free chlorine

I've had my pool about 5 years and everything has been humming along nicely. A few incidences over the years which TFP forums have assisted immensely. Anyway, this summer (I'm in Australia) I've had a minor issue. Despite my SWG being on a very low setting (it's now on 5%, the lowest setting)...

I added a salt water pool last summer in central Florida. Due to work/travel schedules, I had a company handling pool maintenance. I am looking to take it over myself at this point. I took my first reading using the Taylor K-2006C kit and input to the Pool Math app (pic attached). Doing some...

Hi, just got a new 300 gal spa and first time owner. So, followed the pool store directions for water chemistry and all measures are within norms on the test strips, except free chlorine which goes back to 0 every day. So, every day for the last 5 days I have added about 1/2 TBSp of dichlor...

Hey all. New to this world. Looking for some guidance given what I believe to be skewed test results. Please be patient with me. I just received my TF-Pro yesterday evening and started testing right away. I am a new homeowner that came with an older pool and questionable maintenance. A bit...

Hey Everyone, Still on this learning journey as a first time pool owner. I've enabled the setting in the Pool Math app to Link from TroubleFreePool.com user profile to see the most recent test results. Question Free Chlorine week over week (we test on Thursdays) is inching up by 1 ppm...

Hi, still a newbie, but thanks to TFP...finally figuring out how to get my pool in good order. Started with CYA just above 90, so exchanged large amount of water and ended up with a CYA just under 40, got pH to 7.2 and started the SLAM. Seems I am nearing the end of the SLAM. I'm ready to add...

Hey All, I recently purchased a home with a inground appx 27,000 Gallon pastered pool. This is a my first full season of trying to maintain my pool (daily upkeep, have a pool company that opens and closes the pool) and I think im doing okay for the time being but I recently installed a pentair...

Hi All, I’m a new salt water pool owner and I have a couple questions that you guys can probably help me with. System: Hayward, including Omni PL Free Chlorine: I’ve been running my filter/chlorinator about 12 hours a day. My PPM levels are around 3500 but im getting a free chlorine reading...

A week ago I noticed our chlorine wasnt keeping up. Found a dead animal in skimmer (not sure if this was related). Shocked the pool. Next day I noticed our chlorine registered zero. Took water sample in to pool store. FC was 0 TC was .4 CYA was 126. Ammonia was around a 7. Pool store had me add...

Hi All, Long time reader. First time poster. Did my best to solve this on my own- but have been overwhelmed by the contradiction. Hoping a couple of pool exports can jump in here I have a vinyl chlorine pool. What should be the free chlorine goal to maintain? Is it the classic 1-4 ppm or the...

Might be too soon to ask for help but this is my first time SLAM’ing our pool. We have a 10K pool. At the start of the SLAM our FC was 0 and CYA was 30 so I added 205 oz of 10% liquid Cl to achieve an FC of 16 ppm. I did all of this after sunset. I waited about 45 minutes to retest just to...

My CYA has been tracking high. It started at 145 a month ago and I am now down to 118 through dilution with fresh water. Pool Math is recommending target FC from 9-15 and I imagine that it is because my CYA is so high, however, the target has not dropped as my CYA has dropped. As of today, my...

Update: I started following the SLAM method. Have used almost 9L liquid chlorine in 5.5 hours. Does this sound crazy ? 11am free chlorine @ 0. Added 2.8L liquid chlorine and got it >10. 2.30pm free chlorine @ 0, added 3L liquid chlorine. 3.30pm free chlorine @ 8. 4.30pm free chlorine @ 0...

Something odd I noticed this year vs. my previous 5 years. I'm adding less salt to my pool.? My logs show I've added 220 lb this year, 280 last year and 320 the year before. Throwing out the 280 last year due to a leak getting it repaired, if I look at 220 vs 320, that's a considerable...

Howdy TFP, I've been trying to get my pool to Shock level for the past 36 hours with little success. The pool math app keeps advising to add 2 gallons of 10% chlorine every time I test but I can't seem to get above ~2 FC. I'll even test 15 minutes after adding to see if I get a quick spike but...

I test on my own but I do like to get a test from other locations to compare my yearly test kit and see if they're close. I brought some water to Leslie's just to get what they think my levels are at and compare and that brings me to my question. On the paper they have Free Chlorine (Ideal...

I’m getting control of my pool water with the TFP method. Slowly but surely my numbers are getting in line. Anyway, my CYA isn’t outrageous but it’s higher than it should be. I’ve been following Pool Math App for keeping FC in the right range. Ultimately that’s meant my FC is higher now than...

Hi all- new homeowner & new above ground pool owner here! 👋 My FC was 0 so I decided to SLAM. Based on the CYA chart, my shock FC is 20. Does that mean I should be maintaining a 20 FC throughout the slam? That’d be a TON of bleach. I’ve already gone through 10 (121oz) jugs. I’ve been more or...

We have an intex 4500 galloon pool with 1200 gph sand filter and intex swg. Our pool is in the shade, basically always. We have a wooded backyard. I really think the shade affects or FC loss, which is very little. Lately it has been raining a LOT (midwest, MO). I have been running the filter...

Hey all. I renovated my 30,000 gallon inground pool this spring, new plaster went in May 28, 2021. I have an Intellichlor SWG that I’m hoping to start using soon. I’m having trouble getting the FC level up before I turn on the SWG. I added 4 gallons of bleach last night and here are my levels...

Hello! I am grateful for any help here - I feel like I've been running in circles and have gotten opposing answers from local pool stores and experts I've consulted. I have a 26k gallon, vinyl liner pool with AquaCal AutoPilot DIG-220 with a PCC 1 salt cell I had the salt generator installed...

Hey team! My pool's free chlorine level is 3.5 and I'd like it up to 5. Before I got rid of my $$$ pool company, they were adding on average 2 gallons weekly. However, when I used the chart at the back of the Taylor test kit (and confirmed with the Pool Calculator) it only suggests adding about...

What are things I need to look for if I'm getting pretty wide variations in FC when tested just a few minutes apart? I tested using DPD and got a FC of 4.5. I tested again, with a different sample bottle, in the same spot in the pool. I got 6.0. I figured "best two out of three" and tested...

Hello, I have a relatively new saltwater pool (11/1/2019) that I can't seem to get back into balance. As a result of allowing my CYA levels to drop to zero, my FC levels quickly followed (Florida sun). In an attempt to get my CYA/FC levels up rapidly, via stabilized chlorine tablets &...

5 days back I thought to test water from pool supplies store, so I went with water sample and came to know that CYA is 125 out of my 28000 gal pool. So person suggested me to drain 1ft of water, so I drained and refill 1.5 feet and then went back for testing. This time FC was low and CYA came...

I just got my test kit and did the full battery (I think). Results: FC: 1.5 CC: .5 TA: 150 Ph: 8 CH: 1 CYA: 40 Pool: ~30k gallons, vinyl. I used pool math to calculate bleach addition, and addition of low n slo I still had. I have read the ABC’s of Pool Chemistry and most of the articles in...

Hi folks! Just recently filled a Saltwater pool and am working on getting it leveled out. Got a TF-100 kit. We filled the pool on 5/18, added 100lbs of salt on 5/19, then after the salt dissolved after two days we put our pump on it’s “BOOST” mode and let it do its thing. Initial test showed...

Our friends recently purchased a house with a neglected pool that is 21000 gallons - pump was broken and when we opened the tarp it was a nice dark green with all sorts of debris inside. I offered to help and got the pump replaced without any issues however am really having a hard time starting...

TLDR; I started SLAM last night. ~80 CYA, started at 0.3 ppm Chlorine, 7.5 pH. Dumped 4 gallons of 10% bleach. After it was dark (about an hour after dumping) FC read 34 ppm, CC was 1 ppm. This morning before the sun was up, FC read 22 ppm, CC was 0.5ppm. What is going on here? My novice...

Bit of newbie here that has been testing and maintaining his own pool water with a K-2006C and pool match for over a year now without any significant issues or even any issues to note at all. I have read all of the documentation on the site in the past and did a bit of a refresher today, but I...