jrutley is getting on the pool bandwagon

jrutley · Aug 1, 2016

Hi all,

I discovered this site after running into a problem. (surprise!)

We picked up this pool last year, and it's doing the job until we can afford a "real" pool
Hydro-Force Steel Pro Frame Pool Set, 16-ft x | Canadian Tire

We live just under an hour from the NY border, close to Ottawa, Canada.

Up until now I've been pretty hands-off with the pool maintenance, with my wife managing most of the chemical additions. We have ignored it for the past week or two, and now we're paying for it.

So now I've started reading up on Pool School, and I'm determined to get this right! I know it's just a starter pool, but this will go a long way when I finally take the plunge on a full-sized pool

Up until now we have been using the Canadian Tire brand chemicals and test strips, and what they instruct us to put in is slightly different from what is recommended on this site.
Stabilized Chlorine, Shock treatment, Algaecide, Pool Stabilizer (which I presume is CYA), and something for water hardness.
To add to that, some of the numbers that they use on the test strips are different from the ones used on this site... e.g.
Total Bromine (which it looks like you don't care about)
Free Chlorine 0-0.5 = low, 1 OK, 3 = ideal, 5 = hot tub, 10 = high
Total alkalinity 0-40 = low, 80-120 = OK, 180-240 = high (parts per million maybe? this could be the same measurement, but 50-90 is what is recommended on this site)
pH is the same
Total Hardness ranged from 0 = Very Low, 100 = Low, 250-500 = OK, 1000 = High

I'm going to be picking up one of those test kits that was mentioned elsewhere, along with collecting more details about the pool, but hopefully someone will know right off the bat what this is:

Since we came back from vacation, the water is a little bit filmy feeling on the top, and there's lots of small white flecks in it.

I'm surprised the water isn't green. I tested the water and found 0 FC, pH is 8.5, TA was at 240. Hardness was high. I have no idea how much CYA there is.. I don't have a test for it.

I threw a bunch of bleach into the pool, and an hour later saw that the FC went up to 1, so hopefully that, picking up some muriatic acid, and adding the sequestrant is all that it will take to clear this up.

Thanks for reading!
Jeramy

pooldv · Aug 1, 2016

Welcome to TFP!

Sounds like some algae. Need to follow this process to kill it, SLAM Process

You also likely have calcium scale, TA and PH are very high. More here on scale, Pool School - Calcium Scaling.

Time for some reading in Pool School
ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Pool School - Getting Started

jrutley · Aug 4, 2016

I added a whole bunch of bleach, and the white flecks and film went away (AWESOME!)
When I say a whole bunch, it seems like a lot. 8 gallons of bleach for my little kiddy pool.

Free chlorine still says next to zero... after the first 5 gallons, it moved from zero to 1 on the scale.

pH still shows extremely high, even after I added 500-600mL of the 31% muriatic acid (17+ fl oz?)

Maybe these test strips from the hardware store are no good anymore; my Taylor test kit is on the way.

The other thing I'm wondering if I had too much CYA... so far we've added about 6 of those little "stabilized chlorine" pucks (about the circumference of a quarter and an inch high) over the past few weeks.

Thoughts?

max2k · Aug 4, 2016

jrutley said:
I added a whole bunch of bleach, and the white flecks and film went away (AWESOME!)
When I say a whole bunch, it seems like a lot. 8 gallons of bleach for my little kiddy pool.

Free chlorine still says next to zero... after the first 5 gallons, it moved from zero to 1 on the scale.

pH still shows extremely high, even after I added 500-600mL of the 31% muriatic acid (17+ fl oz?)

Maybe these test strips from the hardware store are no good anymore; my Taylor test kit is on the way.

The other thing I'm wondering if I had too much CYA... so far we've added about 6 of those little "stabilized chlorine" pucks (about the circumference of a quarter and an inch high) over the past few weeks.

Thoughts?

hard to tell. I can only suggest to remove all chemical dispensers from your water, add 1/2 gal jug of chlorine daily, keep brushing/filtering and wait for the test kit. Is replacing water an option?

jrutley · Aug 4, 2016

max2k said:
hard to tell. I can only suggest to remove all chemical dispensers from your water, add 1/2 gal jug of chlorine daily, keep brushing/filtering and wait for the test kit.

I'll try that. There's quite a bit of dirt at the bottom that I need to vacuum out, and all I have is a skimmer. Any vacuum recommendations?

max2k said:
Is replacing water an option?

It is, but I just put $25 of bleach plus acid in the pool, plus sequester stuff, so I'm hesitant to just flush that all away.

max2k · Aug 4, 2016

jrutley said:
I'll try that. There's quite a bit of dirt at the bottom that I need to vacuum out, and all I have is a skimmer. Any vacuum recommendations?

It is, but I just put $25 of bleach plus acid in the pool, plus sequester stuff, so I'm hesitant to just flush that all away.

I'd try to identify problem more clearly first before taking further actions: can you test your pool water and your fill water for iron? I believe pool store has reliable enough tests for those. If your fill water contains much less iron than your pool then I'd recommend drain/refill: your sequestrant didn't remove iron so it has a chance to come back and you'll be facing more expenses down the road. There's no point to fight algae if you going to get stains. BTW as former Canuk I'd not trust Canadian Tire on anything- due to their chain nature they have a lot of employee rotation so chance of coming across anyone experienced there is pretty low.

jrutley · Aug 4, 2016

max2k said:
I'd try to identify problem more clearly first before taking further actions: can you test your pool water and your fill water for iron? I believe pool store has reliable enough tests for those. If your fill water contains much less iron than your pool then I'd recommend drain/refill: your sequestrant didn't remove iron so it has a chance to come back and you'll be facing more expenses down the road.

I got a surprise... after adding 3 gallons of bleach, my FC has rocketed up to high! Looks like the test strips still work

pH is still high though, so it looks like I'll need more acid, but otherwise it's looking good!

My fill water is the source of the iron. I'm not too worried about it.. I'll just keep adding sequestrant as directed. This is just a kiddie pool anyway, so if it gets damaged it's not the end of the world, though if I can keep it unstained it will be a bonus knowing that I can maintain it for my "real" pool.

There's no point to fight algae if you going to get stains.

I'm not worried about algae at all; the pool water has never turned green. From what I've read here, algaecide isn't even necessary. As far as iron goes, last week the tubes leading to the pump and filter started to turn red. After adding sequestrant, they cleared up.

BTW as former Canuk I'd not trust Canadian Tire on anything- due to their chain nature they have a lot of employee rotation so chance of coming across anyone experienced there is pretty low.

I don't trust them either heheh