Opps with a jug of shock

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H

hayabusa3

0
Jul 10, 2011
124
Walnut Creek CA
Hi guys, I totally calculated my quantities wrong and added a 5lb jug of shock from home depot to my brand new above ground 18 x 52 pool on Monday.... Its Saturday now and my T100 just showed up and I'm not surprised at my results. Would someone in the know mind commenting / pointing me in the right direction with what to do? Thanks in advance>!

PH 6.8
CYA 46?
FC 22.5
CC 0
TA 20
and the Cl was a dark pink/purple :oops:

No-one's been swimming in it cos the family is out of town.. I thought there was a strong odor from the water just after I added that jug! I thought I was going to have to go back for a few more jugs untill I re-read the instructions and safe the fine print where it said "you're a friggin muppet!" lol!
 
I think the experts here will tell you your pH is way too low (should be about 7.5 I think) and your TA should be about 80-100. You're definitely SHOCKED, but the sun will take care of that in a few days. Don't know much, but you shouldn't have any algae this week. LOL BTW, I wouldn't let anyone go in there with a good swimsuit at that chlorine level...it may turn white. :-D

Great folks here to help you. I'm just a newbie so can't really offer any advice. Be patient and you'll get it though. Wonderful board!


JJ
 
JJ is right - too low!

First, use Baking Soda to raise your TA to about 50. Confirm TA and retest pH.

Then use borax to raise your pH to about 7.4ish. Do this slowly. Add only about half the amount to get you to 7.4 and circulate an hour and retest. Then ease pH on up to 7.4.

Then, retest everything and post new test results.

No swimming!
 
Thank you thank you! Yes - I was sort of expecting it to turn some sort of color other than the sparkling clear it's been all week! It has been a few days and I was hoping the sun would lower the chlorine level a bit more than it has...

I'm off to the pool calculator then to attempt to figure out how muchBaking soda and borax to add.
 
At your CYA level, you've basically raised your FC to "mustard shock" level. It'll be fine, and it will go down in a few days. Your ph is low, however, and with a reading of 6.8 it could be even lower, as 6.8 is the lowest that many test kits can measure. One caution though - high FC levels (above 10) tend to make the ph reading wrong, though it usually reads high when the FC is high. You might want to keep an eye on it as the FC comes back down, but you'd like it to be 7.2-7.8.
 
If you have a TF100, you should be using the FAS-DPD test for chlorine. How you got purple as an answer is beyond me - the color block test in the TF100 is OTO, so it's yellow, not pink. Or orange to brown if astronomically high. Purple shouldn't happen.

I would recheck the instructions and be sure you're using the right reagents and so on. extended-test-kit-directions-t25081.html

As an aside, the TA test will go blue to yellow rather than green to red when chlorine levels are really high.
 
Ohm_Boy said:
At your CYA level, you've basically raised your FC to "mustard shock" level. It'll be fine, and it will go down in a few days. Your ph is low, however, and with a reading of 6.8 it could be even lower, as 6.8 is the lowest that many test kits can measure. One caution though - high FC levels (above 10) tend to make the ph reading wrong, though it usually reads high when the FC is high. You might want to keep an eye on it as the FC comes back down, but you'd like it to be 7.2-7.8.
Click to expand...


Mustard - check. Thank you!
 
Richard320 said:
If you have a TF100, you should be using the FAS-DPD test for chlorine. How you got purple as an answer is beyond me - the color block test in the TF100 is OTO, so it's yellow, not pink. Or orange to brown if astronomically high. Purple shouldn't happen.

I would recheck the instructions and be sure you're using the right reagents and so on. extended-test-kit-directions-t25081.html

As an aside, the TA test will go blue to yellow rather than green to red when chlorine levels are really high.
Click to expand...


I haven't added anything yet, so I'll re- do all the tests again in the morning. Thank you all very much for your input!
 

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Right, this is a wee bit embarassing - I've totally gone the wrong direction now. I TRIED to use the pool calc and came up with some numbers but it looks now that I've over done it. I added 40oz of Borax and 40oz of baking soda (the results asked for 80oz but i thought I should try half 1st) and now my CL looks like 5 on the chart or a little darker (7?) and the PH is 8.2 or a shade darker... do I have to fill out all boxes in the calculator to get a reading from the section I'm trying to adjust? When it shows a 'goal' figure, why are there 2 boxes below? I don't have a thermometer - how important is that in the calculations?
Thanks again...
 
Welcome to TFP!!

Please don't sweat the little mistakes! In a month, you'll be a pro with maintaining and balancing your pool :-D There is a learning curve for caring for pools and no one is born knowing how to do it. :cool:

Your 'mistake' is not going to harm the pool ( and might actually speed up the learning process :party: )

All you need to do is test the pool with your TF100 and post the results here - the nice folks here can tell you what you need to add (in the meantime, play with the Pool Calculator -- the first column is what your current readings are, enter your most recent test results (please remember to enter your gallonage at the top! :) ) - in the second column enter the values you want to be at - at the bottom of each column it will show you your saturation index value 0 is good but, anywhere from +.5 to -.5 is acceptable and won't cause you problems :-D )

You've done the right thing by coming here and getting your own GOOD test kit! We're gonna get you all set a LOT more quickly than the pool store would :cheers:
 
Let me reiterate what Richard said about testing the chlorine. With the high level of chlorine, don't bother with the chlorine test in the blue box. Only use it for the PH. Instead use the chlorine test in the big box. The 870 and 871 reagents. Follow the instructions and you will get the exact chlorine level. The TF 100 does not contain a test for Borates. You will have to get test strips from the pool store for Borates. If you will submit your test results and what you think the pool calculator is telling you before you actually put the chemicals in the pool we will be happy to confirm or correct your results.
 
Txmat said:
If you will submit your test results and what you think the pool calculator is telling you before you actually put the chemicals in the pool we will be happy to confirm or correct your results.
Click to expand...

Thank you..! I'll test everything again tomorrow and run it through the calculator, then run it through you guys before i run out to the water and muck it all upagain :)
 
Well, you ended up in good shape! :goodjob:

As Txmat said, you don't want to increae your CYA any more, so use only bleach/liquid chlorine.

With a CYA of 60, keep your FC between 5 & 9 and never below 5.

Each evening test FC and add enough bleach/liquid chlorine to reach 9.

Can you post a pic for us? :)
 
Thanks guys - 1 more question, how did all these equations, mixes, drops and chemicals get figured out lol!? Do you guys actually understand the chemical principals or are you just familiar with the main chemical names and how to move them up/down?

I have a picture on my computer here at work but apparently the file is too large to post - I have enough time to respond to a quick post but not to resize a picture.. I'll throw up a few tonight


Thank you thank you thank you!!!
 

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