Test Results - what to do first?

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trishalinn

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Apr 12, 2010
104
Perry, Michigan
Hey,
This is year 2 of opening our pool and I still feel like I don't know much! We probably didn't close our pool properly because we opened it up and had another big mess this year. I'll have to follow up with questions about that in the fall. Anyhow, as for this year... we have been working on shocking our pool, scrubbing the walls, and doing some vacuuming to get it cleaned up. Here are our levels as of today:

FC- 12
pH- 7.2
CC- 1
TC- 13
TA- 110
CH- 140
CYA- 22

What should we be doing besides continuing to keep the pool at shock level? The water looks pretty cloudy and murky.
 
Alright, we have been shooting for a shock level of 12... is this about right or should I increase this?
We tested the chlorine levels this AM and this is what we got
FC- 11
CC - 0

The water is still looking awfully murky, wondering if I'm doing something wrong or if we just need to be patient. It just doesn't seem like the water is clearing up this year like it did last year.
 
With CYA around 10 to 20 shocking to 12 is fine.

How has the filter been behaving? Have you cleaned/backwashed the filter recently?

Cleaning up algae does take a while. You should see a visible improvement each day. If you don't see day to day improvement there may be something we are missing.
 
As far as I can tell (my husband has been doing most of the hands on stuff this year as I just had twins a week and a half ago), the filter seems to be doing fine. I had him backwash today. How often should we be backwashing? Is there a way to tell when to backwash?

I guess we'll keep checking chlorine levels and make sure everything is up to shock levels... hopefully we'll get the pool cleared up soon!
 
trishalinn said:
As far as I can tell (my husband has been doing most of the hands on stuff this year as I just had twins a week and a half ago), the filter seems to be doing fine. I had him backwash today. How often should we be backwashing? Is there a way to tell when to backwash?

I guess we'll keep checking chlorine levels and make sure everything is up to shock levels... hopefully we'll get the pool cleared up soon!
Click to expand...
There's a pressure gauge on the filter (hopefully) that will indicate when it's time. Note the reading when the filter is clean, and when it gets 10 psi above, backflush. Some gauges have a ring you can move, so you don't need to remember the clean pressure. If yours doesn't, use a sharpie or magic marker, or stick a piece of tape, something. The other clue is when the flow is noticeably lower than you're used to.
 

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The pressure gauge hasn't been up, but my husband did backwash today anyhow. I am hoping that will help because the water doesn't seem like it's been clearing up near as quickly this year as it did last year! We're finally getting some warmer weather here in MI too, so it would be nice to have a useable pool soon :)
 
Alright, what could we be missing? It doesn't appear as if there's been any improvement. We are keeping the chlorine up at shock level (checking multiple times a day, but only needs chlorine added once in the late afternoon/early evening). We've backwashed. Not sure what else to do. Any ideas?
 
Alright, going to run the overnight test tonight and I'll get those results to you in the morning. In the meantime another question and some pictures of the pool.
My husband just notified me that the last time he backwashed (yesterday) when he turned it back onto filter, it appeared that the jet was blowing out dirty water. Could this be part of our problem? Is there something we're doing wrong when we backwash... maybe backwash for a longer period of time? Another thing we've wondered is if we ought to change the sand in our filter since we have no idea how long it's been in there.

Thanks so much for your help!
 

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That says you passed the OCLT except for the 'clear water' part. Remind us what type filter you have. (it'd be nice if you put that in your sig along with the rest of your equip.)

Ok ok, I know it's a sand filter. You could try adding a little DE to it to see if it clears the pool faster. Or you could try some clarifier, though sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't.
 

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