Will someone please look at my test results?

[Jonalee]

FC: 9ppm
CC: 0.5ppm
TC: 9.5ppm
TA: 260
CH: 160
CYA: n/a

I had the CYA tube filled to the top and, while slightly cloudy, I could still see the black dot. I do have a sock hanging in the water, so I squished it several times and am planning on retesting tomorrow.

My husband, being the lazy person he is, left the pool half-filled for two weeks before filling it the rest of the way and hooking up the filter and swg. It turned green as soon as I added bleach and salt. The water is clear now, but there's still some yucky stuff on the pool bottom and walls. Also, I am not getting a reading on my ph. When I add the red drops, the water only has a slight pink tinge.

 

[BoDarville]

Hi Jonalee:

If you could still see the dot on your CYA tube after filling it to the top, your CYA is less than 20 ppm. You are doing the right thing by adding CYA to the pool. Just be aware that it can take 5-7 days for the newly added CYA to appear in your test results. For a SWG pool, you want to aim for a CYA of between 60 - 80 ppm.

As for your pH reading (or lack of it), here's a couple of possible reasons for that:

• 1. Your FC of 9 ppm is basically at shock level for your current CYA of < 20. High FC levels will throw off the test results.
  2. How old is your pH reagent? If it's over a year old and was stored in a non-climate controlled area, it may have gone bad. One way to tell is to look and see if the pH reagent (R-0004 or R-0014) dye stains the plastic bottle it is stored in. If it does, it has likely gone bad.
  3. Your TA is high, but we could make more sense of that if we knew the pH.
  4. On the plus side, your CH looks great!

 

[Richard320]

Yucky stuff on the walls sounds like algae. Have you read the shock process in Pool School? You might wantto run through it before jacking the CYA level up. It's easier to do the process with lower CYA.

 

[Isaac-1]

What they said, there is no sense in testing for CYA until at least a week (maybe 9 days) after it fully dissolves in the sock

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

My husband, being the lazy person he is, left the pool half-filled for two weeks before filling it the rest of the way and hooking up the filter and swg. It turned green as soon as I added bleach and salt. The water is clear now, but there's still some yucky stuff on the pool bottom and walls. Also, I am not getting a reading on my ph. When I add the red drops, the water only has a slight pink tinge.

Cloudy green or clear?


Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

 

[BoDarville]

but there's still some yucky stuff on the pool bottom and walls.

That yucky stuff could either be algae or other organic staining (more likely) or metal stains (less likely). You can determine which as follows: If you have a trichlor puck around, rub it on a section of the stain. If it fades, then the stain is organic (algae). If it does not fade, then it is very likely metal. If you don't have a trichlor puck handy but have a Vitamin C tablet, you can rub that on a section of the stain. If it fades, then it's metal stains. Otherwise it is organic. I would determine this before adding any more CYA to the pool.

If you find that it is organic, I would start the shock process. If shocking is necessary, I would not add any more CYA until you complete the shock process. You will need to add bleach as your SWG will not provide enough chlorine for the proper shock level.

After shocking, then you would aim for a CYA between 60 - 80 ppm for ongoing maintenance for your SWG.

 

[Jonalee]

I think old ph reagent from my hth kit was the cause. I tested this morning with my new TF-100 ph reagent and it looks like it's somewhere between 7.2 and 7.5.

As far as the yucky stuff, the pool had turned clear green when I added bleach, but now has mainly cleared up except for some dark loose stuff on the bottom. It's so fine that I can't vacuum it up because as soon as I get close to it, the water actually pushes it away. I've been running my filter continuously. I don't have any dichlor tablets, as I was just adding bleach until the swg was able to keep up.

 

[BoDarville]

Keep running the filter until the remaining debris is cleared up. You may have to brush a couple of times per day to keep as much of that stuff suspended in the water so that the filter can capture it. By default, most debris either floats on the water surface or settles to the bottom - comparatively little debris is naturally suspended in the water. By keeping the filter running and brushing, you will stir that stuff up and keep more of it suspended in the water.

I would also test FC and CC as well as run an OCLT (link in my sig) to make sure you do not have to shock (see The Shock Process link in my sig)