turning my pool around, I hope

[duraleigh]

pamom,

I cringe when I start these posts because it is very, very easy to think what I am going to say is rude. I do not intend it that way and I hope you will not take it that way.

It is time for you to make a decision as to who's advice to take.....this forum or the pool store. We hope you'll take the advice here because we know it to be correct. You cannot reach your goal of clear water by listening to 2 sets of conflicting instructions.

Next, trying to do what we advocate without a good test kit is very difficult.......it can be done but it is not easy and it will require you to go back to pool school and learn much, more about pool water chemistry and then learn what to do with your situation given the test results you have. I promise you, it will be far less painless with accurate, meaningful test results.

I sell one of the kits recommended here on the forum so I have an obvious agenda. I'll let others encourage or discourage you on the need to have a kit so you can post good numbers.

Keep the faith......you can get your pool crystal clear. :lol: :lol:

 

[Isaac-1]

I just wanted to say Dave has a great test kit, either it (the TF-100 ) or the Taylor K-2006 kit is the way to go, Dave uses Taylor reagents, so it is basically the same kit, but with Dave's you get more bang for the buck as he includes more of the reagents that you use more of in the test where Taylor gives you all of the same size bottles even when a test requires 5 drops of reagent A and 10 or even 20 of reagent B.

Ike

p.s. the only thing I think the Taylor K-2006 kit has going for it is that it comes in a box where the bottle stand up when stored, but that is easir to make when all your bottles are the same size..

 

[pamom]

Well just to update our progress with the pool. I added stabilizer and shocked the heck out of the pool with bleach. and today My readings are: CYA 40 tot chlorine 5.5 free chlorine 5.5 ph 8.1 tot alkalinity 111 adj total alk 99 tot hardness 258
my pool is still cloudy but i think we are safe to get in it and the kids are driving me nuts. Thank you for all your help!!

 

[waskydiver]

Add some acid, and bring down your pH. I suspect this will correct your problem.

Your TA + CH + pH is giving you a CSI of .72. This can cause clouding.

 

[Isaac-1]

I would certainly bring the pH down before releasing the kids into it, a little acid and a couple of hours for it to work should do the trick.

Ike

You can buy muriatic acid (20 baume) at most hardware stores for around $3 per quart, if your pool is around 11,500 gallons about half a quart should drop you to around 7.5 pH, just don't pour it all in one place (or slowly pour it in front of a return jet)

p.s. I know muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) can be scary, but it really is nearly the ideal pool chemical when you look at what happens you add it to water for pH control you get:

OH− + HCl → H2O + Cl−

(your taking hydroxide ion that already exists in your water (as the higher pH shows) combine it with the hydrochloric acid and the product is H2O (water) plus a chlorine ion which will just slightly add to your free chlorine level.