Sigh...re-read The Shock Process or just scroll up to Butterfly's last post in this thread.RSAnative said:
Chlorine not showing up and pool cloudy! Please help!
- Thread starter RSAnative
- Start date
Sorry Richard. I have been reading everything. I just want to make sure I'm getting this all right. I've already spent a lot of time and money getting this pool done. I finally think I'm on the right track thanks to everyone's help I'm just nervous about my sons birthday. What is your opinion on Algecide and pool clarifier?
No problem, just busting your chops a little.RSAnative said:
Algaecide is for special situations and yours isn't one of them. You're too early for clarifiers, if you even need them at all.
Is the pool improving in appearance? Can you see further down the steps? Water is greyish instead of greenish? That's the goal - clear water, not perfect numbers.
It is safe to swim in water up to shock level, so don't sweat the calendar. Just keep on dosing.
I think it's definitely looking more clear. It was never green just a grey cloudy. It will be difficult keeping the chlorine high tomorrow when I go to work but I will re-shock it at the last moment before I leave. Hopefully the shock will be working better. I might check it again late tonight before I go to sleep. I've shocked it twice today to get the levels up. We'll see what the OCLT shows. Fingers crossed. I also see you have a DE filter. To you add new DE every time you backwash?
Yes. If you break the filter down to clean the screens manually, add the full charge. If it's just a backwash, recharge it with 80%. You don't want to overdo it and end up like this:RSAnative said:
Holy Crud! Ugh. Why don't freaking pool companies tell you any of this!!! Other than breaking down you DE filter, there's really no way of knowing if there's too much on there?
Test and redose as often as necessary to keep that FC at 16. Below 16 is bad!
As for swimming by Saturday, for safety reasons you shouldn't let anyone in the pool if it's cloudy. You need to be able to see if someone went under. Since it's safe to swim up to shock level, you may be ok by Saturday (as long as the water isn't cloudy). Don't worry about that for now. Your sole mission this week is to keep that FC above 16 at all times (or as often as you can with that silly job thing).
As for swimming by Saturday, for safety reasons you shouldn't let anyone in the pool if it's cloudy. You need to be able to see if someone went under. Since it's safe to swim up to shock level, you may be ok by Saturday (as long as the water isn't cloudy). Don't worry about that for now. Your sole mission this week is to keep that FC above 16 at all times (or as often as you can with that silly job thing).
I've heard different thoughts on small pools and leaving the main drain open versus the skimmer only. Thoughts about that?
I'd keep it at a mix so you are filtering chlorine and filtering out dead organics that are sitting in the bottom.
Good news sirs! The overnight chlorine test went from 16 to 3, which is better then last time which was 16 - 0. So things are moving along. The pool is looking clearer so I'm winning the war but the battle is not over yet! Thanks for all your help! I'm so glad I found this forum!
Yes Sir! First thing after I tested it! Back up to 16. Unfortunatley I'm at work all day so I won't be able to monitor it but it's nice and all shocked now! Thanks Dave. 
Good work! That FC will keep holding longer and longer the more often you bring it back up. It is tragic that work has to interfere, isn't it?
That FC will keep holding longer and longer the more often you bring it back up. It is tragic that work has to interfere, isn't it?
Very. My boys birthday is Saturday and my goal was to have it ready for him. I think I'm on track. Now all I need is some hot weather to warm the water up.
Richard320 said:You don't want to overdo it and end up like this:
Richard, WHAT is that? lol
Things are looking great! The FC levels don't seem to be moving much now. It's hard to read exactly where they are but it's definitely well over 5 ppm on the testing kit. The CC is at zero and the pool is clear. I'm not going to add any chlorine tonight and do an overnight chlorine test tomorrow for the final word. Just to clarify, these levels of chlorine are safe to swim in? Assuming I've achieved the goal of counteracting the algae, should I keep my chlorine levels this high for the most part or bring them down to around 3-5 and maintain them there?