Sick of my Pool! Ready to start a new life for it!

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Beth52400

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Aug 11, 2015
21
Phoenix, Arizona
Good morning everyone and thanks in advance for your help! I have been lurking and reading for a few days. Have not ever posted on message boards but as I start this new adventure in pool care, I don't want to mess anything up!!

Here we go with some background! Pool built in 2006. Was originally a salt water system but after 3 years with our hard Phoenix water, the salt cell broke. At the time my hubby was out of work and it was too expensive to replace so we just switched to chlorinating from the pool store. Everything seemed ok for the last few years....until this last April! The pool in floor cleaning system broke and pool went green. Shocked and got algaecide, etc. It recovered but the entire summer has been an uphill battle. Have been adding pucks every other day, shocking once/week, spending hours scrubbing and working on it and can't get it to clear up! It is smelly and cloudy no matter what we do.

Last week the pump broke and we replaced that. No improvement. I am so frustrated!! I found your site and have decided to start following your methods and hoping for better results. Yesterday I went to Leslie's and bought the testing kit. I also had them test the water. The pool store told me I need to drain the pool. He basically said the water was "unfixable" or I would be spending like $400-500 on chemicals to attempt it! Here are the readings from pool store:

FC- 0
TC- 0
Ph- 6.0
Alkalinity- 30
CYA >100
Copper- 3

Went home and tested with my own (new) kit:

FC- 0.5
TC- 2
CC- 1.5
Ph- <6.8
TA- 10
CH- added 50 drops and it never went blue so I stopped test
CYA- >100 (if this is equal to markings I would say it is 160)

So last night I drained the pool.

Started refilling this morning. I will test once the water level is up- thinking it will be about 6-8 more hours.

My questions:
1. What do I do now?? I don't want to mess it up!

2. There are some brown ?algea streaking on the walls/floor in places. Should I be doing something while the pool is empty?

3. Will my pool ever be clean and easy to take care of?? :)

I appreciate any input! Thank you so much!
 
Hello and welcome! Okay, so you're refilling and starting over somewhat. Here's a basic run-down of what needs to be done:
1 - Confirm CYA first. No sense trying to add any new chemicals until you know the CYA is back down to earth. In AZ, if you get it down to 50-ish that probably a good place to be.
2 - Next, adjust PH to about 7.2. Use the Poolmath calculator to help you.
3 - Now you start adding bleach (30 minutes after the PH step above). Use the Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart to determine what your new FC level should be based on your new CYA from step #1 above. Then add bleach to get to that point.

Your CYA went through the roof from those pool store products. Stick with regular bleach only. Also, no algaecides! Most the time they don't work that well, and they add copper to your water. No bueno.

After your fill, you need to give us a full set of new test results (FC, CC, CYA, PH, TA, and CH). They need to come from your own test kit, not the pool store or strips. After that, we can get ore specific on any follow-up actions.

I hope this help s get you going. Let us know if you have any questions.
 
Can you tell us which test kit you have please? You may have to supplement it with a few additional reagents, in order to measure high chlorine levels (i.e. higher than the 5 or 10 ppm that typical home test kits max out at).
 
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Sorry for the delated reply. Just got home from getting a tire replaced. So while I was out we had a HUGE random dust/rain storm and now the 1/4 full pool is full of dirt and leaves! YIKES! going to scoop out what I can once the storm blows over.

The test kit I got is a Taylor K-1005. It looks exactly like this: http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-Technologies-K-1005-Residential-Trouble-Shooter/dp/B003054WO2 It does look like it maxes out at 10. What else should I buy?

Question- should I do anything about the obvious brownish green streaking (?algea) that I can see on one of the walls?

Thanks so much!
 
Yeah, it looks like your current kit has limited FC testing capability. You can order the FAS-DPD (powder and drops) from TFTestkits.net. If you look at the Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart, and compare the CYA levels to an FC level (especially if someone needs to "SLAM"), you'll see why being able to record readings over 10 is so critical. Anyways, let us know if you have any more questions.
 
Good Morning! Pool is full and I am ready to start! Test results from freshly filled pool with nothing added (except some leaves from the storm yesterday!):

FC: 0
TC: 0
CC: 0
Ph:7.8
TA: 160
CH: 230
CYA: <30 (I could see the black dot the whole time until the tube was completely full)

I have ordered the FAS-DPD so I can do a SLAM, but I would imagine it will take a 2-3 days for it to arrive. :(

So my first step is to get the CYA up a little bit. Should I buy liquid or solid stabilizer? I am SOOOOOO nervous to add this! I guess because I feel like this was a huge part of my original problem!

Please advise! Thank you so much!
 
Liquid CYA costs more but is in the pool right a way. The non-liquid form is less costly but can take up to a week to fully register on the test.

- - - Updated - - -

I believe I have good news. At this point I see no reason to have to SLAM.

I would recommend you get your CYA up to around 40 since your are in AZ and I assume the pool gets a lot of sun.

Then get your FC up to 5. Start with 2 until the CYA starts to register. Then increase the FC as the CYA goes up.

Use this chart : http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock

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Then work on the pH. Use http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html to help with that. It will be good practice to get used to using it. Pool Math is your #1 resource for what to put in to your pool.

- - - Updated - - -

Others may come along and modify what I've said, but until then, this is what I've learned in my time here.

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for the pH 7.8 is not BAD it's just at the high side of the range so I would suggest lowering it to around 7.5 or so. Just in case it wants to rise.

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You can work on these things a the same time. It is recommended that you wait at least 60 mins between addition of chemicals just to make sure there all mixed properly.
 
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It is usually recommended to add half of the needed chemical and to test again to confirm the level is where you expect it to be. If you want to follow this recommendation I would use the liquid CYA, with the powder CYA you will have to wait a week in order to get an accurate reading.
 
Please post as much as you want. About anything you want.

We love pictures too!!

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Liquid CYA only, and on way home stop by a Lowes or something like that and get some Muriatic acid to lower the pH with.
 
Everything stated above sounds right on track. Initial target of 40 is fine. You can always add a little more later if you believe you are using-up too much bleach each day. If you need to increase CYA later, do so by adding in increments of 10 ppm each until you reach the ideal CYA level you want. In beautiful downtown Phoenix/Glendale, etc... you may find your ideal CYA to be more around 50 or so to protect from that intense sun/heat. But 40 is just fine to start. Now that you have the FAS-DPD on its way, check FC often as recommended above to ensure you have at least 2-3 ppm until the CYA increase to 40. Once your CYA rises, which should take no more than 24 hours for liquid, you can increase that FC to your ideal target based on the new CYA listed on the Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart.

You're on your way! Enjoy! :swim:
 
Back from pool store and replaced the broken O-ring on the backwash lever thingy. Now I am ready to turn on my pool pump! Just to clarify- before I add the stabilizer. I know my CYA is <30 but don't know if it is 0..... Pool Math tells me to add 95 oz if it is at 30, or 381oz if it is at 0! Should I go with the 95 oz? I only bought 1 gallon.....should I add the whole gallon?
 
I will try to figure out how to post some pictures in a bit. :D The pool gets direct sun from about 10 am to 6pm.

Once I add the stabilizer (waiting for someone to confirm how much to add), I will wait 1 hour and then add 81oz bleach for my goal of FC 2 for now. Then I will wait an hour and add 54 oz of (14%) Muriatic Acid. Does that sound correct? When should I retest everything once I add?
 
If you are using liquid stabilizer, you can always add more after testing. A gallon will add 32 PPM in 10,000 gallons of water, so an entire gallon in your 27,500 would add roughly 12 PPM. You can always test and add more, but you can't take it out without replacing water.
 
Thanks otter. So I should have bought more than 1 gallon. At $37.99! Yikes! I do have a bunch of pucks and shock and I put them away with the intent of NEVER using them again unless we are on vacation. But, should I put some pucks in a floater to help bring up my CYA? or should I just suck it up and go get more liquid stabilizer? Or maybe add the gallon, retest in a day or so? and then decide what to do since I don't know exactly where I am? Thoughts? And while we are at it (sorry for the million questions) where exactly in the pool do I add the stabilizer? Deep end near the returns? into the skimmer??
 

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