Help Pool is Frustrating Me

[JamminJD]

Pool Cover taken off 5-28-11

Got Sand Filter running and vacuumed pool.
Pool was green and pond looking.
12 hours later added 40 ozs of Green Out with 4 lbs of granular shock it.
Ph was high don't know exact at this point.
Added 40 ozs of ph Down (Aqua Chem)
5-29-11
Added 20 ozs ph down
Added some more shock it 2lbs
5-31-11
Took sample to pool store:
Fc/Tc: .6/5.6
pH 10
TA 70
CH 200
CYN 40

Suggestions from pool store:
Add 12 lbs sodium bicarbonate- Wait 30 mins
Add ¾ gallon of Muriatic acid-Wait 1 Hr
Add 10 lbs of Granular chlorine Brush pool
Add 10 lbs of Granular chlorine Brush Pool
Bring sample back Wed 6-1-11

I took sample back on 6-2-11

Fc/Tc: 14/14
pH: 7.6
TA: 80
CH: 175
CYN: 70
Phos: 500 ppb

Pool store suggestions:
Make sure pool is pulling from both main drain and skimmer.
Balance is OK but Phos is getting high. If pool does not get clearer in 48
Hrs, we will need to floc the pool and add a borate

Waited 48 hrs back to pool store on 6-4-11
Fc/Tc: 4/4
pH: 7.4
TA:60
CH: 200
CYN: 40
Phos: 500
Pool store suggestions:
Add 12 lbs of sodium bicarbonates-wait 1 hr
Add 16 ozs of phosphate remover (Sea Klear) wait 24 hrs
Add 10 ozs of polysheen blue (biochem)

Where I am now is a white particle which I assume is algae floating in the pool.
Pool color is Blue and measurables are pretty good, do I need to floc out the particles
so they will fall out to be vacuumed? Really seems to be the only thing keeping pool from
being right. Help would be really appreciated, I am confused on what to do next.

Thanks

 

[JasonLion]

Did you add the phosphate remover? That usually causes the pool to cloud up.

 

[JamminJD]

Yes but it was cloudy before the phosphate remover was added this
was the pool store suggestions to uncloud it.

 

[waste]

Welcome to TFP!!

Was the 'Green Out' a bromine product? (I suspect it was) Also, given your CYA rise, I think the dry shock is di-chlor - PLEASE stop using it! (looking back at your results, the cya is going from 40 to 70 then back to 40 - you need to get a good test kit and start doing your own testing!!!)

Check out the CYA v.s chlorine chart in my sig. and see how you are doing, as per having enough active chlorine in the pool (and if I'm right about the 'Green Out', your fc is ~ 1/2 of what you think it is )

We can help you with this, but you need to help yourself by taking control of your testing and knowing what chems you are using to dose the pool :-D

 

[JamminJD]

Thanks for the welcome.
Yeah I got a test kit today TF-100 so I can do my own.

 

[esim13]

Welcome to TFP!

Now that you've gotten the TF-100 your frustration should go down! Post back with a full set of YOUR results and the folks here will have you sparkly in no time!

 

[supertune]

The TF-100 kit is the one I got too!
My own test results were way different than the pool store readings!
Post what your test results are here, and we can help you get to a really nice pool in mostly a short order.

 

[JamminJD]

OK first numbers with TF-100

pH-7.2
TC-7.5
CC-0.5
FC-7.0
CYA-25
TA-130
CH-140

Hope I did it right Small amount of white particles which to me is where a lot of the white cloudiness
is coming from. If I could get it to fall out, I should be able to vacuum out. Suggest :?: ions

 

[frogabog]

Maybe the cloudy water is giving you issues with the CYA reading? I too noticed the bouncing around on CYA from the pool store results, and the CH. Those two things stay fairly constant if you're not draining and refilling. Someone else prolly knows better but maybe you could take a sample of the water, let it sit for a while while any particles fall to the bottom and re-test for CYA? Knowing that number makes all the difference in how much chlorine you'll need for minimum and target, not to mention shocking. You still have chloramines, so more shocking seems like the next step but unless you know what the CYA level is, you may miss your shock target level and then it won't do it's job.

 

[dattia]

When I first started with my swamp, I ran my water sample through a coffee filter to do the CYA test. I must have read that on here somewhere.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

What color is the water now? You don't need to keep shocking if the CC is. .5 If it goes higher, or the water is cloudy still, then yes, keep shocking with bleach, your shock level is 12.

The CYA test is not affected by cloudy water. Poor straight pool water into the view tube, if the black dot is obscured at all by cloudy water then it would affect the CYA test result. If you can clearly see the black dot, the results will not be skewed.

 

[JamminJD]

Water is clear/blue, particles fall out over a few minutes in sample bottle.