Pool problems

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omaag

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Jun 19, 2012
5
Long story short, we came back from a 7 day vacation to a blue-greenish cloudy pool. Before I left for vacation the pool was clear, I shocked the pool with chlorine, and added 1 puck to the skimmer and 2 pucks to the floater, covered with NEW clear solar cover. (the old one was blue)
Home Day 1=FC 0 TC 0, PH 7.2. Pool temp 80. Shocked the pool with liquid chlorine, added well water. Day 2 still cloudy and bluish. FC 0. PH 7.2 Cyanuric Acid (CA) 0. Backwashed, Shocked with liquid chlorine, added CA (stabalizer) to sock and skimmer, and added well water. Day 3 today VERY GREEN...FC 0, CA 0, PH 7. Nitrates 0. (I have problems with nitrates when I open the pool) Shocked pool with powder shock, added borax to raise PH, added CA to sock and skimmer. My chlorine is holding at FC 4.3 for the last 5 hours, PH is back up to 7.2, but my pool is very green and I still have no CA reading. I need to add more well water, I usually add metal out also but not usually until chlorine is lower. Not sure what is going on. We bought a new pump this summer Pentair, and have it running on speed 3, for 24/7. Possibly due to have sand filter (Zeolite) changed??? Pool looks clearer (i can see shallow end), but VERY GREEN, and I can see some metal staining. I know, I am missing something, but what??????????? And what do I do next?
 
My goal is to have the FC 2-4, CYA 30-60, PH 7.2 I use a poolife dropper kit.

My CYA is at 0. So last night, I used the typical 2 gallons of liquid shock to raise the level to FC 6-8. I shocked the pool last night before I went to bed, and checked the numbers. To my surprise, it was at FC 2 this morning. I shocked it again with 2 bags of powder and 2 gallons of liquid. (w/o CYA the liquid burns off with sunlight) My FC is roughly 4-6 holding steady in full sunlight for the last 5 hours. I am checking it every 2 hours to see if any numbers change.

I added CYA slowly using the dosage chart on the back of the container 20,000gallons= 4# to raise 20 parts per million (erring on the low side because I know I had CYA level of 30-40 about two weeks ago, and I have been using pucks and powder shock. I was hoping the pool to be at least CYA 10 by now. But still 0 after adding all of the CYA. The sock still has some in it dissolving. The pool is about 80 degrees.

The Chlorine/CYA chart starts with a pool at CYA 20, Not sure what to do with a CYA 0?

Am I doing this all wrong?
 
So the deal with CYA is that it doesn't show up in tests right away, it may take a few days or a week before it shows up. That said, it does start working after it dissolves. So if you added enough to get to 20ppm a day or two ago expect that your pool has that much in it, and use that number when determining your shock level target number. That means you need to get your FC up to at least 10 and keep it there, testing often as you have been.

The basics:
Shocking:
Measure the FC level
Add enough chlorine to bring FC up to shock level (or a little higher)
Repeat steps 1 and 2 as frequently as practical, but not more than once per hour, and not less than twice a day, until:
CC is 0.5 or lower;
An overnight FC loss test shows a loss of 1.0 ppm or less;
And the water is clear.
Brush the entire pool once a day
Backwash or clean the filter as needed

The real question is what happen to your CYA from a couple of weeks ago. I'm doubting you did a big drain/refill of your pool, you didn't did you? Are you performing the CYA test or pool store? Perhaps the testing was wrong a couple of weeks ago?

Just to be clear it is my understanding that Chlorine is Chlorine, no matter if you added it via a bag of "shock" or a bottle of bleach, CYA will protect it from the sun either way.
 
omaag said:
My goal is to have the FC 2-4, CYA 30-60, PH 7.2 I use a poolife dropper kit.

My CYA is at 0. So last night, I used the typical 2 gallons of liquid shock to raise the level to FC 6-8. I shocked the pool last night before I went to bed, and checked the numbers. To my surprise, it was at FC 2 this morning. I shocked it again with 2 bags of powder and 2 gallons of liquid. (w/o CYA the liquid burns off with sunlight) My FC is roughly 4-6 holding steady in full sunlight for the last 5 hours. I am checking it every 2 hours to see if any numbers change.

I added CYA slowly using the dosage chart on the back of the container 20,000gallons= 4# to raise 20 parts per million (erring on the low side because I know I had CYA level of 30-40 about two weeks ago, and I have been using pucks and powder shock. I was hoping the pool to be at least CYA 10 by now. But still 0 after adding all of the CYA. The sock still has some in it dissolving. The pool is about 80 degrees.

The Chlorine/CYA chart starts with a pool at CYA 20, Not sure what to do with a CYA 0?

Am I doing this all wrong?
Click to expand...


Hi, welcome to TFP! The bad news is yes, to some extent you're doing it wrong. The good news is you are not too far off and we can help you get on track. :-D As harleysilo said, the CYA will take about a week to register on a test, but assume that if you put enough CYA to reach 20 ppm it is in there and dose the pool according to a 20 ppm CYA level.

The shock process requires frequent testing and addition of chlorine to be effective. Liquid chlorine is best since it will not add additional CYA or Calcium to the pool. CYA and Calcium both require draining to correct if they go too high, so try to avoid going over if at all possible. Test the pool every 2 hours and add enough chlorine to reach shock level. As the algae is killed off the chlorine demand will slow down. You will know the process is complete when you lose less than 1 ppm of FC overnight (overnight chlorine loss test), have .5 or less CC, and the water is clear. Run the pump 24/7 during the shock process and clean the filter when you have a 25% increase in pressure from the clean filter pressure.
 
The pool held a constant level of chlorine all day than in the evening the pool Chlorine level and the PH dropped suddenly around 5:30, so I added a bottle of metal free, and a box of borax. By 9:30 the pool was green and really clear. Before I went to bed, I shocked the pool by adding 2 bottles of liquid shock. Woke up today and the pool was clear and green (weird). It was holding chlorine 3-4 normal range, CYA 0 PH 7.1 going low again. Checked what supplies i had on hand, a bottle of stain away (it said for really heavy metals 32 oz per 10,000 gallons). Added a whole bottle 35 oz of stain away.
11:50 am Chlorine had dropped to 1-2 I said, "I give up" and headed to Lowes and the Pool store. Lowes didn't have much in pool chemicals, but I did buy a filter for when i need to add more water. We are having a hot, dry, summer with little rain, and I am trying to have a kids pool party soon with an expected amount of water splashed out.
At the Pool store I had my pool water read: (remember i just added a huge amount of metal out, but i didn't say anything because they would not read my water for 24 hours)
FAC 1.39 ok
TC 1.99 ok
CC .6 HIGH should be <.2
TA 170 HIGH ( i have forgot to measure this) when I got home i measured 140 still a little high)
pH 7.3 ok (surprised mine read low 7)
CH 172 low
CA 28 ok (i am still reading 0)
Copper 0 ok (surprised i thought metals were the culprit, but i did add stain away and metal free)
Iron 0 ok
total dissolved solids 0 ok
saturated index -0.2 ok
I told the pool store my pool was green and clear. They said water results said it was due to high alkalinity. Recommended reducing TA with 1-2 GALLONS muric Acid.
Bought the (recommended) 1 gallon of muric acid to lower TA. (thought if nothing else it would increase my borax rate) and bought on my hunch 2 bottles of metal free.
1:00 pm got home and walked out to my pool with my arms full of chemicals and.....the pool was crystal CLEAR BLUE with only a very small tint of green. GO FIGURE..............
Plan is to shock it again tonight after the metal free and stain away has been running all day to circulate.
Any other suggestions?????????? Should i lower the TA with muric acid or wait until my pool is more stable?
 
Why are you adding metal free and stain away? Those items are not going to help you with the shocking process. BLEACH is what you need. Go to the grocery store, not to Lowe's.

With a pH of 7.3, you don't need to be adding acid. Don't even worry about that until you are done with the shock process.

What do you mean about "borax rate"? That's not a term I'm familiar with.
 

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New member, old pool guy here.

Clear green is almost always low pH and excessive metals. Trust your test kit. You read a pH of 7 (or lower) add pH increaser (shoot for pH in the 7.5 range. Watch your pool turn blue before your very eyes
 
Thanks for everybody's help. My pool is still clear and blue :-D
My chlorine was low this morning and my pH was a little low. I added more chlorine and borax. I think I might need to add more stabilizer to raise my CYA but I am waiting a few days for an accurate reading. I am pretty sure the metal free removed the metals and helped clear up the pool. Does anybody know of any other ways to remove metals other than Metal Free or Stain away from a pool store? I have well water, and my pool water level is low again.
 
RobbieH said:
Why are you adding metal free and stain away? Those items are not going to help you with the shocking process. BLEACH is what you need. Go to the grocery store, not to Lowe's.

With a pH of 7.3, you don't need to be adding acid. Don't even worry about that until you are done with the shock process.

What do you mean about "borax rate"? That's not a term I'm familiar with.
Click to expand...


"Borax rate" is something that I read on another posting on this forum, where if you add a certain amount of borax to raise the pool borate (i think this is the right term) rate, the algae will decrease, the water will feel softer, lowers chlorine demands, and more benefits. I do not have a borate tester yet, but I am thinking about doing this. Basically you add a bunch of borax and then use muric acid to decrease the pH. I need to look into this discussion further on this forum, but I need to relax from the pool drama for awhile. I used so much borax already this season, I am surprised my pH could possibly be low. ( I have added over 13 boxes since start up) I would assume my borate rate?? would be high, but I just don't know enough to add much information on the topic other than to go read the other forum posting.
 
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