Water levels seem off, but tests are weird?

J

James Carter

Member
Hey guys.

So lately, my pool just hasn’t felt right. Like, the water looks okay, but sometimes it smells kinda off, and it’s been irritating my eyes a bit more than usual. I did a basic strip test, and it said chlorine was fine, pH was a little low, I think? Not sure. I added a bit of baking soda like I read online, but now I’m second-guessing if that made it worse lol.

The thing is, I’m not sure what’s actually out of balance here. Could be pH or alkalinity or something else? Water doesn’t look green or cloudy, just kinda dull. I haven’t changed anything big in routine, so not sure why this is happening. Has anybody dealt with this kind of thing before?
 
James Carter said:
Hey guys.

So lately, my pool just hasn’t felt right. Like, the water looks okay, but sometimes it smells kinda off, and it’s been irritating my eyes a bit more than usual. I did a basic strip test, and it said chlorine was fine, pH was a little low, I think? Not sure. I added a bit of baking soda like I read online, but now I’m second-guessing if that made it worse lol.

The thing is, I’m not sure what’s actually out of balance here. Could be pH or alkalinity or something else? Water doesn’t look green or cloudy, just kinda dull. I haven’t changed anything big in routine, so not sure why this is happening. Has anybody dealt with this kind of thing before?
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Yeah, been there. If your eyes are stinging and it smells a bit off, it could be combined chlorine (chloramines) building up that happens even if your free chlorine reads normal. Try giving it a good shock treatment and rebalance the pH properly with muriatic acid, not just baking soda (which raises alkalinity more than pH). Re-test after a day and see if it clears up.
 
When water smells weird but looks okay, it’s usually leftover chloramines like Mark said. Low pH can make the chlorine less effective, so fixing that first is key. Baking soda’s great for alkalinity, but it doesn’t raise pH much for that, soda ash or small acid adjustments are better. I’d shock the pool, then balance pH and alkalinity one step at a time.
 
This happened to me when my pH was off for a while my strip test said chlorine was fine but it still didn’t feel right. I shocked the pool and balanced the pH around 7.4–7.6, and it felt way better after that. Sometimes it’s just little things adding up. Don’t worry, you’ll get it dialed in.
 
Yeah, I’ve been through something super similar. Water looked fine to the eye, but it just didn’t “feel” right and was kinda flat and not as fresh. Turns out my alkalinity was way off, which threw the pH all over the place, even though strips made it seem okay. Those test strips are decent for quick checks, but I’d suggest grabbing a drop test kit if you can.

Way more accurate. Also, baking soda helps with alkalinity, but if pH is already low, it might not be enough on its own. Try checking both together next time, and they’re more connected than people think. Hope that helps!
 
Looks like you’ve got a few good suggestions here! I’ve had similar issues before, and what worked for me was cutting back on the amount of chemicals I was using. Sometimes we overcompensate, and that actually messes with the balance more. Anyone else tried reducing chemical use to see if it makes a difference?
 
I’ve had that situation a few times, water looks fine but feels weird. Often, it’s a combination of low pH and tiny chloramine buildup. Strips can be misleading, so I recommend using a proper test kit, check both pH and alkalinity, and balance them carefully. After that, a quick shock treatment usually resets things. Give it a day or two and you’ll notice the irritation and smell go away.
 
Yeah, that weird “looks fine but feels wrong” thing is usually a combo of a few small issues stacking up, not one big obvious fail. I had almost the same thing last year. Water wasn’t green, not cloudy, but it smelled off and my eyes were annoyed after like 10 minutes. Strips said chlorine was ok, so I kept second guessing myself and made it worse by tossing random stuff in.

For me the problem was trusting the strip too much and using baking soda without knowing where alkalinity actually was. Baking soda bumps alkalinity way more than pH, so if pH was already low-ish, you kinda just moved the problem sideways. My alkalinity floor ended up too high, pH still unstable, and chlorine wasn’t working efficiently, which is why it smelled even though numbers looked “fine”. Filter pressure was also creeping up a bit, which didn’t help circulation.

What fixed it was slowing way down. I shocked once to clear the used-up chlorine smell, then tested properly and adjusted alkalinity first, small doses over a couple days. After that I nudged pH back into range and left it alone. I also started doing quick sanity checks midweek with the aquadoc eagle ray because strips were driving me crazy and I didn’t want to break out the full kit every time. Once alkalinity stopped bouncing, the water stopped feeling dull and my eyes stopped burning. Its wild how water can lie to you when chemistry is just slightly off. Anyone else notice strips are way more confusing when things are only a little out of range?
 
This “water looks fine but feels off” thing happens more than people think. I had a stretch like that last summer where the pool never turned cloudy or green, but it just didn’t feel right, slight smell, eyes a bit irritated, and the water had that dull look you mentioned.

What ended up being the clue for me was circulation and testing accuracy. My filter pressure had slowly crept up a few psi and the water turnover wasn’t as good as usual. Once I cleaned the filter and checked the numbers with a more reliable test instead of strips, the picture made more sense. My pH was lower than I thought and alkalinity had drifted higher, which made the water chemistry feel a little “off” even though nothing looked obviously wrong.

Also worth remembering that smell doesn’t usually mean too much chlorine, it often means chlorine is already used up reacting with stuff in the water. That can irritate eyes even if the pool still looks clear. After I cleaned the filter, rechecked alkalinity and pH, and made smaller adjustments instead of guessing, the water started feeling normal again within a day or two.

If you can, I’d double check alkalinity, pH, and maybe give the filter a quick look too. Sometimes the problem isn’t a big imbalance, it’s just a few small things stacking together.
 
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