to shock. So I did. And now it tells me my chlorine levels are dangerously high. There are no signs of algae or cloudiness to the pool. I’m attaching a picture of my strip ** yes I will be purchasing a legit kit very soon I just didn’t know they existed and this is all I have to go on for now**
We have people coming over to swim tomorrow. Do I need to cancel plans for everyone’s health?

 

[kimkats]

IF the strip is even close to correct results you are fine to swim in the pool. I am going to share a chart that is VERY important for pool water safety:


As you can see with a CYA of 100 your FC NEEDS to be where the strip says it is.

What I would do is run down to your local Wal-mart and see if they have this baby kit:

Robot or human?

This will give you a better picture of your true water levels.

Don't even bother using the strips and delete the app. It does more harm than good as it almost always VERY wrong.

 

[setsailsoon]

Anna,

Welcome to TFP! And you're certainly not alone. Many people come here with mistaken ideas about how pools and sanitizing works whether it's from things like your "Clorox methods" or erroneous methods from their local pool stores. Problem with most of them is their advice is conflicted by the motivation they have to sell you something. We sell nothing. We're just staffed with volunteer experts and pool enthusiasts that want to help others learn TFP methods. They take out the mystery because they're proven to work, based on sound science, and are the cheapest way to have a very safe, gorgeous pool. We have hundreds of thousands of members and many have been here for a LONG time. Take me for instance. I came here in 2015 when I wasn't satisfied with my pool service. @kimkats was here to teach me what she's teaching you right now. What I learned from her way back then has proven to be the perfect way to have a perfect pool at absolute rock bottom cost. So I'd get those test results and see where you are asap!

Chris

 

[Bperry]

Send help!

Of course I found this wonderful group AFTER possibly making mistakes. We just moved to a house with an in ground pool. It’s clean and beautiful looking. Seems well maintained, but I don’t know much in the way of pools. I downloaded the Clorox pool app and based on results it told me to shock. So I did. And now it tells me my chlorine levels are dangerously high. There are no signs of algae or cloudiness to the pool. I’m attaching a picture of my strip ** yes I will be purchasing a legit kit very soon I just didn’t know they existed and this is all I have to go on for now**
We have people coming over to swim tomorrow. Do I need to cancel plans for everyone’s health?

To help a little… its actually that your FREE chlorine is low and your TOTAL chlorine is crazy high. Almost so high its impossible to believe. The total chlorine (TC) is an artificial number you get by adding free chlorine (FC) and combined chlorine (CC) together.

FC + CC = TC

Since those strips only measure FC and TC, you have to infer what CC is but its not hard:

3 + X = 10

So the CC would be 7ppm. Since ideal CC is zero and lots of really dirty pools have maybe CC of 2-3 you can see why 7 would be hard fo believe. And thats why you cant trust those paper strips. There are some types of non-chlorine shock that interfere with CC testing though so it would be good to confirm what type was added.

 

[setsailsoon]

To help a little… its actually that your FREE chlorine is low and your TOTAL chlorine is crazy high. Almost so high its impossible to believe. The total chlorine (TC) is an artificial number you get by adding free chlorine (FC) and combined chlorine (CC) together.

FC + CC = TC

Since those strips only measure FC and TC, you have to infer what CC is but its not hard:

3 + X = 10

So the CC would be 7ppm. Since ideal CC is zero and lots of really dirty pools have maybe CC of 2-3 you can see why 7 would be hard fo believe. And thats why you cant trust those paper strips. There are some types of non-chlorine shock that interfere with CC testing though so it would be good to confirm what type was added.

Yes, and based on their "safe ranges" I don't think they are recognizing the very well established science of how high CYA interferes with FC as a sanitizing agent. This is very well documented, proven, and recognized publicly by the current manufacturers in the US of trichlor.

 

[annaerussell]

So grateful my late night scrolling led me here!! Looks like my wal mart has that baby kit in stock. THANK YOU! Previous owners used discs so I’m starting taking in all the info on the liquid chlorine. Clorox shock xtra blue + is what I put in last night. Also, we just bought a robot cleaner, are these levels going to kill my new little friend?

Headed to get that baby kit now and will post results.

 

[Lilypad]

Avoid anything with the word "blue" in it, they most likely contain copper which can cause staining.

Welcome to TFP. You have an army of great and knowledgeable folks here, ready to help
you care for your pool easily and less $.

Glad you found us!

 

[Bperry]

So grateful my late night scrolling led me here!! Looks like my wal mart has that baby kit in stock. THANK YOU! Previous owners used discs so I’m starting taking in all the info on the liquid chlorine. Clorox shock xtra blue + is what I put in last night. Also, we just bought a robot cleaner, are these levels going to kill my new little friend?

Headed to get that baby kit now and will post results.

The xtrablue stuff wont hurt the robot but can cause copper staining if used too much. Dont use any more of that.

 

[annaerussell]

IF the strip is even close to correct results you are fine to swim in the pool. I am going to share a chart that is VERY important for pool water safety:
View attachment 585092

As you can see with a CYA of 100 your FC NEEDS to be where the strip says it is.

What I would do is run down to your local Wal-mart and see if they have this baby kit:

Robot or human?

This will give you a better picture of your true water levels.

Don't even bother using the strips and delete the app. It does more harm than good as it almost always VERY wrong.

Okay I have my results with the little baby kit.
alkilinity = 90 ppm;
hardness = 100ppm;
CYA indicator=black dot disappeared before it even made it to 100 mark, including a pic of where the black dot disappeared at; total chlorine is too orange to match any indicators, including a few different pics of that since lighting can be weird;
PH is 7.2

thoughts on that? I have a bunch of chemicals left over from previous owners - Baking soda, chlorine discs that go in our hayward pump (I see that is not a fan fave), PH up, stabilizer.... any of these helpful since I already have them in hand? The pool is about 33,000 gallons rectangle

 

[Bperry]

Okay I have my results with the little baby kit.
alkilinity = 90 ppm;
hardness = 100ppm;
CYA indicator=black dot disappeared before it even made it to 100 mark, including a pic of where the black dot disappeared at; total chlorine is too orange to match any indicators, including a few different pics of that since lighting can be weird;
PH is 7.2

thoughts on that? I have a bunch of chemicals left over from previous owners - Baking soda, chlorine discs that go in our hayward pump (I see that is not a fan fave), PH up, stabilizer.... any of these helpful since I already have them in hand? The pool is about 33,000 gallons rectangle

You dont want to add any more of those chlorine discs/tabs/pucks. Those are why the CYA is over 100ppm and nothing sjould ever ever be put in the pump.

You’ll probably never need the baking soda or pH up if you stick with us here. But you can keep them around just in case.

 

[annaerussell]

You dont want to add any more of those chlorine discs/tabs/pucks. Those are why the CYA is over 100ppm and nothing sjould ever ever be put in the pump.

You’ll probably never need the baking soda or pH up if you stick with us here. But you can keep them around just in case.

is this safe to swim in today?

 

[JimMarshall]

is this safe to swim in today?

Yes. as long as the water is clear.

Get one of the recommended test kits coming ASAP.

With a CYA that high you're going to need to plan on one or more partial drains and refills. What is your pool surface? (Vinyl, plaster, etc?)

 

[annaerussell]

Yes. as long as the water is clear.

Get one of the recommended test kits coming ASAP.

With a CYA that high you're going to need to plan on one or more partial drains and refills. What is your pool surface? (Vinyl, plaster, etc?)

vinyl - so from here do I start with SLAM protocol?

 

[Bperry]

vinyl - so from here do I start with SLAM protocol?

Gotta wait for the big kit for that. If the pool is clear theres no need to SLAM.

 

[JimMarshall]

Yes, but you're going to need a test kit with FAS-DPD capabilities to accurately SLAM.

You're also going to need to lower that CYA to have a chance at a SLAM. With CYA over 100 you need to get to and maintain a FC level over 40 to SLAM.

To get a more accurate idea of your actual CYA, you could mix pool water 50/50 with tap water and then use that for your sample and multiply the result by 2

 

[annaerussell]

Yes. as long as the water is clear.

Get one of the recommended test kits coming ASAP.

With a CYA that high you're going to need to plan on one or more partial drains and refills. What is your pool surface? (Vinyl, plaster, etc?)

Awesome, will do! and this is what I'm considering clear... hoping that's as straightforward as I'm assuming lol

 

[JimMarshall]

That's definitely clear, but it's going to be next to impossible to keep it that clear with a CYA that high.

If this were my pool, I would verify the CYA, plan a couple partial drains/refills to get down to an acceptable CYA number, and plan to run things up to SLAM level for a couple days just to make sure that you aren't on the verge of an outbreak. Anytime your FC goes below the "minimum" column for your CYA level on the above chart, you are at risk of algae.

 

[annaerussell]

That's definitely clear, but it's going to be next to impossible to keep it that clear with a CYA that high.

If this were my pool, I would verify the CYA, plan a couple partial drains/refills to get down to an acceptable CYA number, and plan to run things up to SLAM level for a couple days just to make sure that you aren't on the verge of an outbreak. Anytime your FC goes below the "minimum" column for your CYA level on the above chart, you are at risk of algae

Thank you so much for all of your help and advice!

 

[kimkats]

That is about as clear as it gets right there! CANNON BALL TIME! Once you weekend is over plan to do some draining and refilling. You do NOT want to drain the whole thing as that could cause your liner to move. When you are ready we can walk your through how to best remove some/add some to keep you liner safe.