Big mix of blunders trying to treat algae

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tpfeffer

tpfeffer

Member
Sep 26, 2021
19
Birmingham AL
Pool Size
22
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Jandy Aquapure 1400
Ok.. I have made a bunch of blunders. I was working off the advice of a friend who has been a pool owner for decades, so go easy on me. This is my first year of pool ownership and I am definitely still learning. This is the first time I have had any issues with my water or chemistry. I have a T-100 test kit. I have a salt water 22,000 gallon vinyl pool with a jandy pump. Ok here goes..

Over the weekend, I noticed my water was getting a little cloudy. We have had loads and loads of rain. I had been running my pump from 10 pm to 8 am with my chlorinator set at 70%. My daily chlorine and pH have been very steady at 7.4 and 3. It's been a really long time since I have had to add anything to the pool. Anyway, over the weekend it started getting cloudy. I started running the pump 24/7 to help clear it up. I took a water sample to the pool store Monday morning and I was told my CYA is 0. I bought an 8 gallon bucket and put in about 6 gallons of CYA into the pool. My pH and Chlorine were normal before doing this. I tested about 4 hours later and my pH was 8 so I put some muriatic acid in. Whatever amount the pool math app told me too. Then I checked again about 4 hours later and my pH was 6.8 so I put some baking soda in. ( used baking soda because my friend told me that's what he always uses in his pool. Again, he's been a pool owner for decades never has issues so I trust him). I also put 2 packets of shock (to clear the water) in because that's what I needed for the size of my pool.

I went to work Tuesday morning, everything was fine, but water was still cloudy.. I came home from work and I have algae in my pool. I have a polaris robot vaccum and I run it all the time, but it turns off every 2 hours, so I have to be home to run it. I had to work today, so I wasn't able to get to the pool store until after work. Anyway, I bought some algaecide and put it in the pool. I p;ut the robot in, and I brushed all the walls and the floor of the pool. The water is cloudy but I can see the drains at the deep end of the pool.
I rechecked my chemicals and the pH was again high, so I added some muriatic acid.

Then I finally got smart and hopped on here to read about slamming the pool... Now I am freaking out about what to do.. The slamming article says not to do anything about your pH until finished.

I am so completely lost and feeling very overwhelmed at this point. I really need to know what to do to fix this mess.
Should I backwash, add some more water and start all over? Help is greatly needed.
 
If you have a TF-100, why did you go to the pool store to check CYA? You can do it yourself. I don't trust pool store results, even with CYA. They want to sell you things, so it's always in their interest to find something wrong.

Probably got the algae from all the rain. FC of 3 may not be enough, especially when it gets periodically diluted by deluge. And you didn't say what your CC was. You can have a FC of 10 and not be in the clear if you have CC (combined chloramines). CC is what tells you if something is creating a chlorine demand (i.e., something is alive & needing to be oxidized).

1st step is to take a step back from the ledge & don't panic.

Give us a full set of readings that you took yourself with your TF-100 and don't dump anything in until people here advise. TFP is not "dump and pray". There is almost no need for algaecide--that might just make things worse, by introducing copper or bromine or something else to your water. You didn't specify what kind of algaecide--there are a few different kinds, and if it was anything other than "poly" then it's not really the best thing you should be putting in your water. Chlorine on its own can take care of your algae issue.

The cloudiness you saw was an algae bloom about to hit critical mass.

You will need to do a SLAM. If your pH is truly off, you can do some correction up front--you just won't be able to get a good read on pH until the SLAM is over and FC has come back below 10. That's why it says not to worry about the pH--your test reagents will bleach out and give bad results if your FC is over 10, which it will be in a SLAM. But before you do the SLAM, it is CRITICAL....ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL that you know your CYA level. Otherwise, you have no idea what level to target with the SLAM.
 
I will run all the tests in the test kit today and post my results this morning. I was planning on doing a backwash, partial drain and refilling. Is this a good idea?
 
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Ok... I have taken all the tests and here are the results...... The pool is still cloudy this morning, but I can see the drains in the bottom of the pool..... I have been using the robot vacuum, and I brushed the pool last night. What are my next steps? I took the day off today to dedicate to the pool.
 

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jedigrover said:
If you have a TF-100, why did you go to the pool store to check CYA? You can do it yourself. I don't trust pool store results, even with CYA. They want to sell you things, so it's always in their interest to find something wrong.

Probably got the algae from all the rain. FC of 3 may not be enough, especially when it gets periodically diluted by deluge. And you didn't say what your CC was. You can have a FC of 10 and not be in the clear if you have CC (combined chloramines). CC is what tells you if something is creating a chlorine demand (i.e., something is alive & needing to be oxidized).

1st step is to take a step back from the ledge & don't panic.

Give us a full set of readings that you took yourself with your TF-100 and don't dump anything in until people here advise. TFP is not "dump and pray". There is almost no need for algaecide--that might just make things worse, by introducing copper or bromine or something else to your water. You didn't specify what kind of algaecide--there are a few different kinds, and if it was anything other than "poly" then it's not really the best thing you should be putting in your water. Chlorine on its own can take care of your algae issue.

The cloudiness you saw was an algae bloom about to hit critical mass.

You will need to do a SLAM. If your pH is truly off, you can do some correction up front--you just won't be able to get a good read on pH until the SLAM is over and FC has come back below 10. That's why it says not to worry about the pH--your test reagents will bleach out and give bad results if your FC is over 10, which it will be in a SLAM. But before you do the SLAM, it is CRITICAL....ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL that you know your CYA level. Otherwise, you have no idea what level to target with the SLAM.
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I took the water sample because the water was cloudy. I would not have put CYA in the pool, but the sample said it was 0. I figured I should probably put some in since it was 0. The algaecide I bought is called Swimtrine Plus. And, looking at the ingredients it actually does have copper in it. The attached results were taken this morning
 

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duraleigh said:
And what does your water look like this AM?
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It's still cloudy, but I can see the bottom drains. I have a teal liner, and the color is just darker. I have attached two pictures of the pool. One is clear water when we first filled it. The second I just took.
 

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Your water looks like it is close to being OK. You don't report CC's so I think I would do this. Today bring your FC up to a total of 20 ppm. Make this a one time dose and then let FC drift back down to around 7 or so.

Now, perform the OCLT. If you pass, then simply keep the FC around 5-7.....don't add or do anything else. Run your pump 24/7 until your wate3r looks like that original pic.

If you fail the OCLT tomorrow morning, SLAM the pool. Follow the instructions precisely and STAY OUT of t5he pool store.

Clean your filter if it gets 25% above normal psi. What is your current psi
 

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duraleigh said:
Your water looks like it is close to being OK. You don't report CC's so I think I would do this. Today bring your FC up to a total of 20 ppm. Make this a one time dose and then let FC drift back down to around 7 or so.

Now, perform the OCLT. If you pass, then simply keep the FC around 5-7.....don't add or do anything else. Run your pump 24/7 until your wate3r looks like that original pic.

If you fail the OCLT tomorrow morning, SLAM the pool. Follow the instructions precisely and STAY OUT of t5he pool store.

Clean your filter if it gets 25% above normal psi. What is your current psi
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The CC was 1. How do I bring up my FC to 20? Shock it? I have two packets of Shockwave? My current psi is 20, and I currently have my chlorinator on my SWG at 80%. Should I turn it up to 100%?
 
Liquid chlorine or bleach is best for adding a big dose of FC. Calculate the dosage size in PoolMath and then put it in all at once. Backwash or clean your filter and report your new psi after that.
 
duraleigh said:
Liquid chlorine or bleach is best for adding a big dose of FC. Calculate the dosage size in PoolMath and then put it in all at once. Backwash or clean your filter and report your new psi after that.
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What kind of bleach should I use? I will need to go to the store to get some. Lowes, or Walmart?
 
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Try and get 12.5% liquid chlorine. 10% if you can not get that. Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, should all carry that.

If you can not find it there, and the pool store has the chlorine, get it from there. We always recommend staying out of the pool store, primarily because the "free" testing ends up costing a lot more in bad chemical purchases, and a lot more headaches. But if the pool store is the only place you can get your hands on a lot of chlorine for the SLAM, that's where you gotta get it.
 
gingrbredman said:
Try and get 12.5% liquid chlorine. 10% if you can not get that. Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, should all carry that.

If you can not find it there, and the pool store has the chlorine, get it from there. We always recommend staying out of the pool store, primarily because the "free" testing ends up costing a lot more in bad chemical purchases, and a lot more headaches. But if the pool store is the only place you can get your hands on a lot of chlorine for the SLAM, that's where you gotta get it.
Click to expand...
Thank you!!!
 
gingrbredman said:
Try and get 12.5% liquid chlorine. 10% if you can not get that. Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, should all carry that.

If you can not find it there, and the pool store has the chlorine, get it from there. We always recommend staying out of the pool store, primarily because the "free" testing ends up costing a lot more in bad chemical purchases, and a lot more headaches. But if the pool store is the only place you can get your hands on a lot of chlorine for the SLAM, that's where you gotta get it.
Click to expand...
 

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