Desperate for balancing help-

[moppymo]

Hello, I'm truly desperate for help. My pool is a mess and I'm due for a ton of company for a graduation party this weekend! Would you please kindly help me?

A little background: So, we used food grade citric acid to clear some staining from the walls of our fiberglass pool and left our pump to run. I'd say that was a little over a week ago. Somehow, (we've had some other major problems around here) we completely forgot to add the Jack's Magic-the purple stuff. The water became fairly cloudy although the staining lifted.

Our chlorine eventually was at zero and despite several jugs of bleach over the past week we couldn't get it back up and to hold. Our PH went sky high a couple of days ago and CYA has remained low even with stabilizer in the skimmer. We also have recently lost a ton of water, then replaced some with hose water yesterday and then it rained and filled the pool back up last night. It is at a good water level now but our numbers are still off.

Yesterday: (just to show the difference from today)
CL- 0 (then slowly over the course of the day we added 5 jugs of bleach trying to bring our chlorine up)
ph- 8.2+
TA 130
CH 140
CYA-40 (stabilizer still dissolving in the skimmer)
Salt 3000

*****Then- since yesterdays test readings- we also added the hose water and then received a TON of rainwater last night)


This morning:
TC-off the chart
Ph 8.2+
FC 16
CC .5
TC 16.5
TA 130
CH 130
CYA 45
Salt 2800


So, what is my next move? Should I add the Jacks Purple Stuff today? I'm hoping that helps clear up the water but what will it do to my Ph, TA and CH? Will my high chlorine be a problem? I'm due for all this company and really could use some advice please. Thank you so much!

 

[Scuba_Steve]

I don't know anything about adding citric acid, so I will leave that one alone. Muriatic acid will bring your pH down though. Not sure if the "Purple stuff" is just used to bring down pH or if it has another purpose. Sounds like a pool store potion to me though, so I would be skeptical unless someone else chimes in and says otherwise.

For the Chlorine, turn off your SWG. Leave it off until your FC comes down to 4-6. As long as your pH is addressed you will be fine for your party. That is assuming there isn't something else going on. Watch how fast your FC drops over the next day. If it come down more than a few ppm then you might want to do an OCLT.

 

[moppymo]

Hi Steve,
Thank you for your response.

Citric Acid (food grade) is to remove surface staining- I used it rather than Ascorbic Acid because it cost a bit less, however I used more but have had good success. I'll go turn off the SWG and watch my levels-thank you for suggesting that idea! I Unfortunately we neglected to add the Purple Stuff which is simply a metal sequesterant for Salt Water pools suggested by others on this site that is step two after removing the staining. I was hoping perhaps that stuff may help drop the other numbers although I'm not sure. Anyone else have thoughts on this…. ? Thanks!

ETA- I also planned to change out my pool cartridge filter with a Pleatco now before my party so the water would be super clear when I have guests, is this a bad time?

 

[Speedo]

Definitely agree with getting muriatic acid ASAP to lower pH. Be very careful with it! Slowly add it in front of the return so the water is pushing it away (in to the pool).

If the water isn't clear, you probably need to SLAM. If your CYA is currently 45, shock level would be 18 ppm. 48 hours of SLAMing should help clear things up if needed.

DON'T add any "magic stuff" :study:
edit: never mind, I'm unaware of the steps involved with cleaning stains.

 

[JohnT]

DON'T DO ANYTHING WITH YOUR PH!

The pH test is interfered with by high FC levels and the number can't be trusted. You could overshoot and end up with low pH.

If your water is clear, just make sure you have chlorine at all times to avoid an algae bloom. Check it multiple times a day to be sure. When the chlorine is back below 10ppm, then you can easily get the pH dialed in pretty quickly.

 

[moppymo]

Hi JohnT,

Thank you for your advice! I hadn't added the PH Down just yet so that is good then. Do you think I should add the Jack's Magic sequestering agent or wait on that too?

Would you recommend me waiting on putting the brand new filter in my cartridge filter also until all this is worked out? My old one is pretty funky and old.

 

[JohnT]

I'd go ahead and add the Jacks and put in the new cartridge too.

 

[TomBorg]

I'm going to disagree with JohnT on adjusting the pH. (Sorry! )

Since your earlier test results showed a pH of 8.2+ with a chlorine level of 0, that reading should be accurate. I would go ahead and use that number to adjust pH downward. Use poolmath to calculate how much acid to put in to reduce pH from 8.2 to, say, 7.5. That would be a safe step to take. If your pH was higher than 8.2, you'll end up in the 7.8 range, which is still OK, and way better than what you have now.