dBsooner
Gold Supporter
What percentage of sodium hypochlorite is in your bottles you are using? 10%?
Also what is your current FC level? Did you ever get a good CYA level or are we going on a guess of 20 or 30 CYA?
How to get pool back in shape?
- Thread starter dmorey01
- Start date
Also what is your current FC level? Did you ever get a good CYA level or are we going on a guess of 20 or 30 CYA?
On cya, I could still see the dot when the beaker was full. I did not test chlorine today, which in retrospect doesn’t seem ideal. Yesterday it was .5. Should I check it now?
dBsooner
Gold Supporter
Then you’re probably too low on CYA to notice still. It can take 24-48 hours to mix in fully to be measured.
FC at .5 yesterday and if it was sunny today, especially if you were still replacing water, or you’re still really green / cloudy, is probably now at 0. So let’s just use that as the current FC.
The higher your CYA, the more liquid chlorine you need to add to raise the FC level.
Based on the SLAM table (it doesn’t go down to 0 CYA), but the minimum target free FC would be 10 for a 20 CYA. For 30, we move up to 12 FC. 40 CYA and we need 16 FC.
So to get you from 0 to 10 FC in a 16000 gallon pool and 0 CYA (and up to 20 CYA), you need 205oz of 10%. To get to 12 FC, you’d need 246 oz, so you’re correct.
If you had a 30 CYA, you’d need to get to 12 FC for a SLAM. This would mean 246 oz of 10% to go from 0 to 12 FC at 30 CYA for 16000 gallons.
2 gallons won’t hurt. That’s only 10 extra ounces.
It will take a bit for the chlorine to mix in, then you could test your FC. I usually wait about 30 minutes. That’s what the articles here recommend. Testing 30 minutes after your last chemical addition for the day.
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Just tested. The ph is 7.2 and the FC only came out at 1. CC is 0. Added two more gallons of bleach. Not sure why it’s still so low. Also the pool is now overfull from the rain. Should I leave it or drain a couple of inches? I
We may have another issue. Ammonia will eat any CYA or FC added very quickly.
To test for it, add 10 ppm, mix and test in 30 mins. If it's mostly there, it's just algae. If it's mostly gone, it's ammonia. The ammonia fix is to repeat the 10FC doses until it holds for 30 mins. The on to SLAM.
I’m totally lost on how much 10 ppm would be. So that would be the amount of chlorine to add to the pool? How would I calculate that?
PoolMath download it and set up your pool details. Volume and finish, etc. Then click the FC tab. Enter your current FC value (0) and your target (10) and which kind of bleach you're using (10%, etc). It spits out the amount on the bottom of the page.
I did have the app, just didn’t realize the number referred to ppm. Added and waited 30 minutes. The FC is 12.5 and CC is 2. Assuming everything is okay and I should proceed? I find the app a bit confusing as even after logging chemical additions, it appears to suggest adding the same amount.
Ok GREAT. Not being able to hold FC or CYA for a short time points to ammonia, but you're holding FC now so maybe the other chlorine batch was weak and the CYA took a bit longer to mix than expected.
Full slam ahead.
Do you register any CYA yet ?
It would be nice if PM just knew what was going on, but in theory, you add to a FC level based on its reccomendation and then tomorrow it's much less and basically starting over. So even if it remembered your FC was a 6 yesterday, it wouldn't be today.
Fc is now 8.5, CC is 1 and cya is now readable at 30. I just added 72 oz of 10 percent bleach.
One fun complication is that a my pool robot just broke. One front flipper is still in the pool because it’s so murky that I don’t know where it is located. Would getting a skimmer vacuum from Amazon tomorrow be too late?
One fun complication is that a my pool robot just broke. One front flipper is still in the pool because it’s so murky that I don’t know where it is located. Would getting a skimmer vacuum from Amazon tomorrow be too late?
You need one, so.
It's either that or a new robot. The robots weren't designed for heavy cleanups / spring openings. Many use them anyway, but still. The old school manual vac does a far better job anyway.
dBsooner
Gold Supporter
Perfect! 72 oz was correct! Any sort of vacuum is essential. But for right now at least brush, brush, brush. If your robot broke, and you don’t have another automatic way to keep the sediment stirred up, you need to brush. Give your pump and filter a chance to grab the stuff. If it’s very small particle algae, vacuuming to waste would be the best, especially if you can see what you’re wasting off the floor.
But for now, since your robot is broken, brush all you can. As often as you can. Keep adding your chlorine to keep that FC at least at 12ppm. I’d check that CYA again in the morning as if it goes up to 40 ppm, you’ll need to change your target FC to 16ppm, instead of 12ppm.
Keep it up! You’re doing great! I know it can seem daunting or like hard work, but if you can make it feel like a game with goals, then you can have fun with it. You e reached one goal already! 30 CYA! Not to mention holding some sort of CYA and keeping FC past 30 minutes (signaling you don’t have ammonia). Good job!
PS: You might take pics. Before and after. And even during. It’s fun to look back at before and afters. Fun to share with the forum too if you’re interested.
clambert1273
Gold Supporter
- Jun 13, 2013
- 1,513
- Pool Size
- 12000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool Edge-40
Here's mine this yearPerfect! 72 oz was correct! Any sort of vacuum is essential. But for right now at least brush, brush, brush. If your robot broke, and you don’t have another automatic way to keep the sediment stirred up, you need to brush. Give your pump and filter a chance to grab the stuff. If it’s very small particle algae, vacuuming to waste would be the best, especially if you can see what you’re wasting off the floor.
But for now, since your robot is broken, brush all you can. As often as you can. Keep adding your chlorine to keep that FC at least at 12ppm. I’d check that CYA again in the morning as if it goes up to 40 ppm, you’ll need to change your target FC to 16ppm, instead of 12ppm.
Keep it up! You’re doing great! I know it can seem daunting or like hard work, but if you can make it feel like a game with goals, then you can have fun with it. You e reached one goal already! 30 CYA! Not to mention holding some sort of CYA and keeping FC past 30 minutes (signaling you don’t have ammonia). Good job!
PS: You might take pics. Before and after. And even during. It’s fun to look back at before and afters. Fun to share with the forum too if you’re interested.
Added chlorine twice more last night. Before I went to bed around 4, the cya came out at about 35. Today it looks like 30. The pool now has a sort of neon pea soup color to it, and it is a bit more cloudy. Is that normal?
I have been spending hours scrubbing the pool each day, but it feels like a step back? Attached a photo.
I have been spending hours scrubbing the pool each day, but it feels like a step back? Attached a photo.
Attachments
clambert1273
Gold Supporter
- Jun 13, 2013
- 1,513
- Pool Size
- 12000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool Edge-40
If slamming it will look worse before getting better. Just keep going testing & dosing as often as possible
The crud on the bottom needs to go. It will chew through your FC almost as fast as you add it. I believed the theory myself, but still couldn't believe my eyes when my pool went blue minutes after the last scoop of crud came out. And I'm talking like 5 minutes. Lol.
Mine was similarly non visible. I scooped blind. And scooped and scooped and scooped. And once I made some progress, I found less crud with further blind scoops, which sure was frustrating. But little by little I could see more and eventually there was only one patch left about the size of the net. I quickly grabbed it and that's when the magic happened. It went milky/cloudy blue, but it was massive progress so I took the win.
dBsooner
Gold Supporter
As Christina said, keep going. You're SLAMming. It will feel like you're getting nowhere, then all of a sudden you'll make this turn and it will start to clear up rapidly. It getting "worse" before it gets better is a sign you're scrubbing is helping. You need to get that "soup" stirred up. As @Newdude said, if you have "crud" on the bottom that is scoop-able with a net, do it. Talking thick algae / mud stuff. If you don't then just keep going the way you are going. I'll follow this up with a little bit of what we mean by it gets worse before it gets better. I need to get the pics off my phone and add dates to them. I'll post a reply to this thread showing.
You're doing great! Have you gotten the new skimmer vac yet? Remember on that, you DO NOT want to vacuum to filter! At least not at first. You don't want to put that algae into the filter media. You will want to later on as the DE will help clear it up faster. But at first, if you have the ability to let some of your water go down the drain and replace with new, you'll want to vacuum to waste. If that's not an option, vacuum to filter, but be sure to watch your pressures and backflush / clean / switch out the filter when they rise 25% from baseline.
dBsooner
Gold Supporter
Ignore all the pools “drunken tattoos” (thanks @Newdude courtesy of another member) that were created by previous owner not knowing how to add chemicals correctly or letting pucks fall to the bottom.
Friday, Houston we have a problem. It actually started before this, but now it’s time to get real bedside Im home on the weekends and can babysit more. Plus, I didn't take my own advice and take a true "before" pic.:
Saturday morning. We are getting cloudy:
Monday, Memorial Day. Starting to turn blue, yay! But still super cloudy:
Tuesday morning:
Tuesday midday:
This morning (Thursday):
Friday, Houston we have a problem. It actually started before this, but now it’s time to get real bedside Im home on the weekends and can babysit more. Plus, I didn't take my own advice and take a true "before" pic.
:Saturday morning. We are getting cloudy:
Monday, Memorial Day. Starting to turn blue, yay! But still super cloudy:
Tuesday morning:
Tuesday midday:
This morning (Thursday):