Blue

[bahamapooldad]

New here and Hello, HELP!!!
Been doing ALOT of reading and require assistance.
28,500 gal, inground vinyl,
Hayward 244t sand filter
1 hp pump Hayward?
Last fri. we started opening,,,bad green and even though covered had sometrash. but all gone now.
We don't have a kit, but were shocking best guess, per the chart. and fighting to keep it up because of rain AND algea.
Pump running 24/7
We got it to blue, but still cloudy, sweeping daily and vac. every other to let settle.
Where do we go now??
OH, numbers from pool store 2 days ago.
FC-3
TC-3
PH-7.0
TA-60
Calc.hardness-160
Cya-60
My son in law added ab 6# baking soda to raise Ta and PH. then. and we were still shocking also.
didn't do anything last night as we are "LOST"
UHHH-- I know, but.... test strip this am.
Hardness OK
TC 1
FC 1
PH 7.2
TA 40
CYA ?? appears below 50
ANY help or input would be great.
Am going to vacuum in a bit and will have to add more water. what should we do next.

 

[dravenone]

there is an article in pool school on fighting algae. I believe you want to shock until your overnight loss of free chlorine is 1ppm or less. So test in the evening, test in the morning and if the numbers are within 1ppm of each other you should have killed everything, if not keep shocking. You will need a good test kit to measure free cl at higher levels.

 

[bahamapooldad]

Tks, I understand ab the test kit, I will pass that along to my son-in law.
Just wondering ab the blue and cloudy. It's a pretty blue, pleasin' to th' eye,lol, but ya cant see the bottom!! even at the 3' end.
And as stated I am going to vacuum and add more water, so doing that I will need to bring it back to shock level again and do so till my drop is less that 1ppm correct?
I understand I probably have the algea whupped but dont want it back, and I suppose just a matter of time for the filter to get out the clout and have the water clear????
Tryly we are in our infancy on using the BBB method and it all sounds great, but we are learnin' and need som help getting there.
again TIA a Million.

 

[JasonLion]

After the algae is all dead, it can take the filter a week or more to clear up the water. If the algae is all dead and the filter is working you should see a visible improvement in the water quality each day. Remember to keep an eye on the filter pressure and backwash/clean the filter as needed.

 

[bahamapooldad]

OK, and thanks you guys. I think we are on the right track here, as No one has hollered WHOA!!!! Don't do that!!
And reading(trust me I have HOURS reading your forum) I bet I am the culprit for the cloudy, I caught after the fact,,I should have been vacuuming to waste to get the stuff out and not while on Filter??? That is what I did a few times to not have to add water back, sooooo I am presuming I just stirred the stuff up and made it cloudy? I was back flushing though. My bad I suppose???
Now I am going to vacuum(to waste) and add water(city) to fill the pool back up. And like others we have some stuff from last year, can I put it in or do you advise against, this is to get the Cya back up mainly.
We have a 4# container of Aquachem, Shock , which is sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate..99.0%. inert 1.o%. it says add/mix and use 1# per 10k gal.water. can I put in per rec. dose to start shock back or shouldwe just go back to the bleach, We have 5, 1.4 gal. 6% bleach waiting in the wings just in case? My poor son-in-law, bless him, is getting tired of me asking for more bleach, and I tell himwe ARE getting closer. we just got a late start doing this to and have some pressure...My daughter,His wife is having a pool party for her sister, my youngest tommorrow, was hoping for clarity, BUT, POPP!! RIGHT.. BUT WE UNDER PRESSURE!!LOL
and the question IS, doing this today and watching tonight and the am is it possible no one will get dissolved if they decide to get thrown or jump in the pool.???LOL HEY QUIT LAUGHING!! I know they won't get dissolved!!!!! Not much anyway!!

 

[bahamapooldad]

AND after I do that, before we do anything, we can get a sample and take to the pool store so I can post some good numbers for Recommendations from you guys. I think that will be our best route as we dont have a good tet kit and I think trying to do it with the strips will not be a good idea!

 

[Guest]

I think trying to do it with the strips will not be a good idea!

That is correct. You really need to invest in a good test kit. It will save you a LOT of headaches, money, and trouble in the long run!

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

No one has hollered WHOA!!!! Don't do that!!
We have a 4# container of Aquachem, Shock , which is sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate..99.0%. inert 1.o%. it says add/mix and use 1# per 10k gal.water. can I put in per rec. dose to start shock

WHOA Don't do that!!!!

Your CYA level is right where you want it IF THAT RESULT Is accurate.

You do not want more CYA and the Dichlor will increase it.

Stick to the bleach.

 

[bahamapooldad]

Vacuumed till I had to resupply the water. Tested the tap water with strips for Giggles. it showed good on everything except TA and CYA.
WELL cant get to pool store for testing the water so here goes. and AGAIN I Know, test strips show and basing b-twixt colors on some??
Total hardness- 100-250
Total chlorine-3 (match)
FC-3 (match)
PH- 7.2 - 7.8
TA- 120
CYA-0 or too close to tell
I am sorry best I can do with my limited resources
Now, should I bleach/how much, or do the other stuff for starters? The cya has me puzzled? it should not drop like that in 3 days should it??
But Best (SWAG) go at it like it is in the very low range?? and see what happens?

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

You can't base adjustment decisions on the test strips - they are too unreliable.

You really need to have it tested by the pool store or pick up an inexpensive HTH 6-way test kit from Wal-mart. That at least is reliable. I just don't trust the strips at all.

 

[bahamapooldad]

About the cya, did just add alot of water?? about 6-8 inches in this pool,can't calc the gallons,,got oldtimers!!!lol

 

[bahamapooldad]

I understand,,need to get my son-in-law to.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

About the cya, did just add alot of water?? about 6-8 inches in this pool,can't calc the gallons,,got oldtimers!!!lol

Not enough to be that significant - it's the strips. They just aren't as accurate as drop based kits.

 

[bahamapooldad]

Other than,,Get you a test kit. any suggestions? I'm just visiting here from the Bahamas. and trying to help out the kids. If I was able to get em one I would, but at the moment unable.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Other than,,Get you a test kit. any suggestions? I'm just visiting here from the Bahamas. and trying to help out the kids. If I was able to get em one I would, but at the moment unable.

I understand, I missed the part about the party the first time.

With the pump running, pour all 5 jugs of bleach, one at a time, very slowly, in front of the return flow. Keep the filter running overnight. IF you can get some more bleach tonight that would be good, because I don't think the 5 will be quite enough. Hopefully this will help but there is no guarantee, given the testing method. I'm basing this on the pool store test result for CYA of 60 the other day, I'm going to assume you still have a decent amount in there. Either way this should help clear up cloudiness.

Read How to shock your Pool in pool school, if you haven't already.

Hope this helps.

 

[bahamapooldad]

OHHH BLESS YOU!! So?? how many more ya reckon?? Earlier "we" were trying to use the 1 gal. 6% raises it 2ppm in 30k pool we read somewhere.
SO I KNOW ya'll are right. AND if we had a kit prob would have it already clear..
With the vinyl he was afraid of bleaching it by adding to much but ACTUALLY, we are just chasing the problem, NOT eliminating it.
I will pass this along, maybe it will help get us a kit.
And again I know you are also having to guess but you "recommend" how much more bleach? and I will tell him we need it for sure!!!

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

The key to clearing a cloudy pool and getting the FC to hold is to raise the FC level up to "shock" level - for CYA of 60 that is 18 according to the Pool Calculator, and HOLD IT THERE, thru frequent bleach additions, until the FC holds overnight...

To determine how much, I use the Pool Calculator. I enter your gallons size, and then I put in 0 for your current and 18 for your "goal/target" and the Calculator recommends a certain amount of bleach.

So if you add it this evening, test again in a couple hours, if the FC drops back down to around 3, or whatever, then that result is your "now" - and 18 is still your target, then hit calculate and it tells you how much more bleach to add to keep the FC at 18.

Its really too hard to predict how much more you'll need but I'd say it's safe that you could have on hand another 6 jugs or so, just in case you need them.

You don't want the FC level that high for the swimmers, you want it at about 10 or 11, for your party, and if the water is cloudy still it's probably not sanitary enough for a pool party, I'm sorry to say.

 

[PaulR]

Earlier "we" were trying to use the 1 gal. 6% raises it 2ppm in 30k pool we read somewhere.

That's correct. 1 gal of X% in 10k gal will raise FC by Xppm. Therefore 1 gal of 6% in 30k will raise FC by 2. If your pool size is in round numbers it's a convenient shortcut to remember.
--paulr
whose pool size isn't a round number ( )

 

[bahamapooldad]

oK, got that 5 1.4s and will tell him we GOTTA make another bleach run. and if ALLLLL is like that??? round numbers or no?? (Theirs is actually 28,500 he told me) we are only to ab 14 and we NEED the 18 to stay and hold to kill the stuff and not "scare the B'Jesus" out of it as my fiance' would say.
Will watch it more till late tonite best I can and check in the am best I can. and not let it be too high for the swimmers,and will for sure will tell them about swimming in it..the party is later in the day so maybe we can knock a dent in it before then. Don't know how much good me telling that to a BUNCH of 20 something year olds though. :lol: maybe they'll listen............for a minute.

Again THANK YOU soooooooo much, will keep things going here as they happen. or should I start another message or wait till we got it under control and keep posting here????
Gotta make a bleach run while the other sets in.
Again THANK YOU for Your help and patience
James

 

[bahamapooldad]

put in 3 more gals, and hope for the best. lets see what the darkness will bring??