Re: Can I open using my old stuff... *long*
My not checking in for awhile is a testament to the usefulness of the pool calculator and the pool school articles. Thanks!
I put in 3 bags of dichlor and bleach the first night to bring it up to what amounted to "frog kill" shock level (the frog that I was unable to catch in the skimmer that night was floating dead on his back the next morning in the skimmer). It truly was a swamp. I continued to add bleach to get it up to shock level for several days while the green started to fade. I only had a standard chlorine/ph testing kit so I took water to Leslie's nearby for testing frequently. I got wide swings in testing numbers from different testers there (amazingly some numbers were drastically different for the same person on the same day!).
Here's a rundown of what happened:
Thurs. morning
FC 1
TC 5
PH 7.2
TA 80
CH 200
CYA 20
Added bleach target 15.
Thurs afternoon
FC 1
TC 1
PH 7.0
TA 50
CH 250
CYA 40
Added bleach target 15.
Fri morning
FC 5
TC 5
PH 7.4 (my PH reading looks more like 6.8 )
TA 70
CH 150
CYA 28
Added bleach target 15. Added borax to raise PH.
Tested and added more bleach Fri. night.
Sat morning (diff pool store that used strips with computer)
FC 6.5
TC 6.5
PH 6.5
TA 66
CH 143
CYA not tested (he wouldn't test it because he didn't think it really mattered, won't be going back there)
Added soda ash to raise PH and TA.
Sun. started running Polaris during the day and emptying frequently, ewwwww, nasty green sludge and pine needles. Tried to vacuum but couldn't tell what was going on in the deep end and ended up just wasting water.
Mon. morning
FC 5
TC 5
PH 7.6 (my PH reading is 7.2)
TA 100 (I thought this was a bad reading so I ignored it)
CH 250
CYA 40
Added borax to raise PH. Used my basic test kit for next week, if it started turning yellow after a couple of drops I figured was around shock level (this isn't rocket science right? :-D ) If I registered 5 on my kit, added bleach with 15 target. When the green tinge was gone, started targeting 6.
After almost a week, Polaris finally stopped filling with nasty sludge while running during the day, mostly just pine needles (lots!) now.
(Next) Sun. morning
FC 5
TC 5
PH 7.4
TA 80
CH 250
CYA 40
Water temp 75
Water blue and cloudy.
I've been getting the feeling that they are overshooting on CYA. Ordered TF tests kits for DPD and CYA and stopped testing at Leslie's.
Lots of rain for several days, raised pool level about 3 inches. Backwashed filter to clean and lower water level.
Received TF DPD and CYA kits yesterday. My test results:
Mon. evening
FC 1.5
CC .5
PH 7.6
CYA 27 (first try not sure if I was reading it right)
Added bleach, FC target 4
Tues. afternoon
FC 2.5
CC .5
PH 7.6
CYA 23 (pretty sure I'm reading it right after looking at Taylor website on CYA test)
Water Temp 72
Water blue and cloudiness still clearing. Polaris is picking up very little debris now. Can see the drain cover in the deep end, yay!
I know this is very long, but it's been a few weeks and I thought it might prove informative (and show how random pool store testing can be).
So my question now is, I still have some bags of dichlor and some trichlor. Should I use that to increase my CYA level a bit and test again in a week? What should I target at first and for final target? Any other thoughts?
BTW, I'm renting the house and the owner does not have a pool cover. He told us to just drain the pump when it got cold and clean it out in the spring. Next winter we'll keep the pool open and run the pump for about four hours at night (I was told that's about right for here) and longer if it's freezing. What a nasty mess. Ended up pulling almost an entire garbage can full of pine needles from the pool. Did I mention that I *hate* pine trees? They're just big weeds as far as I'm concerned.