Pollyquat?

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BigBrownLog

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Jun 10, 2009
66
Louisiana
Hi everyone this is my first post here. I recently started trying to clean up my pnod. It was Green when i started then went to brown now.

I started out with just bleach at night time all other levels were in the recomended range.
i've put about 6 gallons of 5.7 bleach and 8 pounds of trichlor spread over 2 nights. And still cant see bottom of pool. I tried my best to keep chlor at 15ppm but couldnt keep it there.

I Figured there was algae in the filter so i ran 10oz cleaner through backwash and waited 1hr.

Then I put polyquat 60% in. So my question is how long do i need to wait to shock again? I talked to two pool stores and both give a different answer. Leslies says wait 1 day and all seasons says right away with 6 pounds. bens best guess cya chart says thats way too much chlorine.


11,000 gallon above ground
just before pollyquat were these levels acording to pool store
TC:3-6 they said it was all combined chlorine
PH:6.9
TA:60
CYA:20
They have a machine hooked to a computer and i dont trust it.

my reading was
TC:3-6 and after reagent r-0003 it stayed at 3-6
PH:6.9
TA:70
CYA:i dont have kit for that

any thoughts would be appriciative

oh another question how many ppm of cya does tri chlor pucks add to 10,000 gallons
 
Welcome to TFP!

Polyquat is almost completely ineffective against an algae bloom. It is most useful in preventing algae from getting started in the first place.

It would really help to have a FAS-DPD chlorine test. If you have high CC levels the OTO test (drops turn the sample yellow which is compared to a color standard) is almost completely useless. Having a top quality test kit would make all the difference. I recommend getting a kit from TF Test Kits, see the link in my signature. The Taylor K-2006 is also good.

If CYA is really 20, shock level is around 10 or 11.

What you really want to do is to raise the FC level to shock level as frequently as once an hour.

Your PH is too low. You should raise PH to around 7.2 to 7.4.

You also need more CYA, if the pool store test is to be believed.
 
yeah this is the kit i have http://www.lesliespool.com/browse/H...-Test-Kit/D/30100/P/1:100:4000:400000/I/18547

i know the levels are low but will they be fine if i just shock for now. I figure they arent too low and the lower the ph the better the chlorine works as long as it's not lower than 6.8. also the lower the cya the less chlorine i use.

the low cya is why i asked the question of how much cya do the trichlor pucks add to 10,000 gallonsi hace a bunch of them and i want to use them up.

test as of now
fc:.5
tc:.5
ph:6.8
ta:60
 
Trichlor tablets add 6 ppm of CYA for every 10 ppm of FC that it adds to the water.

Adding to what Jason said, your pH is too low. Needs to be around 7.2 or so. 6.8 is damaging to pool surfaces and equipment.

The key to clearing a green pool is to bring the FC to shock level and HOLD it there until you have success. Shock level FC for a CYA of 20 is around 11 ppm. This means that it can't fall below 11 until the algae is killed. You may have to add bleach every 30 minutes to an hour, testing all the way, until you get it done. 5 ppm of FC isn't going to do it. In addition, you aren't capable of testing to levels above 5 ppm accurately with your kit. You need a service type kit as Jason described. You can have the pool store check your FC in the meantime but you need a service kit
 
thanks for the info on the tablets.

and thank you for the info on the chlorine i will try to hold it at 11 but my kit only goes to 10 i guess i can just eye the color to a little darker than the top color.

As for not being able to acurately test above 5 ppm i dont understand. do you mean that the taylor drops i have are no good for testing above 5ppm or that the vile is too small. i mean if the color gets darker then i would asume through cause and effect that i could get a pretty darn good idea of what ppm i have.

Although i will get a service kit because i'd like to have the best i can get. But it won't be till i can spare the money.

i do understand most of the chemistry i have read lots here and even more at thepoolforum but there are things i do not know like when to put some things in and whatnot. I have bens chart, the bleach calc., and the pool calc. so hopefully with those i can stay on top of my water.

Sorry if i come off as a (edited for language. MikeinTN) or anything. that is not my intention at all. i really appreaciate all ur help.

EDIT i see. the fas will test much higher and is not a guessing game but again can i just keep my fc at 10. or can i even just get the powder instead of buying a whole new kit.
 
You can add the FAS-DPD test on to your existing kit. TF Test Kits has it as a separate test and you can also look for the Taylor K-1515-A.

With your Taylor DPD test, the FC level is +-2 or 3 of what the color reads for FC levels around 10. It is usable, but imprecise.
 
thanks i was hoping i could just supliment my chlorine test with the powder one and not buy a whole new kit.

Also what if any problems are there having your fc higher than recomended shock level. meaning untill i can get the powder. can i just monitor my water every hr and as soon as my kit looks like it's close to moving away from the highest level i can test, I add 2-3 ppm bleach.
 
Hey BBL,

About your test kit. You also cannot test for CYA, which you will need to do. You may want to reconsider the whole kit, based on the $$ difference. Buying in pieces and parts can sometimes cost more, but I do not have the $ numbers off the top of my head. You could check TFTestKits.net for the whole kit vs. cost for the parts. Just putting more info out there for you to take into consideration. We also have a kit comparison article in Pool School, link at top of each page.

If you would list your pool and equipment specs in your sig it would be very helpful to responders. You do this via the User Control Panel, upper left under TFP logo, selecting Profile, then Edit Sig. Limited to five (5) lines of text.
BigBrownLog said:
Also what if any problems are there having your fc higher than recomended shock level. meaning untill i can get the powder. can i just monitor my water every hr and as soon as my kit looks like it's close to moving away from the highest level i can test, I add 2-3 ppm bleach.
Click to expand...
If you could be pretty sure that you are only over 2 or 3 ppm, you are probably okay with that. Make sure you raise your pH as Jason suggested before you shock your pool!

Welcome to the forum :wave:
 
Algae In my filter!

Ok so i noticed the water in my skimmer and return line were not or did not seem to be moving as fast so i switched to backwash for 30 sec. then filter to waste for 30 sec. then back to normal running filter and it was running alot better but the return line blew out all the brown algae it collected i guess.

So the only thing i can think to do is not back wash again till the pool is clear of algae then run sand cleaner. Or do i have to buy new sand? it seems like the sand cleaner works pretty good. i used it prior to this and did not get any return of algae.

also i took a pool sample in and since my chlorine was droping so fast about 12ppm an hr he said i might have metals in the pool and that would eat up chlorine pretty fast along with the algae. i needed Metal Free last year and it worked to take stains off the sides of the pool. he couldnt test for metals "they ran out of strips". if i dont need it and use it will it hurt. I have a bottle from last year.

11,000g, above ground, Dough Boy 1.5hp, sand, well water tested a few years ago and was a lil acidic but not sure about metals. and Ta test doesnt show metals when i add r-0008 and yes i know they could still be present.

fc:8-10 only using drops so it's close as i can get till i find or order powder
ph:7.2
ta:70
cya:20
 
BigBrownLog said:
i know the levels are low but will they be fine if i just shock for now. I figure they arent too low and the lower the ph the better the chlorine works as long as it's not lower than 6.8. also the lower the cya the less chlorine i use.
Click to expand...

There is a little bit of truth to both of these, but in practice it really doesn't work that way. As soon as there is CYA in the water, chlorine becomes nearly as effective at any normal PH level as at any other. There is still a tiny effect, but the PH no longer makes a significant difference to how effective the chlorine is, the way it does when you are not using any CYA.

Lower CYA levels reduce the FC level you need to fight algae, but they increase the amount of chlorine lost to sunlight. The net effect is that you almost always end up using more total chlorine when the CYA level is too low.

What you are doing can certainly work, but things will go more smoothly, have fewer risks of problems, and use less total chlorine if you raise the PH just a little, and raise the CYA level just a little.
 

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Re: Algae In my filter!

When you backwash, you need to keep running in backwash mode until the water comes out clear. That can often take a couple of minutes. If you switch modes back to filter too early you will get algae in the pool, as you just saw.

Backwashing fairly regularly while you are fighting algae is a very good idea.

Filter cleaner will not help. In fact there is almost no reason to ever use filter cleaner. The only time you might want to use filter cleaner is if there is a lot of oily material, think sun screen, that has accumulated in the filter. And even then, chlorine will normally take care of it (perhaps more slowly).

Chlorine dropping rapidly and metals have nothing to do with each other at all. The chlorine level is dropping rapidly because you are fighting algae and because your CYA level is too low. Nothing you have said suggests any possibility of metals.
 
sorry i made another thread with this in it i wasnt sure if i should.

Ok so i noticed the water in my skimmer and return line were not or did not seem to be moving as fast so i switched to backwash for 30 sec. then filter to waste for 30 sec. then back to normal running filter and it was running alot better but the return line blew out all the brown algae it collected i guess.

So the only thing i can think to do is not back wash again till the pool is clear of algae then run sand cleaner. Or do i have to buy new sand? it seems like the sand cleaner works pretty good. i used it prior to this and did not get any return of algae.

also i took a pool sample in and since my chlorine was droping so fast about 12ppm an hr he said i might have metals in the pool and that would eat up chlorine pretty fast along with the algae. i needed Metal Free last year and it worked to take stains off the sides of the pool. he couldnt test for metals "they ran out of strips". if i dont need it and use it will it hurt. I have a bottle from last year.

11,000g, above ground, Dough Boy 1.5hp, sand, well water tested a few years ago and was a lil acidic but not sure about metals. and Ta test doesnt show metals when i add r-0008 and yes i know they could still be present.

fc:8-10 only using drops so it's close as i can get till i find or order powder
ph:7.2
ta:70
cya:20
 
well the pool store got me again i've read alot around these sites and still thought i needed the sand cleaner and metal free. I promise i will never get anything from the pool store again.

A note on the metal free i used it before because i had sort of cloudy water and staining on the walls. no lie i sat and watched that stuff turn my water and walls crystal clear blue in less than 2 min.
 
Alright well i think there is no more organics in the pool at least. filter is questionable. fc stayed at what i left it at last night. i got it a lil too high i guess because this morning i got blue and yellow instead of green and red. well i'm off to do some classes for work for a couple hrs. then back here to vacume

oh i can see bottom now
 
ok i got it all vacumed up. no loose algae left in the pool. that makes me happy but there is a bunch of staining from the algae i brushed and brushed and brushed some more. total of about 3hrs brushing time. how can i get rid of it.

fc:5
ph:7.2
ta:80
cya:? goin to the pool store
 
thats good thank you. well im about to add cya. the pool stor guy tried to get me. he said raise your TA first then raise your ph.


i plan to add
fc:5.2 0
ph:6.8 6.5# of borax
ta:70 ? i'm not sure how much borax will raise my ta
cya:20 4# i live in southern louisiana

can u tell me about the ta
 

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