Frustrated with residue on bottom UPDATE with full set of #s

Jump to latest Follow Reply
J

julie492

0
May 19, 2008
167
gulf coast of Texas
I can't really do any complete testing until my reorder comes in. I was out of a few things from my kit, so waiting for them to arrive. I'm using the little taylor kit that comes inthe big kit, that tests just for chlorine and ph and my chlorine is always .5. I have two trichlor pucks in a floater for nearly a week and all that stupid thing is doing is dissolving to a fine powder to the bottom of my pool. I work monday thru friday from 6am till 1pm..so can't even mess with the pool till after work. I'm out of bleach and haven't made it to the store to get more, so thats why I put the pucks in to at least get some type of chlorine going. I added granule stabilizer a week ago..and there is still some residue on the bottom too. Kids get in to swim daily and mix it up..but I'm rinsing the cartridge constantly and its caking on it to where I'm having to literally SCRAPE in between each fold because its so caked. The water is clear...and when undisturbed, I can see all the residue on the bottom of the pool. Should I vaccum to waste with all that residue? How do I do that in an intex metal frame pool? Thats the only way I can see getting most of the residue out with a cheap filter/pump that comes with the pool. Its a 24ftx 52in pool. Here is what I COULD test for with what I had available in my kit:
pH 7.5
TA 250
CH 380

It was filled with our well water...our water is really hard. I was looking back at last summers readings when we had a 15ftx42in pool and my CH was 500-550 all last summer. So for some reason, the hardness in the bigger pool came up lower this summer. I HATE using anything that is in a powder/granule form because NOTHING dissolves out here. NOTHING. We can't even use powder detergents in our washing machine because they don't dissolve...it all just sticks to the clothes. Would getting a 5 gallon bottle of distilled water from town(from one of those water machines) help in dissolving granules when needed?

I'm worried about why the chlorine is testing at a .5 even with stabilizer put in a week ago and two pucks in the floater in it 24hrs a day?? Shouldn't it be testing higher? Do I have enough pucks in it?

Going to buy bleach today right after work and take the pucks out since their just making a freaking mess all over the bottom of the pool. How much should I be adding? The pool gets sunlight all day...from 7am till it goes down around 7pm-7:30pm. The water temp is probably 80degrees..just guessing because I can get in and its WARM. We're in south texas...high 90's here with heat index of 105 most days.
 
Re: Frustrated with residue on bottom

Floaters are very close to useless. They just don't feed chlorine rapidly enough. Going to bleach is your best option.

I agree with the no powdered chemicals idea. You'd be better to put the CYA in an old sock and hang it in front of the return until it dissolves.
 
Re: Frustrated with residue on bottom

When I'm on a trip, I have my solar cover on and two pucks in a floater; it keeps an existing level steady but won't increase it. This is in water that doesn't mind dissolving powders. If you do not have a cover then I doubt even 3 pucks would be able to keep up.
--paulr
 
Re: Frustrated with residue on bottom

With those Intex filters - those are disposable paper carts and should be tossed after 1-2 weeks, with NORMAL use. IF you have clarity issues, they won't last 1 week. I'd stock up, and start going thru them every 1-2 days (more or less, depending on the gunk-level) until the water is clear, then when your water is clear and the FC is holding, consider that "normal" use and go back to every 1-2 weeks.

They are not meant for cleaning/re-use - simply not made for that purpose.

You need to figure out a way to vacume to waste, bypassing the filter. This will waste a lot of water, but you're really limited with that set up.

You can do a google search (bottom left corner) of other Intex Pool topics to see what other users have done regarding vacuming.

Get some bleach! :mrgreen:
 
Re: Frustrated with residue on bottom

The TA can be dealt with later, after your testing supplies come in. If you see your PH rise above 7.8 just lower it with muratic acid. The acid will also lower the TA, so overtime that number will drop. There is no reason to worry over high TA, just keep an eye on the PH, mkay? :goodjob:
 
Re: Frustrated with residue on bottom

Also, when you get everything in balance following the instructions already given, you may want to consider switching your dosing of chemicals to diluted liquids only, and introducing them through the skimmer. This will insure that they will be thoroughly dissolved before reaching your return. If you don't like handling liquid chemicals, you can use a filter sock at the skimmer to allow the granules to dissolve slowly before reaching the pool surfaces. Before I knew any better, I was dumping my chemicals directly into the pool, and after a few years I began to notice the liner begin to stretch. It wasn't after undergoing the expense of replacing the liner, that the installer made me aware of the potential problems of using the dumping method.

Above all, if you are going to handle caustic chemicals such as muriatic acid, be sure to wear protective rubber gloves and eye shields. I prefer to use the dry acids because I find them easier to handle and I feel comfortable with that.
 
Re: Frustrated with residue on bottom

frustratedpoolmom said:
Do not pour acid thru skimmers.
Click to expand...

If I were using liquid acids, then yes, this is probably good advice. But as previously stated, I use the dry acids, introduced in small quantities (no more than 1/2lb.) at the skimmer using a filter sock. Some folks have their own issues with using acids at the skimmer, but since I have a KISS system (no gas fired heaters, swg's, ozone generators, etc), this method has served me well since the installation of my current liner.
 
Got my refills in! They were in on Saturday but the post office misplaced my package. Got a full set of numbers. NOt good.

FC .5
CC .5
pH 7.6
TA 260
CA 310 (noticed its down from 380)
CYA less than 20 (the cylinder on measures to 20 and even though it was a little foggy..I could still see the black dot with no problem.)

I bought 10 jugs of 6% bleach from walmart today. I have muriatic acid and I have baking soda. Out of borax and forgot to pick it up..probably don't need it anyhow. First off..do I need to go ahead and buy the liquid stabilizer to use or should I go ahead and use the granuler stabilizer I have on hand? I can put it in a sock and hang it buy the return if needed..I'm just worried about all the residue it leaves on bottom.

Dh gets home in about two hours and I plan to get him to help me vaccum to waste to get rid of most of the residue on the floor. Is there anything I need to do NOW before he gets home? Should I pour in bleach or wait? Hang the granular stabilizer or wait till I buy the liquid one tomorrow? There are no visible signs of algae growing that I can see, but that doesn't mean somethings not going on. Should I keep the kids out of the pool till I get my numbers right?
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Okay, according to the pool calculator, I am supposed to add 47oz of stabilizer to my pool. I have it all stuffed into a leg cut off from my daughters tights ready to hang...should I just hang it near th return or should I hang it into the skimmer basket for faster dissolving? I wasn't clear on what to do there. Right now I have it hanging near the return but will probably have to squish it up several times a day as the return isn't hitting it directly.

Also, since I have an FC of .5...what do I need to bring my FC up to? Am I only bringing it up to like a 5 or do I need to get it up to shock level first, if so, what number am I shooting for so I know what to put inthe calculator? And how long do I need to keep it at that level before I can let it lower some to allow swimming again? Like I said, I see no visible algae forming..but that doesn't mean its not lurking there somewhere right?

So I should concentrate on the stabilizer and bleach right now and worry about adding muriatic acid another day?? or do that this evening also? Its saying to add 65oz of muriatic acid to lower my pH from a 7.6 to a 7.2. and I also need to replace 10% of my pool water with new water...but I'll be doing that part when I'm vaccuming to waste this evening I'm sure...probably more than 10%. The only way I can figure to vaccum to waste is to cyphon the water out with the hose and get the suction going...I can fill the hose with water and get dh to suction out the water and hopefully get it flowing. Not sure if it will work or not..but gonna try.
 
Put the stocking with CYA in the skimmer, it will dissolve more quickly than way. Leave the pump running for 24 hours after adding CYA.

Since you have no reason to believe you have algae, and CYA is extremely low, I would raise FC up to about 3 or 4 tonight. Then do an overnight FC loss test. If that shows a loss of 1.0 or less then you are fine and can swim. If the loss is higher than 1.0, you will need to shock.

I don't see any reason to replace 10% of your pool water.

You will want to start lowering your TA level in not too long. You can start working on that now or wait till tomorrow.
 
evening numbers

Here are the numbers after sundown: about 30 minutes after adding the muriatic acid and about an hour after putting the stabilizer sock into the skimmer basket.

FC: 4
CC: .5
pH: 7.2
TA: 270
CH: 350
CYA: still less than 20 (a little more cloudier than the previous test..but still could see the dot at 20)
 
We tried vacuuming to waste...but that was a no go. We were losing water FAST and all the residue on the bottom is so freaking fine that even as slow as I moved the vacuum head...it would just poof into a cloud. It is VERY fine residue and is all over the pool bottom, up the sides a bit...and its sticking to everything..the ladder, the skimmer, the hose....yuck. White powdery mess.
 
Sounds like all you can do is keep the substance stirred up by constantly brushing it and then try to get the filter to catch it. This will require frequent filter changeout/cleaning.

Perhaps you can find a specialized vacume for the pool- in the future consider upgrading the pump/filter to a regular-pool type so that vacuming is easier?
 
OKay...here is the chlorine number from the over night loss...tested at 6am
FC 3 (at 8:30 last night it was a 4)

Got home from work and tested again at 4pm(no one has swam all day in it and the pool cover popped off sometime today during the day...sun has been on it all day and no swimmers)
FC 1.5
CC .5
pH 7.2
TA 240
CH 350
CYA still less than 20...BUT it IS cloudier than last night at 8:30..its really close to a 20..so we are getting somewhere. Stabilizer isn't fully dissolved from the sock in the skimmer yet..but only has about 1/3 of what I put in left in it.

I do plan on upgrading to a better pump and looking at getting a sand filter for it. But I have to save up my money for it. Kids are home for summer..grocery bill has jumped about 60.00 more a week and bills need to be paid...plus I have to pay for a babysitter during the week since dh and I both work. So money isn't saved quite as fast. LOLOL
 
Good, your overnight FC loss was only 1, so you don't have an algae problem brewing.

As the CYA level comes up, it will get easier to maintain the FC level since less chlorine will be lost to sunlight each day.

By the by, you probably don't want to test the CYA level daily. There isn't all that much CYA test reagent included in most test kits. Give the CYA a week to dissolve, and then test the CYA level after that to confirm that you added enough.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply