As of right now, all I can test is the PH and FC. My FC is 4 and my PH is 7.5. I have the HTH strips, but don't trust them because of the issues I had before. I am going to take a sample to Leslie's later and see where it's at. It's just frustrating because last week the pool was blueish but was just a little cloudy. I didn't do anything different far as making sure my FC and PH was good. I'm sure I need to go ahead and replace the filters at this point because they are almost 3 weeks old. I'm looking into getting one of those rinz n reuz setups. All the reviews and such look good and for $30 shipped, I'm willing to try it out.
Fairly new pool owner.....Need advice.
- Thread starter krashhole
- Start date
Yes. I just put new filters in the pumps also. My FC was 2 and my PH is still holding at 7.5. I am just going to keep brushing the pool the next couple of days and hope the new filters will start to clear it up.
krashhole said:
If you still have algae or have it again, you'll need to go through the shock process again. Refer to the Chlorine/CYA Chart to figure out your shock level. Then use the pool calculator to figure out how much bleach to put in.
Add it right after sundown pouring right over the return jet. That will at least get you to where you need to be to begin the shock process. Anything after that is just guesswork.
Without a proper FC test at shock level you won't really know how much to add to maintain the required FC level. You also won't know when you're done which is when you lose 1ppm or less overnight.
I suppose you could hit it with enough bleach every day at sundown to raise your FC 5-10ppm and hope for the best while monitoring the water quality. You could overshoot wasting some bleach but getting rid of the algae. Even worse would be if you undershoot which will cause you to have to buy more bleach in the long run because if you don't maintain the shock level the algae will continue to grow.
It's really hard to say without accurate test results.
Yeah, I have been checking my FC everynight and then again the next morning the last few days. I haven't lost more than 1ppm according to the HTH drops. I have my eyes on the $68 kit from here. Hopefully I can put something together soon and get it. Until then, I just have to rely on my HTH dropper kit and Leslie's. Thanks for your suggestions Jesse.
The pool is green as heck today 
I checked my FC this morning and it was sitting at 5 and the PH is 7.4 I know it's frustrating for those of you trying to help me, but I'm having to do the best I can with what I have. I was reading through the article about cleaning your green swamp and it says you can assume your FC is 0 and bring up to shock level. I'm somewhat confused with that. It says check after half hour and bring the FC back to shock level. If my FC is 5 now, do I adjust from there?
I checked my FC this morning and it was sitting at 5 and the PH is 7.4 I know it's frustrating for those of you trying to help me, but I'm having to do the best I can with what I have. I was reading through the article about cleaning your green swamp and it says you can assume your FC is 0 and bring up to shock level. I'm somewhat confused with that. It says check after half hour and bring the FC back to shock level. If my FC is 5 now, do I adjust from there?Yes, you can adjust with the pool calculator. I recommend going a couple of points over shock level, because if your pool is green it's going to go down fast.
What I am confused about is last night I checked my FC and it was 1. I added enough bleach to bring it up to 6. This morning when I checked my FC was 5. If I had algae, wouldn't my FC loss be a lot more than 1?
The water is starting to turn a lighter shade of green instead of the "rich green" look it had. Leslie's has not been able to test the water yet because they are waiting on a replacement unit
So according to the drop test my results are:
FC 5
PH 7.8
HTH Strips:
TA 200
FC 5
PH 7.5
TA higher than 180 but a shade lighter than 240
FC 0 (always has been with the HTH strips)
I have been checking the FC every morning and every night. Last night my FC was 3. I added enough bleach to bring my FC up to 12 according to the pool calculator. This morning it was still real yellow (higher than 5) I asked Leslie's about a vial that would read higher than 5 and he said none of the kits he sold would read higher than 5. Is there another way I can test for the high FC?
So according to the drop test my results are:
FC 5
PH 7.8
HTH Strips:
TA 200
FC 5
PH 7.5
TA higher than 180 but a shade lighter than 240
FC 0 (always has been with the HTH strips)
I have been checking the FC every morning and every night. Last night my FC was 3. I added enough bleach to bring my FC up to 12 according to the pool calculator. This morning it was still real yellow (higher than 5) I asked Leslie's about a vial that would read higher than 5 and he said none of the kits he sold would read higher than 5. Is there another way I can test for the high FC?
You can try diluting the pool water with distilled water. Mix 1 part pool water with 2 parts distilled then multiply your result by 3. It's not very accurate but it can tell you if you're in the ballpark.krashhole said:The water is starting to turn a lighter shade of green instead of the "rich green" look it had. Leslie's has not been able to test the water yet because they are waiting on a replacement unit
So according to the drop test my results are:
FC 5
PH 7.8
HTH Strips:
TA 200
FC 5
PH 7.5
TA higher than 180 but a shade lighter than 240
FC 0 (always has been with the HTH strips)
I have been checking the FC every morning and every night. Last night my FC was 3. I added enough bleach to bring my FC up to 12 according to the pool calculator. This morning it was still real yellow (higher than 5) I asked Leslie's about a vial that would read higher than 5 and he said none of the kits he sold would read higher than 5. Is there another way I can test for the high FC?
I was reading through the Pool School section again and came across this in the ABC's of pool water. " If you have a SWG or very high levels of direct sunlight, CYA is typically kept between 70 and 80" Would this apply to my pool since it sits in full sunlight with no shade at all instead of the 25-30 range?
Do you have a salt pool (salt water chlorine generator)? Your sig line doesn't say.
Picked up a Taylor test kit today. Only test I was concerned about was the CYA. It says transfer solution until black dot just disappears when viewed from top. I kept adding the solution until I could barely see it which was right at the 30 mark. Not sure if I did that right. The pool is back to it's blue look just cloudy now. I also picked up a bag of Fiber Clear to help clear up the water. Word is, it's better and safer than DE. I have never used either so I will post my results after using it.
Here are all my numbers from tonight.
FC 5
TC 5
CC 0
PH 7.5
TA 180
CH 230
CYA 30
Here are all my numbers from tonight.
FC 5
TC 5
CC 0
PH 7.5
TA 180
CH 230
CYA 30
It's probably closer to 20. You should not be able to see the dot at all.
What's your pH?
What's your pH?
oops, don't know how I left that out. I edited my post. My FC is still sitting at 5 this morning and the water is looking amazing. That fiber clear works great!
Since you filled it up to the top and you could still see the dot, if vaguely, then your CYA level is lower than 30. With your test kit that is all you can say. We can guess that the CYA level was actually 10 or 20, but that is just guessing.
There is another version of the CYA test that go to 20, but little point in getting that at this point.
There is another version of the CYA test that go to 20, but little point in getting that at this point.
Well, the pool has finally recovered from it's illness 
Not 100% clear yet, but in a couple more days of using the Fiber Clear it should be nice and sparkly 
Not 100% clear yet, but in a couple more days of using the Fiber Clear it should be nice and sparkly