We are new to pool ownership and I am afraid we have made a mess of it already! With the best of intentions of course. I went to "pool school" and feel like I have a basic grasp of the concepts. The pool sat uncovered possibly for 2 years without being used and then was covered up for a total of 2 years. We removed a TON of debris by blind raking and vacuming. Literally a trash bag full. It was very gross.
My biggest concern is the money already spent and what we have on hand. I was wondering if I can give a list of what is on hand and if it can be used along with the BBB system which is what we want to convert over to.
Chlorinating granules (not much left)
Chlorinating tabs (large bucket)
Pool is equipped with a in line filter that holds the tabs and we have 7 in it (in the pump house attached to the pump)
Stabilizer
Test strips
We have used granulated shock from Walmart three times. Initially we only used 6 lbs and only a slight change. The last time we used two 10 lbs and started seeing noticeable results. We also used 2 bottles of algaecide (waste of money) but there is now dead algae floating to the surface that we are scooping away and I can somewhat see the bottom of the pool next to the steps. It just doesent seem to be enough though. I did add some Ph up and some Alkaline increaser a few days ago under the assumption that these need to be up in order to get the chlorine to work. I want to keep the process going before I loose what I have, and I have all weekend to dedicate!
Results from test strips: (and yes I can go get a cheaper kit from walmart or home depot when I get other supplies for today)
Total hardness low
Total Chlorine high (10) or higher
Free chlorine very high (20)
Ph high
Total alkalinity low (40)
Stabilizer ok (50)
I'm still confused on the "shock" process. Do I need to get my Ph up more first? Alkalinity up? Stabilizer up? Then how many gallons of bleach are we talking about here? I'm a little confused about the Bleach calculator tool. So do the bleach and Alkalinity are most important right now?
Thanks for any guidance....I'm standing by in the pool house ready to work!
My biggest concern is the money already spent and what we have on hand. I was wondering if I can give a list of what is on hand and if it can be used along with the BBB system which is what we want to convert over to.
Chlorinating granules (not much left)
Chlorinating tabs (large bucket)
Pool is equipped with a in line filter that holds the tabs and we have 7 in it (in the pump house attached to the pump)
Stabilizer
Test strips
We have used granulated shock from Walmart three times. Initially we only used 6 lbs and only a slight change. The last time we used two 10 lbs and started seeing noticeable results. We also used 2 bottles of algaecide (waste of money) but there is now dead algae floating to the surface that we are scooping away and I can somewhat see the bottom of the pool next to the steps. It just doesent seem to be enough though. I did add some Ph up and some Alkaline increaser a few days ago under the assumption that these need to be up in order to get the chlorine to work. I want to keep the process going before I loose what I have, and I have all weekend to dedicate!
Results from test strips: (and yes I can go get a cheaper kit from walmart or home depot when I get other supplies for today)
Total hardness low
Total Chlorine high (10) or higher
Free chlorine very high (20)
Ph high
Total alkalinity low (40)
Stabilizer ok (50)
I'm still confused on the "shock" process. Do I need to get my Ph up more first? Alkalinity up? Stabilizer up? Then how many gallons of bleach are we talking about here? I'm a little confused about the Bleach calculator tool. So do the bleach and Alkalinity are most important right now?
Thanks for any guidance....I'm standing by in the pool house ready to work!