New Pool Owner in Mesa, AZ

[rustyandbonnie]

We are new pool owners and trying to figure out the ins and outs of pool chemistry. We have been looking at the forums for a month or so and finally got the funds to buy the TF-100 test kit. Our pool kept turning a clear green color and, like many others on the website,we kept buying more and more chemicals from Leslie's pool. The pool would clear up after a few days, but within a week would turn green again. Also, no matter how much liquid chlorine we put in, the reading would be 5 at night, but by morning it would show 0 on the basic chlorine tester we originally bought from Leslie's. About 2 weeks ago, it turned green again and nothing was working to clear it up. We finally went to a different pool store and the guy there sold us a thing called Pool Rx. We put that in the skimmer basket and left town for 5 days for a funeral in Chicago. While gone, our son put some liquid chlorine in the pool once a day. When we came home, our pool was miraculously clear for the first time ever. It has been clear for about a week now and we have used a lot less chlorine. We haven't gotten any chlorine reading of 0 since we've been home.

So, before we added the pool rx, we had a floating thing with chlorine tablets in the pool and added liquid chlorine morning and night. Since adding the pool rx, we still have the floater with the tablets, but we only add liquid chlorine once per day. The chlorine readings stay at about 3 all of the time now.

We just received the TF-100 test kit in the mail and tried testing everything today. When we tested the CH we were confused about the color change. It says to take a reading when it turns blue. It turned purple first and after several more drops it turned to a color that we consider to be blue. The same thing happened with the TA test, saying to stop when it turns red, but we thought it was more of a pink and turned darker as we added more drops, but never red. So, the readings below might be way off. We need to know if we should stop adding drops as soon as the color changes, or continue until it is actually blue and red instead of purple and pink. Also, the Chlorine Drop Test says to stop when it turns clear. Ours turned clear, but cloudy. Do we take the reading now, when the color is clear, or when the liquid is actually clear, not cloudy?

We hope it's okay to ask these questions here. We've been looking through the forum for a while now and didn't see anything about this.

FC 5
CC .5
TC 5.5
CH 675
TA 80
CYA 58

 

[Crackerjack4u]

Hello Rusty and bonnie, and welcome to TFP ,

With you seeing green, having a .5 CC, and issues getting your chlorine to stay in your pool, it sounds as though you do in fact have an algae bloom, and it is what is consuming your chlorine. It doesn't appear to be severe Yet so hopefully we can help you get it cleared up quickly.

So we will be helping you to began SLAM to kill out the algae. http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl

Here are a couple more important links that will come in handy. http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/pool_water_chemistry

http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

Buying the TF100 is the best thing you could have done, now we can teach you to fix the issue you are having, and be able to properly, and independently maintain your pool after killing the algae out to prevent it from happening again.

*****I do Not see a reading for your pH if you could please check your pH, and post the results so we can see if it needs to be adjusted prior to beginning your SLAM. Once we see what the reading we can then get started getting your pool in the best shape it's ever been in. *****

You will also need to buy up several gallons of Liquid Bleach or Liquid Pool Shock the active ingredient needs to be "Sodium hypochlorite." Please do Not buy Splash less, or Concentrated Bleach, just buy plain ole regular bleach. Also The higher the % on the bleach or Liquid shock the less you will use but any % will work.

Once we see IF we need to adjust your pH before beginning then after the pH is taken care of, we will have your raise your FC level to appropriate Shock level for your current CYA of 60. Per TFPs Chlorine/CYA chart. http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock
So per the chart, your FC will need to be increased to 24ppm per the Chlorine/Cya chart to kill off the algae once and for all.

The reason we need to see if you need to adjust pH prior to is your pH reading will not be accurate once your FC level gets to 10ppm or higher. So we adjust it Before to ensure it is at a safe comfortable level for swimming and for your pool equipment etc.

Once you begin your SLAM we recommend you don't use any Pucks or tabs in floaters, algaecides, etc., you will Only be using Liquid Chlorine (Bleach). Active Ingredient: "Sodium hypochlorite." Which I promise it will get you fixed right up.

So please post your pH , buy some Regular Liquid Bleach, and we will be happy to help you throughout the entire process.

As far as questions, we encourage you to ask any questions that you have.

Again welcome to TFP. We look forward to helping you clear your pool of that annoying recurring algae issue. Have a wonderful night .
My sister also lives in Mesa.

UPDATE: Add until they turn Blue and Red. Mine also turned purple at the beginning but it will get more accurate. I think a lot of the chemicals that have gotten put in there have some effect on the weirdness of the colors sometimes, but it will eventually straighten out. On the Clear but cloudy issue stop when it turns from Pink to Clear, even if it looks cloudy.

Once we get your pH reading and determine what if anything we need to do there,

after THAT, during the SLAM you won't be checking anything other than your FC and CC levels until your SLAM is completed anyway.

So hopefully when you check everything afterwards it will all register the correct colors for you.

Also you can use 10ml water sample instead of 25ml for your FC and CC checks. You only need to use 1 scoop of powder with the 10ml as long as it turns a nice med/dk pink color the test will read just fine. This will save you a lot of reagents. I hope this helps.

 

[chyvan]

I think you mean SODIUM hypochlorite.

While you can use bleach from the store, the cheapest source I've found is through here. There's two distributors in Mesa, but maybe one of the ones in Tempe or Scottsdale will be closer to you http://www.hasapool.com/dealer_locator_hasa.php then check with them and see if they take the HASA coupons that get distributed. The lastest batch are here http://files.ctctcdn.com/b1351a14101/17d4917f-532f-4f95-8af3-d62f5e65c40a.pdf My store, and the one in Chandler don't care if they are expired, so hopefully you have the same luck with the store you choose.

 

[roppy]

I live I'm mesa too. I find NPS pool store has the cheapest 10%. You will see there flyer in the mail for a box of of 2 gl.

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk

 

[Crackerjack4u]

Good grief, lol Chyvan you are correct. Thanks for the catch it had been a really loooong day, but I have fixed it now.

Rustyandbonnie, Chyvan, and Roppy (above)both live in your area and have provided some excellent info on where the least expensive places are around you to purchase it at. That's one of the greatest things about this site is that if someone makes an error, or needs lowest prices etc. there is always someone around to help and offer suggestions. You're in good hands.

So if you don't mind, just check and post us a pH reading, so we can see if it needs any adjustment before we get started ridding your pool of algae, and we will go from there. Have a wonderful day.

 

[rustyandbonnie]

Sorry, my 3 year old granddaughter kept interrupting me and I lost my place and forgot to post the PH reading which was 7.2. If I can figure out how to post a picture below, I am going to try to show you pictures of my pool which was very green before NPS pool store suggested we use the Pool Rx to clear it up.


I don't know if you can tell how green the water was, but it is now very clear and has a bluish tint. We are using liquid chlorine from Walmart which is 10% sodium hypochlorite. We also have the tablets in the floating container and the Pool RX in the skimmer. We use very little chlorine now compared to what we used before the Pool Rx which was a suggested buy from the NPS pool store in Mesa. We feel like we have the pool under control now, but not sure.

I was trying to upload pictures of how the pool looks now, but got an error message which seemed to indicate we had used up too much space, so I will try to post a separate post with those pictures.

Do you know anything about the Pool Rx? Before using it, our pool was turning clear green about once a week and the only thing that would clear it up was algaecide until we foud this. I took several days, but has been the best thing we have done for our pool so far.

 

[bgray9]

I live I'm mesa too. I find NPS pool store has the cheapest 10%. You will see there flyer in the mail for a box of of 2 gl.

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk

Another Mesan here. I've gravitated to NPS awhile back for my chlorine and MA, usually the one on Greenfield and University. Good luck to the initial poster!

 

[rustyandbonnie]

Okay, I didn't know the third picture actually showed up in my last post until I actually posted it. The third one is a picture of the water at the deep end. I tried to post a picture by the steps so you can see how clear the water is now, but that photo won't upload. I keep getting an error message that I've exceeded my quota by 50.5 KB. I have no idea how to work with photos and getting them posted. The first two photos are before the Pool Rx. On my computer they don't look as green as the water looked in person and on the phone I used to take the photos.

 

[Crackerjack4u]

Hello rustyand bonnie,

Thank you for posting your pH. Your pH reading of 7.2ppm is fine, and within TFP's recommended range to begin your SLAM process. Even though the water is clear there is apparently an issue in there causing it to reoccur on you which I suspect is because it has not been killed out. A lot of times the other chemicals will mask the effect but not actually eliminate the problem and prevent it from recurring which I suspect is what has happened in your case.

Your new test kit and POOLMATH http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html will be your best helpers for the next several days so we can ensure we get that algae killed out for you. Were you able to buy regular liquid bleach or Liquid shock today? If so can you tell me what % you bought and I will help you get started.

EDIT: A lot of people bring their photos through using Photobucket, or Tapatalk, I bring mine through using Flicker so I can decrease the size before import. If you have one on there you don't want go to the top of this page you will see a small tab that says Forum Actions, under that click general settings, and then look on the left side of your page, all the way at the bottom there is one called MISCELLANEOUS then under that ATTACHMENTS.

If you click Attachments you can delete the pic you didn't want to post from there. EDIT: Once there just click the little box to the right of the image under Attachments that you do Not want posted, then go to the bottom of that page, and click delete selected.

I hope this helps.

 

[rustyandbonnie]

We have liquid chlorine and have been using it for a couple of months. It is 10% sodium hypochlorite from Walmart. We are in the monsoon season in mesa right now and it looks like it's going to be storming again this afternoon/evening. Should we wait to slam the pool or get it going right away?

We are also wondering if the trees and gravel along the one side of the pool are bad for it? There is also a lemon tree planted in the far corner behind the larger palm tree in our photos. Both palm trees hang over the pool a little.

 

[Agent99]

Yeah, you should really rip out all that gravel and palms trees...it'll just make a mess in the pool: KIDDING!

It is just a part of maintenance with a pool. I have a 100 year old massive oak tree over my pool and it is a nightmare at times.

I do daily sweeps of the decking and clearing out the pool. Just get the debris out in a reasonable time and you should be fine.

 

[Crackerjack4u]

LOL I agree with Agent 99 on the trees and gravel that they'll just require you a little more maintenance, but as long as your FC levels remain at, or slightly above the suggested range they shouldn't cause you any other issues as long as the debris doesn't remain in there for an extended period of time. I do wish I had a nice fresh lemon off that tree though YUM LOL.

As far as the monsoon issues, Under the circumstances it might be best to hold off and start 1st thing in the AM because the pool could overflow, and waste the chemicals you are adding tonight.

When you do start in the morning you'll want to remove any pucks that you currently have in your skimmer, or floaters., and shut down any auto chlorine feeders-which I don't see any listed in your signature but if you do have one not listed then please shut it off for now. You will be doing manual liquid chlorine adds Only, until the Slam is completed. Also please don't add any other chemicals other than Liquid Bleach during the SLAM process. I suspect yours will be a very short SLAM which is always a plus.


Per the Chlorine/CYA chart http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock You'll want to raise your FC level to SLAM/SHOCK level of 24ppm which is what is required for your 60ppm CYA level to kill off the algae.

Using POOL MATH- http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html put in your current pool gallons at the top where it says size.

To help you get familiar with using pool math

Under the FC section put in your current FC level which right now is 5 (recheck it in the AM before starting and put that number in the 1st box instead, and put 24 in the 2nd box which is your Target.

Beside the % sign put in 10 %. (which is the concentration you are currently using).

You will want to add enough 10% liquid chlorine to raise from your current level ****(5 right now) BUT put whatever level your FC is in the AM in the 1st box)**** THEN 24 in the 2nd box

Click Calculate
Then run your mouse cursor over the top line in the yellow FC box (That is the liquid chlorine section), and it will tell you at the top how much you need to use.

I did the calculations for the current FC of 5 up to 24 Target for you (But again remember to change that to the current FC in the AM if it is different than 5, and adjust the amount you need to add accordingly, and recheck level 30 mins after).

With the FC currently at 5ppm, to raise it to the Target of 24ppm this will require 292 Ounces which is 2 gallons, 1 quart, and 1 cup, or 2.3 gallons of 10% chlorine.

This way you can mess with Pool math tonight, and have a good understanding of how it works.

You'll want to raise and maintain your pool at the FC of 24ppm level until your pass OCLT.(link below)

You'll need to check and add more chlorine frequently (possibly hourly or as often as possible no less than twice daily)at 1st to maintain the FC level at 24ppm

You can also raise it a little higher if unable to check it for awhile BUT it is only safe to swim UP TO the SHOCK level which is 24ppm anything higher than that is not recommended to swim in. So be sure and let it drop slightly below if you and the family are planning on swimming then raise it back up after.

Here is the Link for the OCLT: http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/136-perform-the-overnight-fc-chlorine-loss-test-oclt which I suspect shouldn't take long at all in your case.

To pass OCLT you want to see
A FC loss of <1.0ppm overnight
To stop the SLAM we also want to see a crystal clear pool, and a CC of .5 or less in addition to the,1.0ppm overnight loss in FC.

You will be running you pump continuously until SLAM is completed.

(You can put in all your other readings from tonight's readings too if you want, but it really isn't necessary that you do so. Your current FC and Target FC is all that is really necessary to put in right now in order to begin your SLAM).


I know I've tossed a lot of info at you, in a short period of time, so if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. I'd just recommend working with Pool Math tonight, and getting a feel and basic understanding of how it works because it an awesome tool that makes all our lives, and pool maintenance so much easier.


NOTE: The only levels you'll need to check once you begin the SLAM will be the FC, and the CC levels.
As mentioned above in an earlier comment, using a 10ml water sample instead of a 25 ml sample will save you reagents. For the 10ml water sample, You only need to add 1 scoop of powder instead of 2 (as long as it turns a nice med/dark pink shade then it will work just fine), then just count your drops till clear, like you did before, and then multiple the drops required by 0.5 on both the FC and CC readings.

Please be safe tonight if/when the storms hit. Have a wonderful Night .

 

[chyvan]

I live I'm mesa too. I find NPS pool store has the cheapest 10%. You will see there flyer in the mail for a box of of 2 gl.

Another Mesan here. I've gravitated to NPS awhile back for my chlorine and MA, usually the one on Greenfield and University.

I use the NPS ad to price match the muratic acid at Leslie's simply because the Leslie's is closer to me. The Leslie's also carries the same brand of 10% chlorine that NPS has and will price match that too. However, the HASA chlorine is a minimum of 12.5% (17% when first delivered) as in more concentrated and cheaper, and that's why I get it.

 

[bgray9]

I use the NPS ad to price match the muratic acid at Leslie's simply because the Leslie's is closer to me. The Leslie's also carries the same brand of 10% chlorine that NPS has and will price match that too. However, the HASA chlorine is a minimum of 12.5% (17% when first delivered) as in more concentrated and cheaper, and that's why I get it.

Thanks for the info. I'll look into that a bit more. What does HASA stand for?

 

[trbvm]

Thanks for the info. I'll look into that a bit more. What does HASA stand for?

HASA is the brand.. check my post for a photo.. -> #27

 

[rustyandbonnie]

So no storms hit last night, just wind and gray clouds, so guess we should have started the slam yesterday. We thought maybe we didn't need to slam since the water was so clear since we put in the Pool Rx. Now, this morning there is quite a bit of black spots in one section of the pool which my husband says feels a little slimy and when he brushed it it swirled up and looked kind of greenish. We are going to start the slam now. We were told to remove the floater with tablets. Should we remove the pool rx thing before slamming? I'll probably be back with more questions and will keep you posted.

 

[Crackerjack4u]

Hello, I'm glad to hear the monsoon didn't get you. Yeah a lot of things like that will merely mask the underlying problem, and give you a false sense of hope that it's resolved only to have it hit full force or worse shortly there after.

Yes remove the pool RX thing and the tablets from the floater. Then add enough chlorine to raise the pool chlorine level to 24ppm per Poolmath. Remember to use Your Current FC reading, so if you haven't checked it recently today, please do so, and use that FC reading in the 1st box on poolmath.

 

[rustyandbonnie]

Questions from my husband are already starting. Do we leave both pumps on, filter and cleaning? Does he pour the chlorine in slowly by the return (think we saw that somewhere) or spread it out across the pool?

 

[Crackerjack4u]

Yes leave pump running.

Yes that is exactly the right way to add the chlorine is to pour it slowly in front of the return, and then have him sweep the bottom after incase any settled.

EDIT he only needs to sweep/brush just the area below where it was poured not the entire bottom after each add although he does need to sweep the entire pool 1-2xs daily during SLAM though.

- - - Updated - - -

Any questions you or your husband have feel free to ask that's why we're all here.

 

[rustyandbonnie]

Okay, he is now sweeping the bottom and both the cleaning pump and the filter pump are turned on. Now, we just wait and test the chlorine level again in an hour?