I can't see the deep end of my pool

[Janelle]

Hi All,
I am a new pool owner of an older pool. Just bought house and so I don't have a lot of past maintenance info on pool & equip, but I'm assuming it wasn't kept up. So far, I've emptied several wheel barrels of leaves from pool bottom, shocked & balanced chemicals. The pool chemicals have only been balanced for the past few days. My first concern is that the suction in both skimmers seem very low. I've already used the bladder thing on the hose and flushed water in both skimmer lines to the pump, and also from pump to skimmer. I will note that when I close two of the valves, I do get good suction to manually vacuum from one of the skimmers. My pool water is Blueish and cloudy- I can see the shallow end bottom, but not the deep end bottom at all. Also, the pressure gauge on sand filter, which does go to zero when off, only changes by a 2-3 psi after backwashing(dirty pressure of 22, clean pressue 19-20). Does all of this point towards the sand needing to be replaced?
Here are my numbers:
FC 1.1 (I'll be adding chlorine tonight)
TC 1.6 comb chl .5
ph 7.2
alk 96
cya 22

Any and all advise is greatly appreciated!

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

No, none of that suggests problems with the sand (which generally lasts nearly forever). You might be cleaning your filter too frequently. Sand filters have to get a little dirty to catch the finest particles. Another option is to try adding a little DE to the filter, instructions are in Pool School.

How are you measuring FC and CC?

Your FC and CYA levels are both on the low side. With CYA at 22 you never want to let FC get below 2. And for CYA we recommend between 30 and 50.

 

[Janelle]

Thanks for the input. I was planning on replacing sand, but will hold off for now. As of yesterday, these were my #'s tested by pool store.
FC 8.8 afterwards added 4lbs of shock to get rid of greenish hue in deep end
TC9.8
CC .9
ph 7.6
calc 209
TA 96
CYA 22

We haven't moved into house yet, so didn't get a chance to check pool this morning before work. As of last night, saw some improvement in deepend(can see down the side about 5 ft and shallow end is clear.) Do I understand correctly that I should have 10+FC until cloudy green water is gone? Once cleared, we have a self chlorinator with the tabs that I believe increase cya. Should I still add stabalizer to increase cya? How many days of 24/7 filtering and high FC should it take to clear water?
thanks!

 

[toofast]

Oh boy, I am not so sure we all trust the pool store numbers...best bet is to get a test kit (see the link above in Jason's signature) and do a full set of tests. In the meantime the experts will chime in with more ideas of how to help immediately.

Just an FYI, when I get my water tested at the local store it is always way off (the store not my real measures)

 

[Janelle]

I do have a basic test kit, but the FC only goes to 5. So far, the ph tests have been the same betw home and store. for now, I'm hoping to stick with the local store test for the cya and higher fc levels. Our local hardware store said it's a brand new machine, so hopefully it's the latest and greatest and more accurate. Thanks!

 

[duraleigh]

Our local hardware store said it's a brand new machine, so hopefully it's the latest and greatest and more accurate.

Pool store testing, despite the newness of the fancy machine, is so inconsistent and incorrect that none of us who have been on this forum a while have any faith in the results

Keep reading (google "pool store testing" here on the forum) and you will begin to get a feel for just how bad they are.

 

[Janelle]

Hi there,
I was wondering if anyone can tell me how many days of 24/7 filtering and high FC levels should it take to clear pool. I still can't see the deepend. It seems like I can see a little futher down each day, but it still seems like it's taking too long. I've been vacuuming daily to waste. Water seems clear in the shallow end, and hazy with a light greenish tint in deepend. I know I was told that the sand should last forever, but I feel like I've done everything, and that replacing the sand might be worth a try.
These are my #'s from this morning.
FC 9.8
TC10.7
CC .9
ph 7.6
hardness 213
TA 97
CYA 22
Any advice on chemicals? Do I need to increase cya? Pool has automatic chlorine feeder with the tablets; won't the tablets increase cya? What if I raise cya and then the tablets make it go too high over the course of the summer? Should I continue shocking pool to clear water, or at this point, is it more about being patient and letting the small particles get filtered out? I'm afraid that the water turnover rate is inadequate, but since fixing that would probably require major $, I'm trying to make the best with what i've got. Please let me know if I'm on the right track. Thanks!

 

[Janelle]

Hi there, is anybody out there? Other than telling me to get a new test kit, can anyone comment on my water issues? Here is an update:
I can finally see the deepend. The water is not still not crystal clear, but progress has definately been made. I read and I think I understand the shocking process, which I've been doing for the past 5 days.
Here are my new #s
fc 13.8
cc .4
ph 7.6
hard 205
ta 98
cya 21

My concern-if I keep shocking my pool, how long will it take for fc to lower to safe swimming levels? Do I continue shocking until water is crystal clear or based on cc level of <.2. Thanks!

 

[Bama Rambler]

We are going to tell oyu to get a good test kit because it is severely important in order for you to get good test results and that's imperative for us to give good advice.

Having said that. What are the ingredients of the "shock" you've been using?

With your CC's as high as thay are you need to maintain the shock level until the pool is clear. You can swim up to shock level for your CYA once you've passed the OCLT.

Since you're seeing progress every day it shouldn't be much longer until you could run the OCLT.

 

[Janelle]

Thanks for the fast reply. I'm using the powder form shock w/ 48% Calcium Hypochlorite. I'm sorry, what does OCLT stand for? Also, I've been trying to keep track of all the important pool info and sites, but am a bit overwhelmed. I know I've come across it before; Do you have a good link for me to calculate how much shock I need to add based on my figures or a formula? Thanks!

 

[Bama Rambler]

OCLT is the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. It's the best way to tell if you have organics growing in your pool and when you're done shocking.

You can use the Pool calculator to do the math for you. It has a drop down list for the form and strength of the chlorine you're using.

 

[Janelle]

I have a question about the pool calculator. According to cya chart, my shock level is 10. Since my current fc is already over 10(fc 13.8, cc .4), I'm confused at what to input as my goal.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Just put 10 as the goal and keep testing until it's lower than 10 and add at that point.

 

[Janelle]

Let me see if I understand....since my fc is above 10, I don't need to add more chemical until it falls below 10. Here is my confusion, cc is .4-will this this improve without adding more chlorine at this time? Will the .4 go down as long as the fc of 10 is maintained?

 

[Bama Rambler]

It appears that you do understand. Yes, the CC's will go down as long as you maintain shock level.

 

[Janelle]

Thanks so much for you help. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Janelle]

What is the effect of trichlor tablets on cya

Hi again,
I have another question I need to understand. My pool has the chlorine feeder with 3 inch tablets. Since we just fill up the device and refill when dissolved, I'm not sure how to use the calculator to determine how this will effect cya. My current cya is 22. I'm trying to determine if I need to add stablizer to increase cya to 30. At pool opening, cya read zero, so I added stablizer, and cya has been steady at 22. Or does anyone know how using the trichlor tablets will effect cya by the end of the summer. I'm thinking that I shouldn't worry about adding stabilizer since cya should steadily raise over course of summer. Am I thinking right?

 

[Bama Rambler]

Answer a few questions for me and I'll try to amswer the cya per tablet question.

How much stabilizer have you added this year?
About how many tablets have you used this year?
what size in oz are the tablets?

3" tablets are generally 7 or 8 oz so in a 27,000 gallon pool each 8 oz tablet adds about 1.2 ppm cya and about 2 ppm FC. If you know about how many tablets you've used you can figure how much CYA you have added.

 

[Janelle]

The tablets are 1" size. My husband filled the pentair self chlorinator 1/2 full a few weeks ago. He just refilled it this week. He's can't give me an exact #, he just said it was a lot. I've never done it so I don't know. We haven't been relying much on the chlorinator since we've been shocking so much. I added about 6lbs of conditioner, but the first few lbs were probably wasted because I poured it into skimmer, but was also backwashing due to the dirty water. My second attempt, I put the conditioner in old nylons and fixed into the skimmer. That was 2 weeks ago. I've been vacuuming to waste so cya did drop from 22 to 21. So do you think I need to add more stabilizer or let it go and let the tablets increase cya. I'm just worried about increasing cya and then by summer end needing to drain a ton of water. thanks!

 

[Bama Rambler]

1" tablets weight about 1 oz and the chlorinator holds about 4 lbs. I figure you've added about 30 ppm CYA.

Don't worry about the small difference in the CYA readings. There's no way to read the ppm of CYA in 1 ppm increments. It's 10 ppm resolution at best. Pool store computers extrapolate the number and CYA is the test they're the worst at.