Hi there!
I apologize in advance for the long nature of this post. We are at our pulling our hair out & do not know what to do! The hubby and I just bought a home with a 14,000-15,000 gallon plaster pool and attached spa with Pentair IC-40 (that I now believe is not functioning due to a green flashing “cell” light). We’ve never maintained a pool before and are freaking out with this algae & this pool not holding a chlorine reading. For reference, we are in East Texas - pine trees galore and intense, humid heat frequently between 90-105 degree during the summer months.
The sellers of the home did not maintain properly and when we took possession of the home on July 3oth, we noticed what turned out to be mustard algae and black spots which I’m guessing is black algae. Of course, not knowing what to do, we immediately took a sample to Leslie’s. As of July 30th, our readings were:
Free Available Chlorine: 0
Total Available Chlorine: 0
Salt: 4200
Calcium Hardness: 180
Cyanuric Acid: 60
Total Alkalinity: 80
pH: 8.0
Acid Demand: 2
Copper: 0
Iron: 0
Phosphates: 300
Temp: 85
He told us to put in 24 oz of Muriatic Acid, to put in ONE packet of Chlorbrite and that is it! Of course at the time, everything sounded like a foreign language to us (we didn’t know the first thing about pools) so we simply did what we were told. Of course, the pool did not get cleaner nor did the algae spots clear up. So, a week later on 8/6, we take another sample to Leslie’s and tell him about the algae not clearing up. As of 8/6, the readings were:
Free Available Chlorine: 0
Total Available Chlorine: 0
Salt: 3000
Calcium Hardness: 230
Cyanuric Acid: 60
Total Alkalinity: 80
pH: 8.0
Acid Demand: 3
Copper: 0
Iron: 0
Phosphates: 500
Temp: 90
He gives us test strips, a whole box on ChlorBrite, 1 quart of “Algae Control”, some “PhosFree” and then “Perfect Weekly” to use once we “got everything under control”. He tells us to go home, backwash, then add the algae Control. Then to add the Muriatic Acid, wait an hour and then begin putting in the Chlorbrite every two hours if we still register 0 on chlorine. We get home, we completely overwhelmed and call a local pool guy. He comes out and that is when we are informed that the algae is “mustard” algae and the black spots also algae. He puts in some powdered chlorine and tells us to put in a couple more packs as well. He says to scrub the walls and that if we wanted him to put in some algae treatment he could. I knew about this forum & I didn’t want all sorts of things going into the pool that didn’t need to be, so I said we would wait to see if the chlorine would handle it and that if we couldn’t get it under control, we would call him back. I immediately started researching this forum and I learned many thing VERY quickly: I realize that we need to SLAM (shock) the pool. I learn that the the shock level should be 24. I learn that bleach or liquid chlorine should be used as it is faster acting. I learn that shock level needs to be maintained. So we rush to the store to purchase insane amounts of bleach. We start treating the pool immediately, running the polaris all during treatment. I used the pool calculator to determine the amount of bleach that needs to be used starting from a 0 reading.
Long story short, it has been 2.5 days of trying to get this under control with bleach and I’m just not sure I’m doing things the right way or if it is working. It’s a full time job trying to maintain and I am waiting on the proper tools (a proper kit that can read over 10 in total chlorine as opposed to these strips). Over the course of the last couple of days, we have put in between 20-30 gallons of bleach. I guess the algae/sun is eating it all up because a couple of hours after putting in the recommended amount of bleach to bring it up to 24, the chlorine goes down to the 5-6 level. Overnight, it goes down to 2! We have scrubbed the walls &floor. The water is crystal clear but some black spots remain. The mustard algae seems to be visibly gone, but something is consuming the chlorine! From what I understand, SLAMMING isn’t complete until there is less than 1 ppm lost overnight. Well, we put in bleach last night and woke up this morning to an FC reading of 2!
I just need to know if I am on the right track or if I am doing something wrong? Do I need to address this high phosphate reading? Continue to shock/slam? Do I need to discontinue until I get the right test kit rather than these strips that only test to an FC reading of 10?
To add insult to injury, the Pentair IC-40 is coming up on its age. The “cell” light blinks green which tells me it either needs to be cleaned or is no longer functioning. From what I understand, either way, it is not producing chlorine. I plan to acid wash it later this evening. But I don’t know if that has anything to do with what’s going on? Should I even have the salt cell on while SLAMMING?
As side note and to add more confusion to my already jumbled brain, I went to Leslie’s today to pick up the Pentair Salt Cell cleaning kit (which is essentially just a stand to acid wash the cell), I ask the guy if they have something that I can test my FC above 10 and he tells me anything above an FC of 10 is DANGEROUS and I should never read above that and I need to get it down to between 1-3. MY BRAIN IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE!!!!
Please help! I need guidance! My husband has started a new job and can’t help much with this so I’m feeling mighty overwhelmed. I’m self employed which is great because I can be home intermittently throughout the day but I need to get back to work rather than focusing 100% of my time to this pool!
Or, am I better off calling a pro on this?
Thanks so much in advance!
I apologize in advance for the long nature of this post. We are at our pulling our hair out & do not know what to do! The hubby and I just bought a home with a 14,000-15,000 gallon plaster pool and attached spa with Pentair IC-40 (that I now believe is not functioning due to a green flashing “cell” light). We’ve never maintained a pool before and are freaking out with this algae & this pool not holding a chlorine reading. For reference, we are in East Texas - pine trees galore and intense, humid heat frequently between 90-105 degree during the summer months.
The sellers of the home did not maintain properly and when we took possession of the home on July 3oth, we noticed what turned out to be mustard algae and black spots which I’m guessing is black algae. Of course, not knowing what to do, we immediately took a sample to Leslie’s. As of July 30th, our readings were:
Free Available Chlorine: 0
Total Available Chlorine: 0
Salt: 4200
Calcium Hardness: 180
Cyanuric Acid: 60
Total Alkalinity: 80
pH: 8.0
Acid Demand: 2
Copper: 0
Iron: 0
Phosphates: 300
Temp: 85
He told us to put in 24 oz of Muriatic Acid, to put in ONE packet of Chlorbrite and that is it! Of course at the time, everything sounded like a foreign language to us (we didn’t know the first thing about pools) so we simply did what we were told. Of course, the pool did not get cleaner nor did the algae spots clear up. So, a week later on 8/6, we take another sample to Leslie’s and tell him about the algae not clearing up. As of 8/6, the readings were:
Free Available Chlorine: 0
Total Available Chlorine: 0
Salt: 3000
Calcium Hardness: 230
Cyanuric Acid: 60
Total Alkalinity: 80
pH: 8.0
Acid Demand: 3
Copper: 0
Iron: 0
Phosphates: 500
Temp: 90
He gives us test strips, a whole box on ChlorBrite, 1 quart of “Algae Control”, some “PhosFree” and then “Perfect Weekly” to use once we “got everything under control”. He tells us to go home, backwash, then add the algae Control. Then to add the Muriatic Acid, wait an hour and then begin putting in the Chlorbrite every two hours if we still register 0 on chlorine. We get home, we completely overwhelmed and call a local pool guy. He comes out and that is when we are informed that the algae is “mustard” algae and the black spots also algae. He puts in some powdered chlorine and tells us to put in a couple more packs as well. He says to scrub the walls and that if we wanted him to put in some algae treatment he could. I knew about this forum & I didn’t want all sorts of things going into the pool that didn’t need to be, so I said we would wait to see if the chlorine would handle it and that if we couldn’t get it under control, we would call him back. I immediately started researching this forum and I learned many thing VERY quickly: I realize that we need to SLAM (shock) the pool. I learn that the the shock level should be 24. I learn that bleach or liquid chlorine should be used as it is faster acting. I learn that shock level needs to be maintained. So we rush to the store to purchase insane amounts of bleach. We start treating the pool immediately, running the polaris all during treatment. I used the pool calculator to determine the amount of bleach that needs to be used starting from a 0 reading.
Long story short, it has been 2.5 days of trying to get this under control with bleach and I’m just not sure I’m doing things the right way or if it is working. It’s a full time job trying to maintain and I am waiting on the proper tools (a proper kit that can read over 10 in total chlorine as opposed to these strips). Over the course of the last couple of days, we have put in between 20-30 gallons of bleach. I guess the algae/sun is eating it all up because a couple of hours after putting in the recommended amount of bleach to bring it up to 24, the chlorine goes down to the 5-6 level. Overnight, it goes down to 2! We have scrubbed the walls &floor. The water is crystal clear but some black spots remain. The mustard algae seems to be visibly gone, but something is consuming the chlorine! From what I understand, SLAMMING isn’t complete until there is less than 1 ppm lost overnight. Well, we put in bleach last night and woke up this morning to an FC reading of 2!
I just need to know if I am on the right track or if I am doing something wrong? Do I need to address this high phosphate reading? Continue to shock/slam? Do I need to discontinue until I get the right test kit rather than these strips that only test to an FC reading of 10?
To add insult to injury, the Pentair IC-40 is coming up on its age. The “cell” light blinks green which tells me it either needs to be cleaned or is no longer functioning. From what I understand, either way, it is not producing chlorine. I plan to acid wash it later this evening. But I don’t know if that has anything to do with what’s going on? Should I even have the salt cell on while SLAMMING?
As side note and to add more confusion to my already jumbled brain, I went to Leslie’s today to pick up the Pentair Salt Cell cleaning kit (which is essentially just a stand to acid wash the cell), I ask the guy if they have something that I can test my FC above 10 and he tells me anything above an FC of 10 is DANGEROUS and I should never read above that and I need to get it down to between 1-3. MY BRAIN IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE!!!!
Please help! I need guidance! My husband has started a new job and can’t help much with this so I’m feeling mighty overwhelmed. I’m self employed which is great because I can be home intermittently throughout the day but I need to get back to work rather than focusing 100% of my time to this pool!
Or, am I better off calling a pro on this?
Thanks so much in advance!
