I have a 3,300 gallon, 8Wx13Lx6' deep fiberglas exercise pool. It is covered except the first 4-5 days of the season when I solar heat it & when we are in it which is about an hour a day, 3-4 days/week in the summer. I understand the chemical balance & use the 3-step bromine procedure. Upon opening the pool a week ago, I drained off about 16" of water, added new (from well), added Metal Gone, added 16 oz Sodium Bromide, balanced the water over several days, & circulated three days running to clear up a bit of cloudiness, cleaning the cartridge filter a couple times in the process. I had the pool covers off all day for 4 days to solar heat the water. Right now, Bromine 0, pH 7.6, TA 75-100, CH 175.
My question is this: Does sunlight render the Sodium Bromide Bank ineffective or less effective? The reason I'm asking is Day 2 of solar heating (covers off), I tried to get a BR reading of 10 from the first shock treatment (used 3 times MPS, or about 16 oz, & only got a reading of 5). Within an hour the BR went down to 0. A couple days later (Day 4 of solar heating, covers off), I tried to get a BR reading of 10 from the second shock treatment using 240 oz of liquid bleach (way over what is recommended). Again, I only was able to get a BR reading of 5 & within an hour the BR went down to 0. I've had a floater in the pool the whole time with BR/CL tablets & still the BR is 0. The pool has been totally covered for about 3 days now because of cooler weather & still the BR is 0.
What do you experts think? Does sunlight render the Sodium Bromide Bank ineffective or less effective?
Many thx.