Chlorine or Phosphate Remover

[Lroberts32]

Opened my pool clear with dirt/worms on the bottom. Brushed and vac the pool and started the filter. Added 1 foot of well water and pool turned greenish yellow. All numbers were fine accept higher than 1000 phosphates in the water. Pool store said to add phosphate remover before adding chlorine bc chlorine won't hold and we'd be wasting our money. So added 3 qts of Pool Pride Phos remover. 2 days later still high phos levels over 1000. Added 2 more qts. No difference in color and still can't see the bottom of deep end. Frustrated so we added floc as an experiment to see if particles would go to floor and we could vac to waste. Well that was a mess. Brownish water now with chunks of stuff. Spent weekend brushing, vacuuming and using a skimmer sock to get gunk out. Helped alot. Now greenish blue and can see 3rd step in shallow end. Added iron sequesterant called Sparkle Conquest last night. No change.

My question is can we add chlorine now and perform an overnight fc test to get started in this process or should we continue working on the color of our water?

We are confused as to what to do next.

 

[gwegan]

1. Stop Listening to the pool store, read Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry and post some pictures of your pool

2. Get either a K-2006 or TF 100 test kit.

3. Test your water.

4. SLAM the pool. Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain

5. Post your progress on here

That should clear the water.

Phosphates are not your problems -- algae and other organics are. You need to deal with the chemistry. Have you backwashed at all?

I suspect all you need to cure this problems is lots of liquid chlorine and some time. But we need test results to guide you and to help us guide you. Not pool store results, although we can start with them, but your results.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

TF=100 is your best buy for a test kit. You can order it day or night at TFTestkits.net and it will ship fast out of North Carolina.

 

[Lroberts32]

Since 4/27/16 we've been slamming the pool. Bought a Taylor test kit. Water has cleared very well but we're just not getting to 100% clear like we hope to be. Appx. putting in 5 gallons of 12.5% chlorine daily according to CYA chart. Backwashing nightly and brushing in morning and night when adding chlorine. Put DE in filter. Vac a few times but sediment just settles back in same spots on bottom of pool. Have had rain which added to water to pool but we did add a bit of well water too.

cya 75
FC 16.4
cc 0.1
tc 5
ph 7.2
alk 100
cal hard 240

Overnight test is losing bt 2-4 ppm FC. Decided to stop slamming and let the chlorine drop so we can start heating and swimming next week. Should we still be slamming instead? Seems like SO much chlorine.

Also, we do have phosphates which I'm told eat up the chlorine so is it possible the phosphates are eating chlorine at night and not organics. I mean how can algae be in there STILL?

 

[Texas Splash]

Something that stands out immediately on your last tests is that your FC is very low based on that CYA. Round it up to 80 and your FC should be 31. That could be a reason you're not seeing the progress you expect. Maintain the FC and keep working vigilant and it will work. No need to be concerned about the phosphates.

 

[Patrick_B]

No, Phosphates do not consume or "eat" FC. it doesn't sound like you've followed the SLAM procedure correctly by just adding an amount each day. It's all about checking and keeping the FC at shock level until you are done. You need to continue the SLAM, until it's completely done. If you stop now, you'll be in trouble again very shortly.