Can't get FC up to appropriate level

Jump to latest Follow Reply
G

Gfloyd77

0
May 24, 2011
9
Opened Pool About two weeks ago. Had water tested at local pool store. Was told to add a variety of chemicals which I did. Levels came to where they needed to be, all excet for FC. Algae galor. Went back to store and was told to use the Green to Clean product with various intervals of shock. Did this, but still couldn't get rid of algae nor could I get the FC level to rise. I have shocked the pool a few more times since and still cant get FC reading up. Water is not as green and is very cloudy.

Current readings are as follows:
FC .5
CC 1
pH 7.5
T/A 70
CH 310
CYA 60

Any suggestions on how to get FC up and water clear. Tired of dumping chemicals in without much change.

Thanks.
 
Welcome to the forum!!!!

As you will learn when you read the article linked to above (and then read the entire Pool School ... see upper right of forum page), shock is a "verb" and not "noun" on this forum. It is a process (which may take days and many gallons of chlorine(bleach)) and not a product you buy and throw into the pool once.

If you have put a lot of "shock" into the pool from the local store, depending on the type it may have raised your CH or CYA (which may not register yet).

I had just written to suggest getting a test kit and I now see you have!!! That is a GREAT first step!!! and hopefully means you have been reading some of the Pool School already.

Follow the excellent directions in the Pool School and soon you will be relaxing in a sparkling pool.
 
Welcome to TFP!

I can tell you how to clean things up, but I'm not sure you are going to like it. Sadly, It is going to take quite a bit more chlorine, applied in a more focused way to clean things up. Shocking is an ongoing process, not something you can do in one step. You will need to add enough chlorine to bring the FC level up to shock level (24 if CYA is still 60), probably several times in a row at one hour intervals.

Before you do that it would be best to double check some things and do some background reading. First, what kind of "shock" have you been using? It should have an ingredient listed on the package, or if you don't see that you can tell us the product name and we can probably look it up. I am concerned that you might have been using a product based on dichlor, while would have raised the CYA level and made things more difficult. I also suggest you do a little reading at Pool School, see the link near the top right of each page, especially the How To Shock You Pool article.
 
Thanks for the advice.

I have been using a dichlor. Power Powder Plus. I have used about 30lbs of it over last 5 days. I also have trichlor tabs in my feeder. I have feeder turned up to max.
 
uh-oh. That is what we were afraid of. I think that 30 lbs of dichlor also added about 50 ppm of CYA to your pool.

Were your posted levels before or after you added all that? If well, before your test, you may be OK and it all may be registering. But, you should not add any more CYA until your pool is cleared up.

The tabs you are using are also adding CYA, so you should stop using them too and start loading up on bleach and read Pool School!!!

Edit: I see that you have recently added the dichlor, unfortunately that probably means that the 60 level is lower than reality as it takes a few days (week) for the CYA to show up in the test.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Welcome to TFP :wave:

Great move on the kit. Post up them results and plan on getting lots of liquid chlorine...may be a bit more expensive than bleach, but with a 35K gal pool, you may want to consider 2-3 5gal carboys of 12.5% chlorinating liquid (aka double strength bleach) from the pool store to start. 1Gal of 12% should raise your FC by approx 3.6ppm.

http://www.poolcalculator.com is your friend in determining how much of a certain chemical you may need to adjust chemistry. :goodjob:
 
Took your advice and shocked the pool with 12 gallons of liquid chlorine 12.5% last night. Pool did finally turn blue but is still very cloudy, which I expected.

Did also clean my cartridge filters as the pressure in the filter was building up. This was done before the shock treatment.

Current readings are as follows:
FC 4.0
CC 1.0
TC 5.0
pH 7.3
T/A 80
CH 370
CYA 70

Still have my automatic feeder running wide open 24/7.

Assuming that since water is still cloudy, I need to let dead algae continue to fall and then vaccum. Should I shock again?

I appreciate the guidance on here as I am seeing progress which is something I can't say that I saw when getting help from the local pool store.

Thanks.
 
I want to thank those that posted. Pool is in great shape. Crystal clear and chemicals are spot on with the exception of chlorine level. Still high from shocking the pool, but it has been dropping and I expect we should be swimming this weekend. Thanks again for the advice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply