HELP!

Jump to latest Follow Reply
L

love2bmommy

0
Jul 7, 2012
8
I just recently put up a 15' by 48" intex metal frame pool in my backyard. I went to pinchapenny today to have my water tested so they could tell me what to buy and what to do. My test read as so...

Total Chlorine 0.5 ppm
pH 8.0
Acid Demand 3
Total Alkalinity 120 ppm
Calc Hardness 200 ppm
Stabilizer 20 ppm
Ttl des solids 300 ppm

The kid told me to put 1.5 quarts muriatic acid, half a bag of shock, and 4 lbs of stabilizer in the pool.

When my husband came home I was telling him how the stabilizer really jammed up in the filter and I had a heck of a time getting it cleared out and now grains are just sitting all over the bottom of the pool. When we got to talking and looking at the paper we realized that they computed that I had a 16, 992 gallon pool. So ofcourse we instantly freak out about the amount of stuff I just put in the pool, especially the muriatic acid since it is a vinyl pool (I didn't add the full 1.5 quarts, I added 1 quart). I went to WalMart and bought a 6 way aquaquem test kit since that is the only place open this late and did four tests (didn't know how reliable these strips were) and they all read as so...

Total Chlorine 1 ppm
Free Chlorine 3 ppm
pH btw 6.0 and 6.4 but looks closer to 6.0 (don't laugh but had to use my fish tank ph since this one doesn't test below 6.8)
Acid Demand 3
Total Alkalinity 40 ppm
Calc Hardness 100ppm
Stabilizer 50 ppm
Ttl des solids 300 ppm


I have been reading through these forums and basically what I have come up with two things: that this is not good and I don't know what to do about it. Definately not sure how okay I am to wait until noon tomorrow to have them tell me what to do (not to mention I tink they owe me a HUGE apology and refund of the $20 I spent on stabilizer that I didn't need and what ever I have to send to fix it but that a different story I suppose) I have read some say borax would be good to use? I actually have a box in the garage that I use to make laundry soap so this would be a good thing if true but how much. Please help me! I don't want my pool to fall apart and flood my yard and house!
 
Welcome to tfp, love2bmommy :wave:

Get your ph up quickly using borax. Use poolcalculator.com to calculate how much you need (I get 96 oz by weight of borax to go from 6.4 to 7.5 ph). Add it then test again after 1 hour of running the pump.

Next if you have any cya that has not disolved yet, get it out of the pool since your current level is as high as you want to go.

I get 4600 gallons for your pool.
 
So I only had 72 oz's of borax so I dumped it in there, it is too dark outside for me to see fi there is still any cya (which I am sure there is). Does that mean my pool is pretty much beat and I need to drain the water and start over?
 
For the CYA levels, probably. You will need to drain most of the water. CYA can take up to a week to dissolve though, so you won't know the true level until then. If there is any CYA in the morning still on the bottom of the pool you can try vacuuming to waste to get it out.
 
If your cya level stays close to 50 ppm then you are fine. Any cya granules you can still see? If yes, see if you can scoop them out.

Get some more borax tomorrow, test ph first, then dose again with the proper amount of borax to bring ph up to at least 7.5...then wait 1/2 hour and test again.
 
For my size pool what is the max level before I need to drain? Here is my new read since I added 72 oz's borax...

Total Chlorine 3 ppm
pH 6.6 (had to use my fishtank ph kit again)
Free Chlorine 3 ppm
Bromine 6 ppm
Total Alkalinity 120 ppm
Calc Hardness 100 ppm
Stabilizer 50 ppm
 
Okay, well I guess I will just have to wait until morning now, oh the insanity! lol. Thank you so much for your help! One more question though, if having the ph too low can damage my liner, what do you think we are talking about exactly? How long does it take for a low ph, from too much muriatic acid, to compromise the stability of my pool and filter?
 
love2bmommy said:
For my size pool what is the max level before I need to drain? Here is my new read since I added 72 oz's borax...
Click to expand...
Size of pool really doesn't matter, except that it is cheaper and easier than a big pool to drain and refill. Anything above 80 we strongly recommend partial drain/refill. Below 80 can be managed though you have to be attentive keeping FC up fairly high, and if you get an algae outbreak it will require a lot of chlorine, and if that happens it would smart to do a partial drain/refill. Below that it is sort of subjective, 60 is usually manageable.

love2bmommy said:
One more question though, if having the ph too low can damage my liner, what do you think we are talking about exactly?
Click to expand...
Yes low ph does damage liners, but it usually takes some time, so I would get it up tomorrow morning to minimize/prevent damage. It should be fine for short periods.
 
Okay, so I vacuumed what little bit of stabilizer there was left in the pool when I woke up this morning. A couple of hours later I took a water sample back to pinchapenny and this is how it read...

Total Chlorine 5 ppm
pH 7.4
Acid Demand *
Total Alkalinity 135 ppm
Calc Hardness 230 ppm
Stabilizer 100 ppm
Ttl des solids 300 ppm

Thanks to all of ya'll it wasn't as bad as it could have been :) They guy laughed and asked me if I wanted a job and I said "NO!!!!"

The pool guy says these are all acceptable limits but I (for abvious reasons) don't trust what he says. I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old that will be swimming in this pool. My number 1 question is this...are these levels safe swimming levels for little kids???
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
I wouldn't trust the pool stores cya testing...this is one the get wrong the most...can you at least purchase the HTH 6-way drop based test kit (you can usually get it at walmart)...if you can't get the recommended ones in the link in my sig? Then you can do you own cya test to confirm, since the pool stores results means you need to do a drain/refill.
 
So my husband wanted to wait a week before draining the pool because it is a bit of a hassle. I have been taking a sample of the water in to pinchapenny everyday this week and he has been telling me that in less then 24 hours my stabilizer went from 100 to 60 and has been staying right around there. Is that possible or is he trying to keep from holding up his end of the deal in paying to rebalance out water? The test kit I bought the night this all started looks like it is reading around 100ppm still and my chlorine has been staying high as well. Had to take the floater out and after two days was still reading 5 ppm. We haven't been in the pool so maybe that is why? Who knows but I think we will be draining this next week and starting over. Any suggestions on how to get the water to warm up cheaply? I live in Orlando, Fl but we have little sun in our back yard so the water is very cold :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply