Need pool water help

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BigLiquid530

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Jul 10, 2013
18
Hi everyone my name is jesse and new to the forums. Been reading alot of stuff on here and it seems that alot of people know what they are talking about so I thought I would post my problem.

So on the 4th we had a bunch of kids swimming and the next day are pool was cloudy. That was on a friday so I waited to see if would clear up because it's happened before and it cleared up after a day. Never did so then I added did my weekely maintance. I add half a bag of Leslies fresh and clear oxidizing shock and half a bag of Leslies Genesis shock and add chlorine tablets.

I would assume this isn't the ideal way to care for a pool but thats always worked so now I have this situation.




So I went to Leslies to get my water tested and here are my readings:

Free Available chlorine FAC 1-4 ppm condition low/ results 0

Toatl Available Chlorine TAC 0.2 diffrence condition low/results 0

Cyanuric Acid CYA 30-99ppm condition ok/results 40

Total Alkalinity TA 80-120ppm condition ok/results 80

pH 7.2-7.8 c9ndition low/results 7

Base Demand Result 7

Phosphates Belor Range 100ppb condition High/results 1000

So they told me to put 2lbs of soda ash

Add 1/2 bag chlorbrite

Then add 36oz of PhosFree

Well I had a friend with me and has had an above ground pool for 7 years and said dont buy it amd told me to put these chemicals in my pool:

HTH Super concentrated clarifier and HTH algae gaurd 3x concentrate

So I did and no results I also vacumed the bottom and cleaned the filters ect.

I want to just drain the pool and fill it because it just seems easier and it will give me a chance to clean out the pool. We have 4 treed that have alot of pollin athat surrond the pool and we actually have 15 trees in are back yard so we are constantly getting leaves ect in it thats why I was wondering if I should just drain it and be done with it.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

My pool is

Intex

16'x48"
 
If that CYA of 40 is correct, you are EXTREMELY lucky. I'd like to see what you get on a CYA test if you test it yourself using a good turbidity style test (not strips).

Ignore the phosphates and don't use phosfree unless you just have money to burn.
A little soda ash is correct to raise your pH.

Are you wanting to drain and refill, or just give up?
 
Adding all those shock products typically will raise your CYA so high that you have no choice but to drain and refill. The pool stores will not tell you this, because they want to sell you those products.

I would say given the numbers you have, you can go through the SLAM (shock level and maintain) process as defined here:
pool-school/shocking_your_pool
You are going to need a good test kit to go through the process.

Problem is, I'm still concerned your CYA test number is not accurate, especially since you've added more product since the test.
 
So would it be okay to just drain it give it a good clean and fill. This would all be done in one day so the pool wouldnt be sitting with no water.

Also the pool water heats up lately to like bath water temp so I dont know if that's a problem
 
Yep, but keep in mind you will need to immediately bring up your chlorine (use bleach) and you'll need to get SOME stabilizer (CYA) in there again. I can possibly walk you through how to use the products you have on hand, but it can be complex to do so until you have a good handle on how each product affects your pool.
 
I helped a friend drain and fill a pool the size of yours for the same reason. When you are in that 5000-6000 gallon range, depending on how expensive water is in your area, it can be cheaper and easier.
 
Well when I set up my pool earlier this summer I cleaned the pool while it was empty

Filled it
Added 1/2 bag fresh n clear and 1/2 bag of genesis shock and chlorine tablets

Didnt ever have probloms until now

But yes if you can guide me definently will take the help.

Is it okay to buy products from walmart


Also thank you for the quick response
 

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It is OK to buy products from WalMart. Keep in mind though that for the most part, here we mostly only use PLAIN bleach (not "no-splash" or "outdoor"), stabilizer (CYA), muriatic acid if pH gets off, and maybe soda ash, borax, etc. if we need to adjust anything else.

Fresh N Clear is Dichlor and will QUICKLY raise your CYA levels.
Genesis is Trichlor and will also raise your CYA.

The thing is, at first those products work because the CYA level starts at zero. But as you continue to add them, the CYA builds up and suddenly it's so high your chlorine is ineffective. This, and because pool stores typically get the CYA test wrong, is why I doubt the "40" number for CYA you were given.

Also note they consider "99" to be OK. If you were at 99, you'd have a real issue.

For $12, get to filling. Seriously. You'll spend more than that trying to get the pool back in balance, and again I'm betting your CYA is over 100.
 
Each package of F&C will raise FC by 4, CYA by 4, and lower pH by .16.
Each package of Genesis will raise FC by 4.3, CYA by 2.6, and lower pH by .23

Both of them do basically the same thing, so you don't have to add one of each. You can use ONE of these each time you need to raise FC (hard for you to know without a way to test!) until they add up to a CYA of 30-40. Essentially 9 bags of whichever you choose, and no more. No matter what, no more. Not to "SHOCK" the pool (that's a pool store thing), not to continue to add chlorine. Once your CYA gets sky high, you are in trouble.

Note I said one at a time. Adding two raises FC higher than you want it to be.
 
Once you can test your water, you can plug all the numbers into http://poolcalculator.com and it will tell you how much bleach to add (or for now use your products, but no more than 9 bags total!!!!)

It's difficult to say how much chlorine you will consume, because there are too many variables. Swimmer load, sunshine, etc.
 

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