WARNING! This may be long winded, but may help someone who's just starting to have an issue with their pool or a warning to new pool owners to save them the same aggravation I incurred after 21 yrs! Well after 21 yrs of having a pretty much crystal clear pool (not the same one, but same location), I've finally found myself with a problem. This year, after the first month of clear water, my pool went GREEN! I figured no problem, just throw some "shock" in there, as always, and it'll be all set! It never failed. Well this year, 2016, in the hottest week of the year, I tossed about ten times as much "shock" as normal so far and NOTHING! I have people running over to use the pool in temps in the 90's for over 5 days and my pool is still GREEN! My "girls" and all the kids are asking when the pool will be ready. Well, after reading TFP Pool School for the last 4 days, I kind of figured out what the problem was. I was thinking my CYA got too high (I added some last year like an idiot after reading stuff on the internet without testing properly). I went to Leslie's and they confirmed that I should lower my CYA before adding anything else. I kind of didn't trust the employee who did the test, but I went home and drained about 15% of the water and refilled. The next day I felt that I wanted someone "more professional" to test my water and give me a printout, which I thought I would get from Leslie's, so I went to a different pool store. I told myself I wasn't going to buy anything, I just wanted a printout. This store uses the "Bio-Guard" system. They gave me a printout and said my CYA was 151 ppm, but the range is 30 - 200 and I was OK. Just bring my Alkalinity up a bit and my PH down a bit. Add two of these $6.00 lbs of "Shock" and 12oz of this $36.00 Algaecide and it'll be fine in the morning! Unfortunately, I ended up buying the shock & algaecide as I already had Alkinity Plus & PH Down at home. I did everything the "printout" said and nothing happened! Well good thing I'm a lover and not a fighter, because I would've been back to that store in the morning. Instead, I read TFP for a little bit more and started to grasp what I was being taught! I bought the TF-100 Test kit, drained & filled 20% 3 more times before the Test Kit arrived and after my first tests, drained & refilled 20% again. I'm now in the SLAM Process and hoping all will be well in the next couple of days!
Test Results below:
7/21/16 Pool Store Results:
CYA 151
FC 15
CC 0
TC 15
TA 73
CH 138
PH 8.5
After a few drain/refills and TA & PH Adjustments using strips, I finally received my TF-100 Test Kit and my first results are:
9:30 AM
CYA 70
FC 16
CC 0
TC 16
CH125
TA 90
PH 7.5
After vacuuming to waste and another 15-20% drain/refill:
3:30 PM
CYA 55
FC 10
CC 0
TC 10
CH 125
TA 80
PH 7.5
I've now added 128oz 12.5% bleach to bring to shock level and will follow up soon...
Test Results below:
7/21/16 Pool Store Results:
CYA 151
FC 15
CC 0
TC 15
TA 73
CH 138
PH 8.5
After a few drain/refills and TA & PH Adjustments using strips, I finally received my TF-100 Test Kit and my first results are:
9:30 AM
CYA 70
FC 16
CC 0
TC 16
CH125
TA 90
PH 7.5
After vacuuming to waste and another 15-20% drain/refill:
3:30 PM
CYA 55
FC 10
CC 0
TC 10
CH 125
TA 80
PH 7.5
I've now added 128oz 12.5% bleach to bring to shock level and will follow up soon...
