18 days and finally done!

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L

LS1M

Well-known member
Mar 10, 2012
92
Houston, TX
It's been at least 7 days. I'm going nuts. I never had this much trouble before!

My CYA is 40, maybe a little less. My FC has been above shock level (16) for at least a week. Just measured:
FC: 18
CC: 1.5

I've been running the filter non-stop (except for back-flushing) for over a week, and still I've got cloudy blue water. What am I doing wrong?

Yesterday I upgraded my pool vac. I have the standard Intex suction port. I cut off the mesh grating, and a Leslie 1.5" pool vac hose fits in nicely now. There's not much if anything on the pool bottom - which I can sort of see now - and I just bought another three huge bottles of bleach.

So, what's the record for days of shock required to clear a pool?

Any suggestions helpful. I've come close to just draining the $&(#@&*!*&$**!! thing and starting over; I've spent as much in bleach...

help...
-Mark
 
Re: 7 days and counting

LS1M said:
So, what's the record for days of shock required to clear a pool?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, much much longer. I worked on a pool locally that took 3 weeks and I have read on hear about pools taking longer. As you mentioned, best thing you can do is make sure that your chlorine level never drops below the shocking minimum, ever. Overdose slightly if needed. Brushing is generally important too, at least once a day, more if you can. Keep in mind, brushing sometimes increase the demand for chlorine.
 
Re: 7 days and counting

If it makes you feel any better, I'm on day 9 and I'm not even at cloudy blue yet :)

I got really sick for almost 4 weeks in January - February and couldn't maintain my pool, which had been its usual beautiful sparkling blue all winter. It turned into a dark green muck pretty quickly because it got so hot here so quickly in February. Anyway, it's very slow progress but I've been at shock level since a week ago Sunday and half the pool is now a less cloudy blue, the other half is still a very cloudy greenish blue (and I have only 0.5 CC, and am holding steady overnight).

Hope you are clear blue again soon. And hope I am too!
 
Re: 7 days and counting

How has the filter pressure been behaving and how often have you been backwashing? Has there been a visible improvement in the cloudiness day to day, or has it stayed just the same for the last few days? And finally, have you done an overnight FC loss test (see Pool School or ask if you don't know what that is)?
 
Re: 7 days and counting

Three weeks?! Sheesh...

Last night the FC was 18 and CC was 1.5, measured FC 17 and CC 1.0 this morning. Shock target is 16; I've been shooting for 23 in the morning and that usually settles down to 17 or 18 at night. I know it's moving in the right direction, but I never expected it to take this long! I'll be much more attentive over this next winter so it doesn't get this bad again.

It's still very cloudy but getting slowly better. I can see the bottom of the pool now, which allowed me to find a couple of lost items (bumped into one pool tool and sucked up a pair of the kid's goggles). I vacuumed again last night. The vac head I got from Leslie's has brushes on it. This morning the flow from the filter was really dropped off, so I guess I'll have to back-flush again tonight. I've had to back-flush every couple of days, and the water coming out is quite dirty.

I can never see the pressure change on the sand filter. It's always right around 10 psi. I'd like to replace the 60 psi gauge with a 15 or 20; does anyone know where I can get one?

Thanks
-Mark
 
Re: 7 days and counting

Have you checked the ladder, etc. for holes that could be holding algae? It's a common place for it to hide and it's extremely hard to get to. I usually pour bleach in the holes (actually I squirt it in with a syringe) to clear it out on family pools that I help on. You'd be surprised at how little algae it takes to keep you from passing the OCLT.
 
Re: 7 days and counting

The ladder is 1.5" PVC and doesn't have any holes. I just built it this year, but it could have water in it. I can drill a couple of holes near the top & inject bleach down each leg, going into the water. How much bleach are we talking about there? The only syringe I have is the little one that came with the kids' antibiotics.
 

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Re: 7 days and counting

Well, I have no way of knowing if it's leaking or not. Everything is sealed except the feet, so I could adjust if I didn't get the height right.

If I use the pool calculator, it takes 13 oz of 6% bleach to raise the FC in the pool by 1 ppm in my 6300 gallon pool.
Using my dusty high-school math, it should take 2.7 ml of bleach to raise a 4-foot long 1.5" cylinder of water by 1 ppm.
Sound about right?
 
Re: 7 days and counting

I just checked, after I added bleach, FC is at 26.5 and CC 0.5. I also squirted about 100 ml of bleach into each pool ladder leg. That's more than I calculated, but I forgot about the rungs. I also forgot to check the FC loss overnight, but it's been in the 0.5-1.5 range lately. I know I'm supposed to be done shocking when the water is "clear" but how clear? Right now if I didn't know it was being shocked, I'd think it was OK to swim in. I can clearly see the bottom, but it's still a little hazy.

Time for some DE in the sand filter maybe? It's day 14 of shocking... running out of R-0871 drops...
 
Re: 7 days and counting

Has your filter pressure quit going up? You really need to make a point to check the FC after the sun goes down and record and then get up before the sun hits the pool and check again and record. Sound like you answered your own question, still a little hazy. Your getting real close though!
 
Re: 7 days and counting

The pressure goes up every few days, although I don't know if it's still doing that. I backflushed yesterday and only a little brown water came out.

I'll do an overnight FC test tonight.

Should I still be just using bleach? The SWG isn't hooked up at all right now.
 
Re: 7 days and counting

As long as your maintaining FC (holding) then you don't need to add bleach. But if it is still dropping then you have to keep bring it up to shock number per the calculator. If it's hazy I'll bet you still got little algae left there.
 
Re: 7 days and counting

although I don't know if it's still doing that.
Click to expand...
monitoring your psi constantly is an important part of the process
I backflushed yesterday and only a little brown water came out.
Click to expand...
Well, that means you are still killing and filtering out organics. The OCLT is meant to CONFIRM you have met the criteria to stop the shock process.

1. Crystal clear water

2. CC's of .5ppm or less

3. Overnite FC loss of 1.0 or less

You certainly have not met those so I would suggest you continue to add chlorine until you do.

You must be patient. There is virtually no viable alternative other than to keep your chlorine at shock value, backwash as needed, run your pump 24/7 and brush frequently.

Your pool is not yet clean and you will continue to consume chlorine until it is clean.....keep the faith! :lol:
 

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