Recent content by passthebandaids

Hi Swampwoman, thanks for all the info! The pool was sitting for several months untended - October or November I think. The water itself was full of algae so we were guessing it was organic staining. However, when we first tested our calcium hardness the test numbers came back in the thousands...

Ok we tried both tests. We put the chlorine puck and the vit C on the stains in different places for 8 minutes. No visible change to the stains from either the puck or the vit C

After some research, they appear to be organic stains. They're light brown/green and as the pool was emptied, it smelled like Lake Michigan - very much like algae on a rocky, moss covered shore. That said, I'm a complete novice.

Morning! Here are the results of the OCLT: Last night testing levels- FC: 10 CC:0.5 This morning there was no change - FC still 10 and CC still 0.5. I take it that's a good thing, there's no living algae in the pool and the staining is just staining not new growth.

Ok, quick update on the balancing after adding bleach and the cya today: PH: 7.3 FC: 3.5 CC: 0.5 Total chlorine (is this what people mean by Cl? seems like it but i don't want to take anything for granted.): 4 CH: 300 TA: 120 CYA: 20 (understand this won't be accurate for a few days, just wanted...

Got it, that makes sense. Thanks

Gene - sounds good. However, question: will doing a OCLT tonight give us an accurate reading, since the CYA won't have finished dissolving by then? I'm thinking that if we do an OCLT from tonight to tomorrow morning, it'll give inflated results as the CYA won't be fully dissolved. -- Unless...

CYA is dissolving fairly quickly; about 1lbs of it is already dissolved from the sock. water looks crystal clear; discoloration is from the plaster stains.

We added the 4lbs of CYA this morning using 30 as the target for the poolmath calculation. I'm at work but I'll ask my wife to check Cl

I have all these chlorine pucks that also add CYA - could I use those in conjunction with the bleach once the acid is added? Or just stick with the bleach? I know the powder adds a ton of CH in addition to the chlorine, definitely don't want more CH. That's why I drained in the first place. I...

Here we go FC: 0.5 CC: 0.5 pH: 8.0 TA: 140 CH: 450 CYA: filled to top of tube and can still clearly see dot, so... 0?

bleach/water mix ineffective. drain is complete; filling back up now. seriously disappointed in myself for letting it get this bad. i'm trying to get an idea of what it'll take (and how much it'll cost) to get rid of those stains. will test once filled and water has cycled for an hour; i don't...

Looks like some pretty serious staining. Earlier Jason had advised waiting until pool is full; should we just do that, or in light of the staining, would it be better to spray with 50/50 bleach/water while filling?

Tried brushing with water just to see; those look like stains to me. Brushing had zero effect. Any idea how I can get rid of those? Is that something I'd handle after filling process is complete?

So far so good! Spraying every 20 minutes while draining; plan to do the same while filling. Little sprinkler for the shallow end is waiting on stand by!