Seth says...
Quoted message said:Recently, my chlorine has been extremely low, around 0.5 ppm, causing algae problems. This
happened in the last couple weeks, it was about perfect before then. Since then I have used a ton
of algacide and clarifier.
Quoted message said:I cranked the chlorinator all the way up, but that didn't help the chlorine level. I even
confirmed it was working correctly and cleaned my pool equipment for good measure.
Quoted message said:I got tired of messing with it so I just bought some pool shock to raise the level. I put in the
correct amount (2lbs), waited a bit, checked the chlorine, no change. I waited an hour or two,
then shocked it a second time. The chlorine went up to about 1ppm.
Quoted message said:The next morning, it was virtually zero, so I took a sample and shocked it a third time, which
did almost nothing.
Quoted message said:I brought my sample to the pool store and they said the stabilizer level was at 400, when it
should be under
100. From what I understand, that means my chlorine level should be through the roof, yet it
will have very little strength. Instead, my chlorine level is near 0, as if I had no
stabilizer.
Quoted message said:Question 1: Is there any logical explaination for what is going on?
Possible explanations I can think of:
1. There is something in the water which is creating a very large demand for chlorine, such as
fertilizer, or a chlorine neutralizer added somehow by mistake. Urine might be part of it, but I
think it would take a lot to cause this problem.
2. The "shock" you added was not in fact chlorine, but rather stabilizer, or mostly stabilizer.
3. Something in the algecide or clarifier is causing this. You should not need either of these.
4. Your test kit is defective. Not likely because you do have algae.
5. Something else. Hell, I don't really know, but basically either something is eating up the
chlorine like crazy, or you aren't actually adding chlorine, or the test kit isn't measuring
the chlorine.
Quoted message said:Question 2: Assuming the pool store didn't make a mistake, what should I do? I could drain the
pool, but aren't there other options? Something about bromine salkt?
If your stabilizer level is indeed 400, then you have no choice but to drain the pool. Actually, the
world needs some way to precipitate out stabilizer so you could vacuum it to waste, but I know of
nothing that will do that.
Once the level of stabilizer goes above about 100 (actually more like 80), the free chlorine becomes
so inhibited that it is no longer effective against algae, particularly after a rain. You need to
get the stabilizer back to 50 or so. You should do the math, but you will need to drain almost
almost all of the water out and refill in order to get the stabilizer down to a reasonable level.
This is also likely to be the least-cost option. If your water is like mine, it's about $2 per
thousand gallons, so the average pool only costs about $40 to refill, plus whatever chemicals you
need to add to balance it, which probably won't be much. But if you don't drain, and continue to
fart with more chemicals, you'll spend a lot more than that, and still end up having to drain it
in the end.
In years when I use stabilized chlorine, I try to keep the chlorine level at about 2 to 2.5. When I
do that, the stabilizer builds up at such a rate that I usually have to drain half way down and
refill once in the middle of summer, and once again at the end of September, in order to avoid algae
blooms after thunderstorms. My pool is in full sun all day, so my experience in this regard may be
more severe than most.
Quoted message said:Also, if I go with draining, do I fill it from a tap, or hire someone?
Well, refilling is not the problem. You can use two or three garden hoses and be done in about a
day. Or if you are near a fire plug, call the fire department and see if they will do it for you (a
lot faster).
But draining could be difficult depending on your particular setup. So it may make sense to rent a
pump to do that or get a service guy to do it for you.
