Preemptive question about cloudiness after shocking...

[DigiManTX]

I'm a bit of a mess here, but assuming my water is still cloudy in a couple days, then I'd like to know where to go next. Ok, here goes...

Dummy me didn't bother to get a pool cover at the end of last season. Figured whatever could go wrong, I could fix it with shocking and whatnot in the spring. Boy was I ever wrong. Apparently the PH shot up so high that I now have calcium scaling on my liner and steps. Before starting the shock, I managed to get the PH in line with acid. I spent days running a leaf rake and my rover to get all the **** off the bottom and started shocking/slamming. Then, in the midst of everything, my pump died. Luckily I have friends in high places and was able to get a spare for nothing. Also luckily... it was a month out of warranty, but the cat from Pentair that I talked to took care of me and sent me out a replacement (got it today finally). The other pump is still running, as I made a fail over system for my pumps... Now I have redundancy and if one goes down, I flip some valves and a switch and my pool is none the wiser. I managed to get in last weekend to try and get some of the scale off the liner and steps. I tried using a plastic spatula and while it was in fact working, it was not taking it off completely. I managed to get more off with my hands and fingers, so on a whim, I grabbed a wash rag and used that... got it off like a champ! well... as far as I could reach down anyways. So basically, I still have scaling all around the lower half of my pool. Now, here are where my questions start.

I am still in the shock/slamming process, BUT... my OCLT is a hair over 1... I gather that is because I have yet to move the steps and clean underneath there. I will do that tomorrow or Saturday when I have time.

Once I am done with this and the water is not clear, can I assume this is a calcium cloud or would it be dead algae that the filter is just not filtering out. I know adding a bit of DE could/would help the dead algae aspect, but would it help the calcium cloud?

Here are my #'s as of a few moments ago:

PH - 6.8 (on purpose for the calcium scaling)
FC - 1 (I'm about to go bring it back up to shock level)
CC - 1
CA - 140
TA - 70
CYA - less than 20... I'm thinking more like 10, but 20 is the lowest I can input.

Now, are all these #'s completely useless since I'm shocking or does that tell anyone anything? My CSI is negative, so that seems to make me wonder about it actually being a calcium cloud.

Any help/advice is appreciated!

Brian

 

[Casey]

How high was your Calcium Level last year when you closed? I know it's an after thought and all but I'm just wondering how the scale got there unless you were using Cal Hypo. You're numbers look good but I'd bump the pH up just a tad to get it on the low end of the recommendations.

 

[DigiManTX]

no cal hypo... i've only used bleach in it... never the bags of shock or tablets...

my calcium has never been extremly high i guess... i remember the # being below 200... but the PH before starting, was like so high it was purple... it took a lot of acid to get it down...

ok, i'll throw some aeration in there with my fountain to bump the PH...

- - - Updated - - -

and thoughts on adding the DE?

 

[DigiManTX]

bump... still looking for advice...

 

[BoDarville]

Although you don't specifically mention it, it sounds like you are SLAMming (e.g., "shocking") the pool because you had visible algae. Please confirm as we need to clarify this since it will impact our recommendations.

 

[DigiManTX]

it was right in the middle of everything i typed out...

"I am still in the shock/slamming process, BUT... my OCLT is a hair over 1... I gather that is because I have yet to move the steps and clean underneath there. I will do that tomorrow or Saturday when I have time."

 

[BoDarville]

OK, was looking for the word "algae". A SLAM can be done for other reasons aside from having visible algae. "Clean(ing) underneath there" could mean dirt/debris.

In any event, now it sounds like you have some dead algae floating around. I would try adding the DE or cellulose fiber to the filter to help filter out the dead algae more quickly. The process of adding DE or cellulose fiber to a sand filter is described here: Add DE to a Sand Filter

For your benefit, and for that of others reading this, filters are not particularly adept at removing calcium clouding. Therefore, adding DE or cellulose fiber in the hopes of removing a calcium cloud is of little to no value. That would have to be managed in another way. That's why it was important to confirm that you in fact had algae as the DE or cellulose is effective in filtering out the dead algae remnants quicker.

 

[DigiManTX]

LOL! the next line after that one talked about it possibly being dead algae OR a calcium cloud...

but yes absolutely... my pool was a swamp... i will make the assumption that it's dead algae (until it appears not) and proceed that way, since you mentioned that calcium clouds would most likely not be helped by DE... thanks