Floating Chlorine Tabs in plastered pool and a couple chemical questions

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dannieboiz

Well-known member
Jan 16, 2015
286
San Jose, CA
I spent a whole week clearing up a green pool and I think I'm almost there.

I shocked the pool for 3 days to get it blue then it turned cloudy, so I added clarifier and it took a couple days to settle all the dead algae. My robot is doing a decent job vacuuming all the floor debris to where I can see the pool floors now but by no mean perfect yet.

I tested my water @ 58 degrees and this is my reading

FC = 2.0
PH 8.2
TA = 180

I'm going to pick up some chemicals to try to adjust all of this to the correct level. Planning to buy some chlorine tablets and a float to drop in the pool but was told these tablets are bad for plastered pools, is this true?

Should I also get some PH down? I read that Trichlor also lowers the PH.

I plan on picking up a box of Klem Tek Super Shock 20 to up my chlorine level, would that be a good start? Any suggestion on what to get?
 
Welcome to TFP!

Without knowing your CYA level, it isn't possible to give you any advice about your plan. Muriatic acid would probably be a better option than the pH down.
 
Don't go to the pool store.
Stop buying clarifiers and Up/Down chemicals.
Stop using your eye to "see if the pool looks clear" when deciding if you've killed the algae.

Add muriatic acid to get PH level in the mid 7's.

Get a proper kit to test for CYA level. Add bleach until Free Chlorine level is appropriate level for SLAMing the pool at your CYA level.

Keep that chlorine level until you pass the three stage test in the links above.

In the end, if your CYA is really high (over 60 or 70) you're better off just draining half the pool.

Stop using pucks. When you have it all sorted out, according to the links above, and using the calculator, you can maintain your pool with a bit of daily chlorine and a weekly splash of acid.

Don't splash the acid :)
 
Welcome!

I'll second John T above. Please spend some time in the ABC section of pool school. A basic understanding of what we teach is important but it's pretty simple really. We're always here to help with questions.
 
Thanks for the quick reply...

When we moved in a few months ago, I didn't have a pool, more of a green pond. I went to a local pool supply and was put on a 3 day shocking program spent hundreds on chemicals and now the pool is clear.

I have a Dolphin Diagnostic sweeper that I run daily trying to pick up all the debris. It does a decent job but I'm sure a Vac would do a better job I just can't seem to get my vac to hold pressure. possibly due to the way my pool was plumbed. Do I need a pressure pump to operate a manual vac?

I picked up a 5 way test kit but didn't know about CYA test. I'll pick one up this week.

Home Depot has some Kem Tek Mauriatic acid. I'll pick a box up today.

During this time of year, my ultimate goal is to keep the water clear.
 
Unless you understand WHY the app is telling you to add stuff, I think some time learning in Pool School would be good. Have you read these?
ABCs of Water Chemistry
Recommended Pool Chemicals
How to Chlorinate Your Pool

What test kit do you have now? Does it have the FAS-DPD chlorine test?

Also be careful as a lot of the muriatic acid sold in the big box stores is now half strength for the same price. Make sure it is up around 31% for the best deal. This is the one thing I get at a pool store.
 
Yes and no, app said I should be at 40ppm. Hence adding the stated amount to my size pool will raise the level to 40ppm. However reference here and other sites say 30 to 50 is ideal. So I'm already in range why would I want to raise it?
 

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You set your CYA level by how much sun your pool receives. How many hours of sun does your pool receive ? Remember CYA is like sunscreen for your FC. It keeps the sun from consuming it all. 40 is a good range if your pool gets good amount of sun.
Have you read the links Jason provided you with ? What is this app called that you reference to ?
 
pwrstrk said:
You set your CYA level by how much sun your pool receives. How many hours of sun does your pool receive ? Remember CYA is like sunscreen for your FC. It keeps the sun from consuming it all. 40 is a good range if your pool gets good amount of sun.
Have you read the links Jason provided you with ? What is this app called that you reference to ?
Click to expand...


The App is called Pool Pal available for androids.

pool get only 5 or 6 hours of direct sunlight due to the direction it face. I've went through all the links Jason provided. I actually started there when joining the forum and had reread it many times. :)

I actually started with a green pool like the one show in the SLAM link. I went on 3 days shocking spree and the pool turn blue again. I then had a bunch of little debris. It's this sticky grayish foam like things. I've been trying to get out daily with my sweeper and manual vac. It's so thick that it glog up my skimmer basket whenever I use the vac. Could be from me using clarified from bonding all the tiny particals together. I'm not sure.

I just dumped in the recommended dose of MA yesterday and I think I miscalculated. My PH dropped to 6.8 at the moment so I'm trying to bring the PH back up to 7.2ish with Borax.

Now that my pool is blue again, i need to stabilize the chemicals and what's annoying most is the cloudy water.
 
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