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Author Topic: N2 and chlorine readings  (Read 2389 times)

NDfar

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N2 and chlorine readings
« on: April 12, 2007, 02:08:09 pm »
I started a water change Monday and got the water balanced tuesday.  Wednesday I added N2 and added two tbls of dichlor and ran the pumps.  I wanted to see how many ppm of chloine I added and dipped a test strip and it had no total or free chlorine readings and the hardness pad was not looking quite right.  Alk and PH were working fine so I thought my strips were bad and tried two more with same results.  I tried my test kit and still no clorine reading.  I then went back to the strips and added some dichlor in a cup and dipped the strips and BAM they change and gave me a reading, so the strips are good. (expiration date 11/2007 on the strips).
My question is does N2 cause the test strips and kit not to work for chlorine readings?   At least thats what I am thinking.
« Last Edit: April 12, 2007, 02:11:38 pm by ndfar »

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N2 and chlorine readings
« on: April 12, 2007, 02:08:09 pm »

Reese

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Re: N2 and chlorine readings
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2007, 02:38:28 pm »
I've never heard of N2 affecting chlorine readings, and it sounds like you were testing shortly after adding the N2, so it probably had barely begun to release into the system.  Assuming you let the pumps run at least 15 minutes on high to allow the chlorine to dissolve and mix thoroughly before testing , I can think of two possibilities.  The first is that 2 tbls of chlorine is a quite a bit (8-15 ppm, depending on the size of your tub), so it is possible that the high level of chlorine was bleaching out your test strips.  The second is that there was bacteria in the water left in the plumbing when you drained the the tub, and that two days without sanitizer was enough time to allow an infection to grow to the point that it "ate up" all the chlorine you added.

If there is still no reading a day later (or however it would normally take that much chlorine to dissipate in your tub), try adding a 3 ppm dose and see if you get results.  If you do, I'd blame yesterday's lack of reading on excess chlorine.  If not, either verify the results/lack thereof with another testing method (preferably a dealer with electronic testing), or assume an infection and keep adding chlorine until you can maintain a residual.

In the future, I'd get some chlorine in the tub sooner than two days after a change.  I personally like to do a chlorine shock the day before I drain it to make sure that I am starting with a clean tub, and then add a normal dose within a day of filling the tub.
« Last Edit: April 12, 2007, 02:50:04 pm by Reese »

Vinny

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Re: N2 and chlorine readings
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2007, 05:46:14 pm »
No chlorine is 1 of 2 things: Bleached out strips or kit which I doubt or a high chlorine demand .... I believe you had something eating your chlorine!

I once poured close to 2 gallons of bleach into my pool which should have given me about 15 PPM chlorine. I did it at night so there wasn't any sunlight degrading ... I woke up the next morning and had 0 chlorine.

NDfar

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Re: N2 and chlorine readings
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2007, 10:41:19 pm »
When I got home from work I got zero reading so I added 2 tsps dichlor and checked again after 20 minutes, and zero chlorine.  I thought about what Reese said about something in there eating it up so I added 2 tbls MPS.  I went out on some errands and got someting to eat and returned about 4 hrs later and checked it and zero chlorine.  I got out the N2 strips to check for MPS and zero.  Now I figured that something is really hungry so I added 2 oz dichlor and 15 min later nothing.  Now the frustation level is really getting high and I threw in another 3 oz of dichlor and waited another half hour.  Now I have a reading around 6 0r 7 PPM!  Now the only thing I can figure out now is I was using the Natural for 6 months and there must have been some enzymes left in the plumbing.  I scrubbed and rinsed the tub and used a shop vac to suck out all the jets but must not have got everything.  Well, we will see how it looks tomorrow.  Thanks!

Reese

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Re: N2 and chlorine readings
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2007, 01:32:03 am »
Keep hitting it with heavy chlorine doses until you can maintain a residual for a couple of hours.  Then you are going to need a heavy shock to clear up all the combined chlorine.  Remember all MPS does is oxidize, it doesn't kill anything.

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Re: N2 and chlorine readings
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2007, 01:32:03 am »

 

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