My pool is NOT trouble free

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HammerGeek

HammerGeek

0
In The Industry
Aug 15, 2016
18
Wichita Falls, TX
I've been fighting algee for almost a week and making little progress. My guess is I'm not keeping the FC high enough for a long enough period. But seriously...this was supposed to be "trouble free" but it is not. I've added 11 jugs of liquid 6% chlorine over the past week. I'm at a loss and have decided to put some trichlor sticks back in the the skimmer and have used some algecide.

What am I doing wrong?

Goal8/30/169/5/169/6/16
9/7/16
9/8/169/9/169/10/16
FC612.55.5612814
CC?00.510.50.50.50.5
pH7.57.97.57.57.87.57.57.6
TA110210190200210210220-
CH300300375400450---
CYA4050302030203035
Water Temp79848284858582
Air Temp70-9570-9570-9568-9768-9868-10066-80
Week's Rain< .25< .25<.25<.25<.25<.251"
Actions after testAdded:Added:Added:Added:Added:
240 oz Cl120 oz Cl240 oz Cl360 oz Cl360 oz Cl
1 Bioguard silk sticks in skimmer4 oz algicide4 oz algicide3 Bioguard silk sticks in skimmer
Notes:Looks greener todayLooks to be getting less green todayLooks less green today but still swept some up off stepsLooks about the same as yesterday
 
You went 3 days without hitting your FC target. Algae is like rust - it never sleeps. SLAM it and maintain your target. All will be well. What size is your pool?
 
Now lets do some "housekeeping". Please add your pool info-size, kind, equipment size and kind, test kit info. to your siggy-settings (upper right), edit signature (middle left).

That will help everyone help you with just a glance for the important info.

Have you read (REALLY read) this:

Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain

Please note the most important part of it is M as in Maintain! That means MAINTAIN the FC AT SLAM level. Every time the FC goes below your SLAM level for your CYA you lose what ground.

A SLAM is not a one time or once a day thing. It is a process. The more your are able to test and dose the faster your pool will clear. It can be done while you are working. You will test and dose as often as possible. Try for at least 3 times a day. More if at all possible.
 
Well, off hand I wonder where you're buying 6% bleach, since the norm these days is 8.25%. Could your bleach be weaker than that even? Are you buying it from a source that has frequent turn over of stock and they store it inside to protect from heat and sun?

Algaecide will help as a preventative but it does nothing to erradicate a current algae outbreak. We don't even recommend it most of the time if you can keep your FC at the recommended levels its unnecessary, waste of money and some cheap ones even add copper to the water <gasp!>.

How is it possible that your CYA is fluctuating so much in test results? That makes me suspicious of testing errors.
 
It's no more complicated than you mentioned in your first post. You simply haven't had enough FC long enough. It's been covered but worth repeating. Follow the SLAM process to a T and it will come around.
 
You need to test first, then add bleach as required to get FC back up to your required "shock level". When you first start your SLAM you need to be testing and adding bleach as much as every hour to MAINTAIN your shock level chlorine. Algae will rapidly consume your chlorine in the beginning so you must constantly replenish what has been consumed. Shock level for your pool should be in the 12-16 range, so you need to get it to that, all at once, and then keep it there over the whole SLAM. Keep those sticks and tablets out of the pool and you won't need to test CYA every day because it will not change. As long as you are only using bleach or liquid pool shock you are not adding CYA. All you need to do is test, add bleach and maintain your FC level at the proper amount. Dumping stuff in and walking away until the next day will never correct your pool.
 
dsmith99 said:
You need to test first, then add bleach as required to get FC back up to your required "shock level". When you first start your SLAM you need to be testing and adding bleach as much as every hour to MAINTAIN your shock level chlorine. Algae will rapidly consume your chlorine in the beginning so you must constantly replenish what has been consumed. Shock level for your pool should be in the 12-16 range, so you need to get it to that, all at once, and then keep it there over the whole SLAM. Keep those sticks and tablets out of the pool and you won't need to test CYA every day because it will not change. As long as you are only using bleach or liquid pool shock you are not adding CYA. All you need to do is test, add bleach and maintain your FC level at the proper amount. Dumping stuff in and walking away until the next day will never correct your pool.
Click to expand...

I hear ya.....its just more than I expected for "trouble free." But I also realize this is a learning process. I'll get it eventually. Thanks for the help.


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The trouble free part starts when you have a balanced pool, and you can keep it that way with 5 minutes worth of attention every other day, if you ignore it for 4 or 5 days, it stops being balanced and trouble free.
 
Trouble free does not equal maintenance free.

It is a learning process about the chemistry in your pool with accurate testing.....vs blindly taking pool store advice. If you follow the methods here.......you indeed should be trouble-free.
 
It's a lot more trouble free when it's clear and you are simply keeping it that way. This absolutely requires daily diligence though. You must test and maintain your FC every day, clean the skimmer and brush the walls and floor once a week. My pool has stayed absolutely perfect and spot on all summer for less than $8 a week. I do my testing, dosing, brushing and cleaning every day without fail and I guarantee I spend well less than an hour/week doing so. Unless I'm brushing it takes about 5 minutes total. My work schedule is about as demanding as they come, but I find a few minutes every day to make it happen. I was having problems getting home on time to dose, often stuck at work for hours late. I purchased and installed a dosing pump so the chlorine goes in right on time either way, Now I just test to confirm and dial it in.
 
The reason everyone above is adamant about the maintain part is that algae can double in numbers in 5 hours. You need to stay at your SLAM level to have enough free chlorine to be available to kill off all the new algae as well as make significant headway into the established algae. Its kinda like your mortgage in that way

If you think about it you would have had algae long before your water turned green. First you lost that water sparkle, then it goes a bit cloudy, then a bit slimy and then finally green. So by the time the you get to green water there is probably million if not billions of little algae spores to be killed off and filtered out

One advantage of this system is that sparkling water is the normal for pool owners. Then when they notice the sparkle is gone or its looking a little cloudy they know to slam and have the pool back to normal in a couple of days, still while being safe to swim all the time. In saying that many members go years without having to slam

So test and dose as often as you can to keep the chlorine levels up. Brush your pool to keep the algae in suspension so it can be filtered out and breaking up the biofilm. If you are unable to test due to work/life commitments then add 2-3 ppm more than you require to keep the levels up higher. Dont worry about adjusting any other levels until you finish your slam

hth
 
I opened with a small amount of algae this year. (Laziness last fall.) I worked hard the first week, then my pool was indeed trouble free the rest of the summer, as long as I took 5 minutes or less per day to tend to its needs. This was my water a few days ago....

34d1d19b012d514d0baa4df69a575610.jpg


I don't think I've spent more than $60. The whole season, and I had to buy stabilizer at the start of the season. Once you get a handle on the process and get the pool in shape, (if you completely follow all of the steps) you will see how easy it really is. Hang in there!!
 
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