Help!!

[VirtueAndVice]

Hello everyone!!

I'm new to the forum and need some help. I've got a 27' round Johnny Weissmuller above ground pool with a 52" wall height (holds approx. 17,000 gallons of water). Started on June 5th to find swampy green water with a ton of leaf litter due to a hole in the winter cover. Cleaned out the gunk, treated with algaecide, shocked the pool and added a ton of chemicals that the pool store recommended to balance my water. I also changed the sand in my filter when the pool water stopped being green and turned a milky blue color.

My water color has slowly improved to the point where I can see the bottom, but the water is still hazy and not holding chlorine at a level above 1 ppm. I'll shock it in the evening with 2 lb. of turbo shock and the chlorine level will be fine in the morning only to plunge below 1 ppm by lunchtime (according to my WalMart test kit). I know from reading information on this website that I need a better test kit and I've just ordered one. Anything I can do until it arrives??

My last pool store readings yesterday morning (9AM) were as follows, but the chlorine level dropped to below .5 at 1 PM...

FC 1.46
TC 1.55
CC .09
TA 138
pH 7.2
CH 227
CYA 15

I shocked it again last night with 2 lb. of turbo shock and got very similar results today. I am using the tri-chlor 3" chlorine pucks in my off-line automatic chlorinator. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[woodyp]

Layoff the turbo shock and pucks till your test kit arrives and use plain old 6% bleach until you can get some "reliable" test results. Pool calculator will tell you how much. You probably need to shock-but it will be much more verifable with the test kit.

 

[jblizzle]

Much of the FC is likely being consumed by the sun due to the low CYA level. There is also likely still stuff living in the pool as you did not perform the shock process correctly.

For now start reading pool school a few times while waiting for your kit to arrive

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

 

[VirtueAndVice]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I've read over the Pool School article several times and think I have a pretty good grip on it. I hope to have my kit tomorrow. I'll keep you posted and ask questions if the need arises...

 

[VirtueAndVice]

My pool water has actually gone from hazy to clear over the last few days without doing anything except vacuuming the bottom. However, I can't seem to keep the free chlorine level at 1 ppm or above with trichlor pucks in my offline automatic chlorinator. I have the chlorinator set at "FULL".

I just got my TF-100 test kit today and performed the following tests:

FC < .5 ppm
CC < .5 ppm
TA 110
pH 6.9
CH 180
CYA < 20 (last "pool store" reading was 15 ppm)

Any recommendations?? Or do I need to follow the instructions for shocking the pool next?? If so, do I use a CYA level of 20 and a shock level of 10 ppm? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[jblizzle]

Get the pH up into the 7s first. Then start the shock process.

Be aware of how many pucks you are using or the CYA will quickly get out of hand.

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

 

[VirtueAndVice]

Thanks, again. I added the recommended level of Borax this morning to raise my pH. When I start using bleach, do I shut down the automatic chlorinator and stop using the trichlor pucks completely??

Again, your help is greatly appreciated!!

 

[jblizzle]

Yes. You will need to stop using the pucks when your CYA gets to to recommended range.

Have you calculated how much CYA each pick is adding? And tracked how many you have put in?

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

 

[VirtueAndVice]

No, I haven't been tracking how many pucks I've used. The CYA in my pool started out at 7 and is now up to 18, so I'd say around 1-2 CYA units per puck as a rough estimate...

The Borax raised the pH to 7.5, so thanks for that advice!!

My current readings:

FC: .5 ppm
CC: .5 ppm
TA: 90
CH: 200
CYA: less than 20 (I'd say 18)
pH: 7.5

Just a few other questions. Can I start the shocking process with liquid bleach this afternoon?? I was looking at the shocking process and noticed that I should brush my pool. Should I do that at the beginning of the day before I start adding bleach or at the end of the day?? If my CYA is 18, do I use 20 as my CYA level and raise the FC to the shock level of 10 (according to the Chlorine/CYA table)? What does minimum chlorine and target chlorine mean??

Sorry to bombard you with so many questions, but I want to do this correctly...

 

[jblizzle]

For your size pool, each puck adds ~3ppm of CYA ... it also may not show up on the test right away. So I STRONGLY suggest you try to figure out how many you have put in and likely stop using them NOW.

Yes, start using liquid chlorine and going through the shock process. Brush as often as you can, but at least once a day.

I wish you had some count of the number of pucks you put in to have a better idea of what your CYA will end up at.

Lets assume, your CYA is really going up to 30ppm and use a shock FC level of 12ppm. You want to keep the FC up at 12ppm as much as possible, this may mean testing every hour or so to start. If you test lower than 12ppm, add more bleach (based on poolcalculator) to get back over 12ppm. While shocking, there is no reason to test anything besides FC and CC.

In the chart, the minimum FC level is the absolute MINIMUM you should let the FC get. Anything below that and algae can start to grow. The target is a rough idea as to where you should try to keep your FC so that with a sudden storm or high use, it should not drop below the minimum. These are for normal maintenance and not when you are shocking.

 

[VirtueAndVice]

Thanks so much for all of your help, jblizzle!! I followed the shock procedure for several days and lost less than 1 ppm FC last night. My water is crystal clear and the CC is < .5ppm.

1. Do I continue to add bleach using the pool calculator when the FC level falls to near 2 and bring it back up to 3? (considering that my CYA reading is still < 20 ppm).

2. Should completely lay off the trichlor pucks, even though my CYA level is a bit below recommended level?? (The last time I had my automatic chlorinator turned on was last Wednesday)

 

[Richard320]

You're done with the shock process.

It's your call how to get the CYA up, but I'd use straight CYA or dichlor and get it up quick. You'll lose less FC to the sun if CYA is in range. But you also may as well use up the pucks already in the chlorinator, too.

Figure out how much FC you lose in a day, add that number to the minimum for your CYA, and dose it to the target.

 

[jblizzle]

Yup, you finished the shock process.

Like Richard said, you can either use the pucks for now or add separate CYA and keep using bleach.

You need to make sure the FC NEVER goes below 2ppm, so if you are adding bleach once a day, you may want to target 4-5ppm so you are sure it does not get below 2ppm by the next time you test and add.

 

[VirtueAndVice]

You guys sure know what you're doing!! I only wished I'd tried this a few weeks earlier, instead of lurking around the forum and second guessing whether I should follow the members advice on how to clear up an algae problem. It would have saved me around $300-$400 in chemicals.

Once again, thank you for all of your help!!