Need Help- SLAM/Shock and still can't get FC to hold

[steveg_nh]

I would bring ph up, but also that CYA is high. You need higher FC at that CYA level. You're likely going to want to replace some water from what I've read to get it lower, closer to 70-80. And with CC still at 1, you still have some junk in there to clean out. Might need to slam some more.

 

[UN1017]

Wife called me one day and said Kmart was running a sale on Tri-Chlor shock at 58%. I was thinking my CYA was low at the time, so I decided to go all in. Put 30 lbs of shock in Friday night, 10 lbs every two hours.

I know you've been doing some reading in Pool School, so I'm surprised you broke a TFP rule by blindly throwing in chemicals (especially trichlor) without taking into account what kind of effects would result. You gave us two CYA numbers, 50 and 58. For water that is not perfect, those numbers are too high.

If your water needed no SLAMing then it would have been ok to bump your CYA up, but only after everything was where it needed to be. Just remember, an SWG is not a magic pool care fix-all piece of equipment. It's great at maintaining perfect water but lousy getting badly balanced water where it needs to be.

This is just me but I would:

1. Shut off your SWG
2. Do a partial drain to get your CYA down
3. Manually chlorinate with bleach or SLAM if needed
4. Balance all other parameters
5. Start your SWG up and enjoy your pool

 

[Smykowski]

Drain and refill half of the water (may need to do it in two steps), then follow the SLAM process.

 

[timerguy]

You need to do a diluted cya test. There's no telling what your cya actually is unless you do. The diluted test will at least get a closer number and give you a better estimate of how much water you'll need to replace.

If your CYA level is 90 or higher, repeat the test adjusting the procedure as follows:Fill the mixing bottle to the lower mark with pool water.Continue filling the mixing bottle to the upper mark with tap water.Shake briefly to mix.Pour off half of the contents of the mixing bottle, so it is again filled to the lower mark.Continue the test normally from step 3, but multiply the final result by two. If your cya still shows higher than 90 do it again except this time dump down to the lower line and fill it to the upper line again with tap water- shake to mix it up then or out to the lower line again and the rest of the test mutiplying the result by 4. (I had to do it one more time to get my closer to accurate result last year.) 40,000 gallons later, I had my cya down to what it needed to be.

 

[mattttt25]

Quick update- haven't done anything with the pool other than enjoy it. Its been crystal clear, despite the constant sun, lots of swimmers, and rain. SWG is so nice to have. Results from sample taken this evening:

FC 4.5
CC .5
TC 5.0
CH 275
TA 100
PH 7.5
CYA 90-100

I know my CYA is still a little high, but how does everything else look? My PH has obviously crept up, I guess I should watch this?

Also, my salinity (using test strips) is reading 1490. SWG says salt good. Seems odd. Would you do anything? Add a bag or two just to be sure?

Thanks-

 

[Keating]

Your SWG will cause the pH to climb. You'll need to keep muriatic acid on hand to adjust.
Despite what your pool store may tell you, there is no such thing as "dry muriatic acid".
Dry acid, or "pH Down" powder has more junk you don't need.
Given that the SWG will continuously increase pH, you want to decrease it with a product that has the fewest side effects possible.

4.5FC is the lowest end of FC with CYA of 100. You want to get it up closer to 7, to give you a buffer until you empty/refill ~20% or so of your water (goal 80PPM CYA), after which time your MINIMUM FC should be around 3.6, but 5.5-6.0 would be desirable.

Your CC is still marginal.

If I were you, I'd change out 20% water (a good time to vac well to waste, backwash the filter really well, then pump down a little more, and top up) adjust pH to 7.2 and SLAM to kill off that last bit of CC. I'm guessing it would be a quick turn around, as it doesn't sound like you're in bad shape.

 

[steveg_nh]

I don't rely on salt test strips either. I have gotten wildly inaccurate results. I bought a Taylor K1766 salt test kit, and usually come within 400ppm of my cell's on reading. With strips, I was lucky if I was within 1000-1500ppm.

 

[mattttt25]

Thanks again. We have a huge summer party at the house this weekend, so I'll raise up the FC using bleach before the party. I'll then pump and dump next week to bring the CYA down. Adjust PH and see where I am. My CC may actually be 0 and FC 5. The color change occurred and then went back to red, but I didn't put another drop in.

As for the salinity test, I actually ran two tests with two strips from different manufacturers (although the actual strips were probably the same **** thing). One was left in a sample for 15 minutes and read 1490. The other was left in a sample for 20 minutes and read 4000. Lol. How long do you normally have to wait for the reading to be somewhat accurate?