Is the algae dead?

[sbmiller]

We bought our house in October and didnt take the cover off of the pool until about a month ago because we were told all of our equipment needed replacing. I decided to get a head start on it and get all of the leaves, toys and rocks out. I also got the pump and sand filter working and started shocking, brushing and backwashing. Ive been shocking 2 or 3 times a day and brushing at least once a day. I had to backwash twice a day for two weeks! A week ago we got our cartridge filter installed. Our start up psi was 20 and got up to 30 within a few hours. Now every time I clean them the pressure jumps up within 30 minutes! I am worn out with cleaning these filters! How much longer will this go on? The water has been crystal clear for over a week now. I'm working on a signature.

 

[RobbieH]

Until the water is clear. It took over 2 weeks to go through the whole process on mine.

Just remember, POP!

 

[duraleigh]

If your psi jumps in 30 minutes, and you have to clean the filters. obviously you are collecting junk from the water still.

your shock process is complete if

1. Your pool water is sparkling
2. Your CC's are .5ppm or less
3. You can hold your FC overnight without losing more than 1ppm.

If you pass those, then all you need to do is keep running your filter until your pressure stabilizes

 

[jblizzle]

So are you following the shock process as described in Pool School?

Clearing the algae out of a pool with a cartridge filter takes the most work since you can not just backwash. If the pressure is going up, that means there is still stuff being pulled out of water.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short

 

[sbmiller]

Thank yall for such a quick response! Im planning on becoming a lifetime member as soon as I can.
I got upset last night and turned off the filter and just let the pump run. I feel like I was better off with the elderly sand filter. I should have spent a couple hundred more and just got a DE.
Ive been on your website for the last couple weeks and have learned a lot! I crammed pool school again this morning. My FC is not holding but is getting better. Ill also be getting a good test kit soon because Im tired of driving back and forth to the local pool store.

 

[woodyp]

You are well on the path in progress and the test kit Padiwan!

 

[linen]

Welcome to tfp, sbmiller

Yeah cartridge filters can be a real pain when fighting algae. Use this experience to spur yourself on to get the appropriate test kit so you can properly maintain your pool chemistry and never have to do this again!

Have you tested the cya yet, and if you have, what is it?
What is your target FC level that you are using during this shocking process?

Have patience, it will eventually clear.

 

[sbmiller]

I have tested the cya at the pool store but my husband threw them in the trash. (grrr) I am using the test strips at home (i know you are growling at me now) and once the FC gets below 3 I shock it again with 2 lbs of powdered shock. I was shocking 2-3 times a day now Im down to about once a day. Also, some of the black on the bottom of the pool actually looks greyish so Im wondering if some of it is just staining from the copper stuff i was dumping in there.

 

[jblizzle]

What is the powdered shock? That is either adding more CYA or CH ... both of which are bad in high amounts.

Please do yourself a favor and order a test kit ASAP.

You are likely currently wasting more money on blindly throwing in chemicals than it will cost to order a kit.

Wait, and you were adding copper? In algaecide I assume? Total waste of money as algaecide can only attempt to prevent algae, not kill and remove it. And never use any with copper in it or you risk staining like you could be seeing now.

 

[sbmiller]

So I got my test kit. Here are the numbers.
FC 14
CC 0
ph 8.2
TA 160
ch 570
CYA <20

I hope I did all the tests right. I did a couple of of them twice to make sure.

 

[RobbieH]

Looks like the shock product you were adding was CalHypo. Your CH is pretty darn high. Your pH is too high, you need to get that down with muriatic acid. I'm going to instruct you to get to Pool School and look up "How to Lower TA", TA of 160, pH being off, and CH of 570 is all but asking for calcium scale.

 

[jblizzle]

First, the pH test will read high when the FC > 10ppm. So next time the FC is under 10ppm, check the pH again and adjust as required. Because your CH is pretty high, you will want to maintain a lower pH to avoid calcium scaling problems.

It would also be good to get your CYA raised up to about 30ppm pretty quick so you do not lose so much FC to the sun.

How does your water look?

After you are completely done with the shock process, you can consider lowering the TA as well to slow down the rise of the pH.

 

[sbmiller]

The water has been clear but I went out of town for 2 days and came back and it was cloudy. My husband shocked it yesterday around 3

 

[jblizzle]

Now that you have your kit ... you need to start doing the Shock Process as described in Pool School.

 

[RobbieH]

Yep, Jason is right. You'll get used to not saying someone shocked it pretty quickly, since shocking can take weeks, not just a simple addition of a product.

 

[sbmiller]

i retested the FC this evening and it was zero. I also retested the ph and it was still 8.2. I guess Im off to get some stabilizer and bleach. I already have some muriatic acid.

 

[sbmiller]

Okay so I passed the oclt. This grey/ black stuff at the bottom of the pool is really bothering me. It covers about 40% of the surface of the bottom. Could it be that copper algaecide I put in a month or two ago before I could see the bottom? Or maybe all the leaves that sat on there forever? I don't know how long it's been there since we just bought the house.
Last nights test
Fc 4
Cc 0.5
Ph 7.8
Ta 140
Ch 600 yikes!
Cya 30

This morning
Fc 4
Cc 0

 

[jblizzle]

Why is your FC not at shock level? You should have been maintain shock level FC based on your CYA level until you passed the 3 requirements to stop. Usually the OCLT is done at the high FC levels.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short

 

[sbmiller]

The fc has been holding for over a week now. This is the first time I've done an oclt just to be sure. Should I bring it back up to shock level to test again?

 

[mynewpool]

This is just what I would do personally myself and I feel better about it. Bring it up to shock level and then do an oclt.

your shock process is complete if

1. Your pool water is sparkling
2. Your CC's are .5ppm or less
3. You can hold your FC overnight without losing more than 1ppm.

So personally I would bring it back to shock level and do another OCLT. Now this is just my advice so others may be around and give other advice. Me personally I would rather be safe than sorry.