Opened pool in SW Michigan - issues

[mrauch]

Ok, been lurking and reading up a ton on this site...thanks to all that post it's amazing what I thought I knew but didn't...

I have a couple issues that I'm not sure how to tackle and in what order, and sometimes hate asking the pool store people because they sometimes push the pricey fix rather then the correct fix.

Pool water - currently sitting at a balmy 50 degrees!!! Pool is now in its 4th year and has a Vinyl liner, 18x36 (so I base everything off of 25k gallons). I have an automatic cover so a lot of the burn off, and Crud that would go into my water usually doesn't happen because I keep it closed if it isn't being used.

End of last year we got hit with phosphates extremely hard...couldn't get rid of them until the very end of the year...opened up the pool and tested them and boom they are back, over 1,000 ppb...poured in some Sea Klear phos remover last night and am waiting to vacuum it up this morning. Is there a sure fire way to get rid of the Phosphates once and for all??? if so whats the best way?

Pool chemistry:
FC 0
TA 120
TH 400 (live in the country so we have well water)
CY 40

Free chlorine is my other issue as you can see...again since last year when the phosphates exploded been struggling with the FC. I hit it with 8 bottles of "swim kleer" sodium hypochlorite 12.6% shock yesterday. Woke up this morning and no FC. I also need to get a test kit with Total Chlorine of Combined Chlorine.

Please help

Mick

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

You shouldn't be worrying about phosphates. As long as you maintain an appropriate FC level it really doesn't matter what you phosphate level is. The only time phosphates matter at all if when you forget to add chlorine for a couple of days in a row, which you should never be doing anyway. Phosphate remover is being pushed by pool stores very aggressively these days, but for nearly everyone it is far far more trouble than it could possibly be worth.

You need to continue adding chlorine until you can maintain a consistent FC level. See How To Shock Your Pool in Pool School.

 

[mrauch]

Jason

Thanks for the reply. I added another 6 today and and almost seeing some FC come into play. Per my previous post I'm adding liquid chlorine...what is your feeling on the 3" pucks that you can throw into the filter bucket? I've heard that they can aide in the calcification of your sand?

 

[zea3]

Your CYA of 40 should be about right. If you use pucks you will raise your CYA. For example, An 8-ounce puck in 10,000 gallons will increase FC by 5.48 ppm and CYA by 3.33 ppm

 

[mrauch]

Ok, I am now up to 16 gallons of the 12% shock into the pool. Still no FC but now my PH is free-falling to around 6.6. I know I need to continue to hit it with Chlorine in order to get the FC up but I am assuming that I need to add some borax to get the PH back up...is this correct?

One last question. Sand is 4 years old, is there a way that this needs to be changed could the sand be an issue?

thanks for your feedback guys.

 

[JasonLion]

Yes, raise the PH and then continue adding chlorine.

Your sand is fine. Some people replace sand every five to seven years, but most of us never replace our sand.

 

[mrauch]

Gaining some ground this morning. Still no FC but the PH is up to 7.2 (I'll hit this again to get it up to the 7.5 range) and the pool is clear which it has had a hazy/oily look to it since we opened it.

Going to hit it with 4 gallons of 12% this morning (had a reading of 5 after 1hr yesterday), and some PH increaser.

One question - do you feel it is better to hit it with 4 gallons all at once or do 2 now and 2 in the afternoon and 2 before bed? Just curious if there is a preferred method to the madness?

thanks

Mick

 

[JasonLion]

The method is to raise FC up to shock level as often as practical. That might be as much as three gallons of 12.5% chlorine at one time, but the exact amount you need to use depends on your FC level at the time.

 

[mrauch]

Jason

Just so I'm clear with our pool in the 30-50 range for CYA...we need to get a reading of ~ 15 in our pool to be in shock level correct? I've hit it with 7 gallons and it is still reading 10.

So based on re-reading pool school and your notes...get it up to 15ish and try to maintain it there all day correct?

 

[mrauch]

woo-hoo...opened pool this morning and the FC was in the 3-5 range...this is the first morning that it has had any FC stay in overnight. I'm not sure if we ever got the FC over 10 but we seem to be gaining some ground. We still are losing FC over time but it is a least gaining ground compared to the last couple of days.

PH is staying in the 6.8-7.0 range so I am still working to get this up.

All this only took 44 gallons of shock and one "ultra-shock" di-chlor pack...of course I didn't work on the continous feeding of chlorine at the beginning so I may have been able to nip this much quicker.

The pool is ultra-clear...I'll be turning the heater on Thursday so that we can hopefully swim this weekend.

Thanks for all your help

 

[mrauch]

Quick Question:

If your CYA jumps all the sudden other than backflushing the water and adding new is there anything else I should do? It jumped from the 30-50 this morning up to around 70.

thanks again for all feedback

 

[JasonLion]

Yes, you are aiming for an FC level around 15.

The dichlor would have added some CYA, but it couldn't have gone up that much. I suspect a testing error of some kind. What are you using to measure the CYA level?

 

[mrauch]

My wife mis-read the test...sorry just had an opportunity to get it back on. We are maintaining chlorine in the 3-5 range just never was able to keep it up in the Shock area very long. I'll continue to keep an eye on it as I go...Thanks again for all your help.