New to the forums and pools in general in Phoenix

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D

Deez

0
Jun 12, 2009
24
Phoenix, AZ
Hello all, Just moved to Phoenix about a week ago and the house was a foreclosure. Of course, I got a nice green pool in the backyard. Its a plaster inground play pool that is about 15'x25' its a free form so somewhere around 14k gallons I think. The water had evaporated about 2 feet down by the time I moved in. Fortunately there isn't much plaster damage, just minor hairline cracks. Anyways, I drained it, scooped out probably 70lbs of algae sludge and filled it back up. Since then the pump has been on 24/7 and the water is almost a good blue but very cloudy. I've read the pool school and the tips on turning a green pool clear and I think I'm in the patience stage. I just got a test kit today so I'll try to post my stats tomorrow.

Also, I wanted to say thanks for everyone being here and contributing to a very helpful site.

Ryan
 
Just took some test results. Water seems just as cloudy as yesterday even after I backwashed the filter before I went to bed last night. Test results:

FC: 10
TC: 12
PH: 7.3
TA: 52
CH: 140
CYA: 30ish (I had direct sunlight going down the tube which i guess is incorrect?)

Like I mentioned in my first post I just drained and refilled it and its still cloudy with leftover algae, any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

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Deez said:
CYA: 30ish (I had direct sunlight going down the tube which i guess is incorrect?)
Click to expand...
Correct, it's incorrect. Do the test outdoors in the shade or with your back to the sun for optimal results. Make sure the dot completely disappears.

Using the Pool Calculator with your numbers, I see the CSI is very low which is a major problem for a plaster pool. You should play around with the calculator yourself to pick targets but in general you should bring up your pH, TA, and CH a bit. For example pH 7.5, TA 70, CH 250 should get you well out of the danger zone. You'll need to factor in the water temp to get an exact CSI, but this is something you should get to pretty soon.
--paulr
 
In addition to the great info you have gotten, I suggest that you use Baking Soda to raise your TA.
Then, retest your pH and adjust. I'd use Borax if you need to raise it.
Once these two are done, you can start shocking.

Generally, you want to work on raising the CH on a day when you are not adjusting anything else, so, I'd wait on that.

About the CYA test, here's a visual from Taylor that might help - scroll to the bottom:

http://www.taylortechnologies.com/Chemi ... ntentID=44
 
updated test results:

FC: 8
TC: 10
PH: 7.2
TA: 140 (Had dyslexia or something on first test and multiplied by 4 instead of 10)
CH: 110 (Scared that this is even lower for some reason)
CYA: 50

Changes since this mornings test:
vacuum to waste the thicker algae spots on the bottom and refilled
I've got a bucket with some cya trying to dissolve and i keep pouring the dissolved liquid part into the pool. I figure I'd be backwashing too much trying to get rid of the algae that I'd lose the solid cya that gets stuck in the filter.

Pretty soon I'm going to run to a pool store and pick up some calcium chloride to get that hardness back in the mid 200's at least. Any other reccomendations?
 
Hi and welcome to Phoenix as well as the forum.

The water in Phoenix is usually very hard, so I am not so sure about your CH testing. My experience with pools here is that we normally start out fairly near the top of the range from the get go.
Keep your chlorine up and your PH, TA in line and it will clear. It is going to take a while, but it will clear.
 

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Yeah, I'm confused about the calcium as well. I went to Leslie's Pool Store and they didn't even have their hardness plus stuff on the shelf. I found some at Home Depot though. I haven't added it yet, maybe somebody can help me out with my test and why it seems to be so far off.

I'm using the Leslie's DPD kit, not the FAS-DPD just fyi. I follow the instructions, fill the large tube to 25mL, 20 drops of R-0010, shake to mix, 5 drops of R-0011L, shake again, it looks mostly clear with little red flakes floating. Then I add in the drops of R-0012 one at a time with a little shaking to mix between each drop. On my last test drops 7-8 made the red flakes almost dissapear and then 9-10 turned them blue. After the 11th drop I couldn't notice any further color change. So I've read its just the last drop that changes it that counts. Multiply by 10 and that is the ppm. Any tips?

As for pool progress. I vacuumed again and clogged the filter about halfway through, then just vacuumed to waste for the second half. I can almost make out the bottom of the deep end and it appears that the big clumps of algae are gone. Water seems to be just slightly less cloudy. I also added more granulated chlorine since my last test results and I'm around 20ppm FC. we'll see how much it drops over night.
 
You may want to take a sample in to a pool store to have it tested. (I hate saying that, but I really am suspect of your results for CH, unless your water is being softened/filtered before you fill your pool.) Though, from what I recall, your test method seems accurate.
 
You need to keep your shock level up to the recommended range for your CYA, 24 hours a day, until you lose less than 1 ppm overnight. Don't use powder shock or tablets. Just use liquid chlorine. Leave your pump running 24/7 and brush, vacuum and backwash daily, if needed. Then, if your ph & TA are in range, it will clear, over time.
 
Doing my best and keeping FC around 20 but it dipped to about 15 overnight. Is there something wrong with using the powdered shock chlorine and tablets to start? I got suckered into buying some of that stuff before finding out about the BBB. I am seeing progress, I can see the drains in the deep end and now about 50 rocks that got into the pool :x

Also, while I'm posting I've got another question. Right after I backwash the pressure is just over 5psi. It will stay there forever when it is circulating. but whenever I vacuum it'll jump to 20 as it picks up all the dirt. This makes me think that the circulation isn't stirring up all the dirt on the bottom. I tried aiming the return jets down but they all seem stuck. Any tips on moving those or getting dirt into the filter some other way?
 
Welcome to TFP!!

Ryan, it is very important to post new and full test #s when asking about adding chemicals! :blah:

If the granular cl is calcium hypochlorite it'd be OK to use some, if it's di-chlor you probably don't want to use it (your last cya # was 50 which is about as high as you want to go for now). Liquid chlorine (bleach) is best for shocking! (it won't add things you don't want) Other ways of chlorinating the pool are useful at times, but bleach is always a safe bet :wink:

We'll be more than happy to proffer our advice and help you with the pool, but without solid chem numbers, all we can do is guess :( Please do yourself a favor and get the TF-100 test kit or the K- 2006. Knowledge is power :!:
 
Sounds like you are making progress. Using the powder shock and tablets is probably going to bring up your CYA pretty quickly and it can lower your ph quite a bit. Liquid chlorine is preferred. You can use Chlorox Ultra (6%) or pool store liquid (usually 10%) chlorine. You can get 12.5% liquid chlorine at B & L Pool. They have several locations all over the valley. Here is a link to their rather lame website, but there is a coupon for $5 off a 4 pack of chlorine. Basically, the $5.00 will save you the deposit for the return of the case and the bottles. Their price is very good and they run specials on it quite often. You can purchase acid like that, in a 2 pack, as well. Other than that, they are the same as most other pool stores (ie not so great at testing and always will try to sell you stuff you really may not want to use). Oh, I almost forgot to add the link.
http://www.pooltroubles.com/page5/page5.html. Too bad their site doesn't list the locations, but if you google you should find one near you.
 
ok, the water is clear, I can see the individual holes in the drains at the bottom of of the deep end. I still notice a little 'dirt' here and there when i brush the pool, but I imagine that is normal. I'm starting to let the chlorine come down so hopefully I can go swimming soon. Here are my numbers as of 5 min ago:

FC: 8
TC: 8
PH: 7.4
TA: 130
CH: 240
CYA: 50


What do you think? Can I go swimming tomorrow? :-D
 
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