My can of POP is about empty (or rain, rain, go away!!)

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rickyjanet

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Jun 25, 2012
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It has been raining for over 5 days. I'm still trying to get my pool looking good--still struggling with cloudy water (no green). A couple of days ago I did the overnight test and according to this site--everything's "dead". I have been continuing to keep my "bleach" in the Shock level (adding daily) waiting for the water to clear up. I have also been running my pump/filter 24/7.

I'm beginning to wonder--is it the rain or could it be the "ULTRA" sand that we put in our new filter last Friday (called for 25 lbs instead of 50 lbs of "regular" pool sand).

Any ideas? or am I rushing it....does all this rain really have an affect? Yep, I'm grasping at straws here...
 
It rains here 10 months out of 12. Rain is really just water. All rain has in it is perhaps dirt. The non-organic kind. It can dilute the water some, if it's heavy, but not so much a problems really this rain stuff...

I don't know much about that sand other than a few posts recently that said no...

I think the other question to ask is how many ppm's are you adding twice a day to keep it at shock level? I have a feeling if it's more than 1 or 2ppm you're experiencing "two steps forward, one step back" on clearing the pool. The filter might be a problem as well. It really doesn't seem like a good idea to use LESS filter media in a nice large filter that holds more. What exactly is the point in that? When did less filtering surface area ever do anyone much good? I dunno... silly me...
 
Richard320 said:
frogabog said:
It really doesn't seem like a good idea to use LESS filter media in a nice large filter that holds more. What exactly is the point in that? When did less filtering surface area ever do anyone much good? I dunno... silly me...
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It's less dense than regular sand. Equal weight probably wouldn't fit.
Click to expand...

Thank you Richard. That makes more sense. I was imagining a sand filter, half full.
 

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OK just ran another set of tests..they are:
FC 13
CC 0
TC 13
TA 160
CYA 50
PH 7.5
Pool still cloudy--I can see the bottom. Again, the new filter/pump has been running 24/7 for a week now....

According to my numbers, looks like I will need to add more bleach to shock level and check the FC throughout the day. Anything else?
 
OK--I've come to a decision--I'm gonna either add an additional box (25#) of ULTRA sand or dump it all out and put 50# of pool sand--whichever I find (the filter calls for 50#). At least then, I will know without a doubt its the filter.... I'm really getting frustrated!!!!!
 
rickyjanet said:
CYA is 50 (up from 45)
CH--don't test anymore. Last was 30. I was under the impression that since it is a vinyl pool,this isn't relevant...
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I was asking for CH to see if you have calcium clouding in the water. Low CH is not an issue for vinyl, but high CH can still be. You haven't been using cal-hypo have you?
 
rickyjanet said:
OK--I've come to a decision--I'm gonna either add an additional box (25#) of ULTRA sand or dump it all out and put 50# of pool sand--whichever I find (the filter calls for 50#). At least then, I will know without a doubt its the filter.... I'm really getting frustrated!!!!!
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I would give it a bit more time before cracking open the filter. Try richard's idea of adding the DE. See: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/add_de_to_a_sand_filter
 
Previously I had used Leslies pouches of "shock" for vinyl pools. For the past 10 days, I've only been using bleach & muratic acid for PH....

Going out in a few minutes to recheck my FC ... added 62 oz bleach this a.m.
 
Hi rickyjanet, :)
Don't test pH when chlorine levels are 10ppm and above, the test will not be valid.

I had the same problem of pool taking longer to clear last year in my modified 15' Intex. what was happening while I had long days at work (10 hr days) the chloring level was falling just a ppm or 2 below after I got home from my shock value on the CYA/Chlorine chart here:
pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock
If your at 50ppm CYA, then your shock level is 20ppm chlorine, NO LESS THAN... EVER! One of the mods suggested I go up 3 more ppm to NEVER fall below my shock value.
Once I did that pool cleared in less than 3 days.
You have stated that your chlorine levels are down to 13 or 14ppm when you tested...that's a problem I see with your shock level at 20ppm!

So If I were you... give it a kick in the *ss up!
Don't worry, it won't hurt the pool or liner going up to 23ppm.

Chuck
 
Thanks Chuck!! your info helps me feel better... I always use the Pool Calculator to try to keep my level at 20. So I was really surprised this morning when it was so low... I added another 62 oz to get it back to 20. I rechecked by FC level a couple of hours ago and it is still 20.... I'll check it again in a little bit.
 
If your loosing that much, then your still killing algae and your cloudy water is not surprising. First you have to kill everything...then the filter does it job.

rickyjanet said:
Previously I had used Leslies pouches of "shock" for vinyl pools. For the past 10 days, I've only been using bleach & muratic acid for PH....
Click to expand...
Was the CH value you have before or after using the leslie "shock"? Is the leslie "shock" cal-hypo?
 
I haven't used store bought "shock" for a couple of weeks now...

I had performed the overnight OCLT test last Wed orThurs and only lost .5 so I assumed all the algae was "dead". I test every morning and every eve when I come home from work and add whatever bleach I need to be at 20... The CH value was from about a week ago when I took my last sample to Leslies......

It's been several days since I backwashed. I just rechecked my FC and it's still at 20, then I backwashed just as a "it can't hurt". The water that came out was somewhat dirty, so.... All I know to do is to continue testing and continue adding bleach. I bought some more ULTRA sand (simply because I couldn't locate regular pool sand in the small town I'm in. I'm thinking about having hubby add more--just because they say it uses 1/2 as much, maybe in this case it isn't true...
 
If the ultra stuff has half the density of regular sand (i.e. half the weight for same volume compared to sand), the I would not add anymore, since doing so may not allow your filter to work properly.

Pool stores are notorious for very inconsistent test results. You may have to start doing your own testing with an appropriate test kit, to solve your pools problems.

How are you testing for FC?
 

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