Need some guidance please

[in2liberty]

Putting pool 14' x 48" Intex Ultra with one SWG and one regular filter pump back into commission. Shocked it.

These are the measurements:

Cl Br 2 4
pH 6.6
70 ppm alkaline
120 ppm hardness
60 ppm CYA

Still cloudy, milky white.

Where do I go from here?


Thanks from Austin, TX!

 

[woodyp]

Welcome to the forum. First question-----------"shocked" it with what and how much? And you need to bring that PH up into the mid 7's range first----using borax.

 

[JohnT]

Welcome to TFP!

You need chlorine and patience. Run your filter 24/7, be religious about maintaining the chlorine level and brush the pool a couple of times a day. Steer clear of powdered pool shock as it can cloud the water itself.

Note from the Chlorine CYA Chart that you need to keep your chlorine at 3ppm minimum and you should shoot for 4ppm. To clear a problem, you want to stay at the shock level of 24ppm.

A single addition of shock will only deal with very minor problems. If you follow the SLAMing Your Pool process you'll get it clear. It may be slow with an Intex as their filters aren't large enough to rapidly clear the water, but the key is to never let the chlorine get below the recommended levels.

Lots of good reading in Pool School

 

[in2liberty]

ok, I can add Borax. Question what is the CC level in slamming? It says I need to get CC down to 0.5...

- - - Updated - - -

I believe I screwed up and shocked it with a pouch from Kemtech. Now just using Clorox.

 

[Richard320]

ok, I can add Borax. Question what is the CC level in slamming? It says I need to get CC down to 0.5...

- - - Updated - - -

I believe I screwed up and shocked it with a pouch from Kemtech. Now just using Clorox.

Welcome!

Well.... judging by the readings you posted, either you don't have the proper test kit or you aren't using all of it. The one you need is called a FAS-DPD chlorine test. It uses a powder and then drops. Here's a video that shows it in action.


If you have most of the kit, you can buy just the FAS-DPD part from tft test kits.

Explicit directions on how to clear your pool are here. SLAM

On the other hand, your pool is only about 5000 gallons. You could always drain it, leaving a foot or so in the bottom so the liner doesn't wrinkle. You'd still need to SLAM, and you'd need to replace some salt, but it would be faster.

You still need a proper test kit, though, no matter what route you take.

 

[woodyp]

CC stands for combined chloramines, It's part of the BAD stuff you are trying to eliminate as part of the SLAM process.

 

[gwc]

CC stands for combined chloramines, It's part of the BAD stuff you are trying to eliminate as part of the SLAM process.

It makes the chlorine smell.

 

[in2liberty]

Ok, I'm now at:

80 ppm CYA
Cl Br 5 10 - added bleach to get to here
pH between 7.6-7.8 - added borax
TA 110 ppm

I've started aerating to try and bring down TA, water is clearing up nicely, can see the bottom grid, but it's not crystal clear yet.

I'm still confused on Free Chlorine vs. CC

 

[Richard320]

Ok, I'm now at:

80 ppm CYA
Cl Br 5 10 - added bleach to get to here
pH between 7.6-7.8 - added borax
TA 110 ppm

I've started aerating to try and bring down TA, water is clearing up nicely, can see the bottom grid, but it's not crystal clear yet.

I'm still confused on Free Chlorine vs. CC

How did CYA get so much higher?

Chlorine is an oxidizer. Think of it as burning without the flames. Combine Chlorine is half-burnt stuff.

Think about it... a lantern or a gas flame, and to a lesser extent, even a wood fire. If it's burning good, you don't see a lot of smoke or ash or or charcoal or soot. It burns clean. Just invisible gases are released. CC is the charcoal bits, the soot, the smoke. Once that fire really gets going, it will burn it all up.

Aerating will not lower TA, it will only raise pH so you can add acid again without pushing pH into the danger zone. And you've just raised pH with Borax, so you're actually fighting yourself. As it warns in the article, "You shouldn't lower TA just to reach a target number."

Right now, you need to SLAM, and nothing else. The other stuff is easy to adjust after the water is clear.

You seem to be using the colormatching Chlorine test. It isn't capable of measuring the FC levels you will need to SLAM properly, nor will it measure CC.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Free chlorine is the stuff you want to show on tests. CC is bad - combined chloramines - its by products of sanitizing from the Free chlorine. You need a test kit that can measure both - you keep referencing Br which stands for Bromine and that's a big hint to us that you either have a basic OTO test kit or are using strips.... your test kit probably only goes to 5 FC and that's not high enough for your needs - with an SWG and CYA of 60-80 - you need to order an FAS-DPD test that you can view in the video Richard posted. You need to be able to test much higher - refer to the CYA CHlorine chart - you need to reach shock level on the FC in order to clear your pool - a FC of 5 is not going to cut it...