Just Can't Get It!!!

[cindyslou]

I have read, read & read again pool school over & over again. My chlorine is out of the roof & I cannot make it go away!

TC 18.5
PH 8.2
CH 450
CYA 100
TA 90
Salt 3000

I have our SWG at 35%. The pool calculator tells me I need 28 oz. of acid to lower TA & 42 oz. of baking soda to lower PH. I just don't get what the chlorine is doing!! Please, please help me. I know I am not totally stupid - have checked & rechecked levels. My husband gets the same readings. I am desperate to get my pool right - also, when I got my water out to do my tests, it was very cloudy. I use a glass measuring cup to dip with. Any help be so very much appreciated!!!!

 

[duraleigh]

I have our SWG at 35%.

Shut it off.....I promise your FC will come down.

Disregard your pH and TA readings for now.

 

[ouachita]

I agree. Shut it off. How long is your pump run time? How old is your SWG? The first year with mine I only had to set it at 40% with a 12 hour pump run time to maintain about 4 ppm fc

 

[Butterfly]

I have read, read & read again pool school over & over again. My chlorine is out of the roof & I cannot make it go away!

TC 18.5 Actually, 18.5 FC is not 'out of the roof' for 100 CYA, it is well below shock level.

What is CC?

PH 8.2
Don't test for pH when FC is above 10 as it skews the test to read high.

CH 450
CYA 100
Did you use a 50/50 mix of pool water and tap water for the CYA test? A test result of 100 could be anything from 100 to 200. If your CYA is close to 100 or higher, then a partial drain/refill or RO treatment to lower CYA is needed.
TA 90
Salt 3000
What does your water look like?

I have our SWG at 35%. The pool calculator tells me I need 28 oz. of acid to lower TA & 42 oz. of baking soda to lower PH. I just don't get what the chlorine is doing!! Please, please help me. I know I am not totally stupid - have checked & rechecked levels. My husband gets the same readings. I am desperate to get my pool right - also, when I got my water out to do my tests, it was very cloudy. I use a glass measuring cup to dip with. Any help be so very much appreciated!!!!

 

[cindyslou]

My SWG is 3 years old. My water looks a little cloudy. I used 100% pool water for myCYA test - should I not have? I havent read anything any different about that. Wr run the pump for 8 hours 1:00am to 9:00 am. Is this a good time to run? Thanks for the help!!! I can do this (I hope)!!!!

 

[Butterfly]

You can do it.

What is/was the CC test result?

I suggest you retest the CYA using 50/50 tap water and pool water and multiply results by 2. Here's a link to Extended Test Kit Directions: extended-test-kit-directions-t25081.html

Have you done an OCLT?

 

[duraleigh]

Trying to keep this the read focused just a little better....You posted asking how to get your FC down....have you turned off the SWG yet? Get that done and then take your other issues one at a time.

 

[cindyslou]

I have turned my SWG off - shall I wait to test again in the morning?

 

[jblizzle]

While Dave was right to redirect to the issue at hand.

I too would recommend doing the 50/50 CYA test to see how high your level really is while waiting for the FC to drop.

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone

 

[BadOleRoss]

I was thinking the same thing....do a CYA test with 50/50 water. When CYA gets that high, the test may not be accurate.

 

[cindyslou]

I tested again with half pool half tap water - came to 50 & multiplied by 2 - still 100.

 

[duraleigh]

Ok. Now your FC will come down and now you know to drain 50% of your pool to get your CYA down. Start on the drain and retest your FC in the morning.

Post that FC result in the morning, report that your pool is refilled and do your CYA test again. Post those two test results and tell us how your water looks.

 

[cindyslou]

Thanks so much for all the help!! Will get started on the drain & will post in the morning!

 

[Richard320]

I inherited astronomical CYA and due to water restrictions, I couldn't do anything about it the first year.

I was maintaining 22 FC for months. No burning eyes, no bleached out swimsuits. Total consumption was normal, about 2 ppm/day. It just had to be up there to have some "unstabilized" chlorine ready to attack any algae. My pool has never turned green. Nor has it ever been cloudy. Anytime it's been less than crystal clear, there's been a good reason, like a winter storm that blew massive amounts of debris in the water. A couple of vacuumings and maintaining appropriate FC cleaned it right up.

You can do it, too.

Getting as accurate a CYA test as you can is important. Use your graduated test cylinder to mix half pool water and half tap water. Be sure it gets mixed well, then use that in the CYA test. Take several readings - get your reading, pour the sample back, mix it some more, repeat. Be sure it's good and bright when you take your readings. I've even found it makes a difference whether I hold the view tube with three fingers and my thumb, ort just my forefinger and thumb. When you start getting the same reading (more or less), use that and double it. That's your CYA level.

Once you know that, you'll know:
a) how high to maintain FC
b) how much water you'll need to replace to get it down to an acceptable number.

 

[duraleigh]

We'll get your chlorine corrected, your CYA corrected, your pool crystal clear (may take a little while) and then we'll all help you get pH and TA just right but leave them alone for now.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I use a glass measuring cup to dip with. Any help be so very much appreciated!!!!

Just thought I'd toss out that using glass near the pool has potential to be quite a headache if you should ever trip, slip or drop it and it breaks.
Also, just dipping the sample out might not be getting an ideal sample. I learned here on TFP that using a thin long piece of PVC pipe as a pipette works a charm!! Mine is 1/2" x 4'. I cover one end with my thumb and go down towards the pool bottom before releasing my thumb and allowing the water to enter the PVC pipe and displace the air. Then I again cover the end with my thumb just as you do with a soda straw to "hold" in the water sample I then drain into a large plastic mug for sampling purposes.

 

[cindyslou]

Great idea! I have a piece of PVC pipe I can clean up. So ready to get my pool on the right track & sparkling clean!!!

 

[cindyslou]

Ok, did not start my drain until this afternoon. FC is 17 with SWG turned off since yesterday around 1:00 pm. Pool is still draining at the moment & hope to start refilling in an hour or so. Unfortunately when the water began to drop, the walls are solid white!!!! Going to try to post pics shortly & will check CYA & FC in the am.

 

[chem geek]

Because you have a saltwater chlorine generator pool, you don't have to drain half. If you did 1/4 then you'd get down to around 75 ppm CYA which is very reasonable for an SWCG pool and is in the range recommended in the Pool School.

 

[cindyslou]

Okay, partial drain & refill complete. Test results from this morning:

PH 7.5
FC 10
CC 0
TC 10
CYA 60
CH 190
TA 100

Left it filling overnight & when I went out this morning it has a green cast to it. Also, where the water level dropped the plaster & steps were solid white!!! Do I have a complete mess? Please help!!!! I am so anxious to get my pool where it should be so I can take care of it properly. Thanks for all your help!!!