Opening questions

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Z

zipties

0
May 5, 2017
8
Rome, Ga
Pool was not closed properly. So far since opening I've lowered the pH and TA with muriatic acid (~1.5 gallons in 36 hours), added stabilizer (~2lbs), and dumped in 6 gallons of walmart bleach Friday night.

Let the pump run on recirculate all night, woke up and did a quick test to see the FC --> still 0.

Most current test as of Saturday Morning
FC - 0
TC - 5
pH - 7.4
TA - 100
CH - 500
CYA - 30
water is cloudy grayish green with green on the sides


Does the bleach really get used up that quickly? The 6 gallons I put in last night was easily double what was recommended for the SLAM math calculator thingy and it's not even registering on the FC. I see that TC is high, which means CC must be way high. It just doesn't seem worth it to keep dumping bleach in like that when I've used the shock granules before with similar pool conditions and seen results in just 24 hours.

What would y'all recommend be my next course of action? If you think I should stay with the bleach, I'll stay on it.

I maintained the pool last summer (huge struggle because I wasn't really educated on pool care) and I'm hoping to do a better job at it this year with the help of TFP.

 
Welcome! :wave:

It looks to me like your CYA decomposed into ammonia over the winter. That would account for no CYA when you opened, unquenchable thirst for bleach, and really high CC after adding.

By happy coincidence, you've already started the cure process. Keep adding bleach, every 15 minutes or so until you see the FC stick around. Ammonia will eat bleach about as fast as you can pour it in, so you'll know when the ammonia is gone because you'll still have half your FC (or more) left after 15 minutes. Then just stay the course and test every hour or two and replenish bleach then.
 
Welcome!

How are you testing? One of two kits, the K-2006C or the TF-100 are recommended, you really can't do this without one of them.

You have to be careful just dumping stuff in, twice as much as recommended is not a good thing. Chlorine is powerful and can damage your pool or equipment at extreme levels or without proper safeguards. At best, adding way too much all at once is just a waste of chlorine. At worst, some of these seemingly harmless chemicals can react pretty violently when combined improperly.

There is a reason we use bleach!
Those tablets or granules you speak fondly of dump loads of stabilizer (CYA) into your water along with the chlorine. Chlorine gets consumed every day, but the stabilizer is in the water to stay, to lower the CYA level requires a water change. You absolutely must have some stabilizer, but excess levels can completely block the effectiveness of the chlorine. People come here hundreds of times per day all summer with the same problem, a green pool and high CYA from a steady diet of tablets and shock. That's how most of us got here!

Chlorine is chlorine, it does not matter the source. A ppm of chlorine from a bag of shock is no more powerful than one from a gallon of bleach.
​
 
Welcome to TFP zipties

Follow what Richard has told you. We will get you through this!

What are you using to test your water with? I would like to see what your CC number is.

It is nice to see someone from my neck of the woods posting here! (Rome GA is only a 1/2 hr drive from my house!)
 
Thanks for the advice!

Right now I'm testing with Clorox test strips, and I'm heading down to Marietta this afternoon to pick up one of the recommended kits.

I'll keep dumping in the bleach, 1 gal at a time until I see the FC move up.

As for my inline chlorinator: It's one that holds 3" tabs and has flow level from 1-5. I've got it on 5 right now allowing for the most flow to add extra chlorine while the pump is running and last year I left it around 2 or 3 for daily use. I run the pump&filter at night all night, will that add too much CYA for daily use once I get this thing cleared up? I suppose I'll have to cross that bridge when I get there and just test for it..??

- - - Updated - - -

RonsPlc said:
Welcome to TFP zipties

Follow what Richard has told you. We will get you through this!

What are you using to test your water with? I would like to see what your CC number is.

It is nice to see someone from my neck of the woods posting here! (Rome GA is only a 1/2 hr drive from my house!)
Click to expand...

Hey neighbor! Where do you get your supplies from? I have called everyone in Rome and a few places in Centre looking for the Taylor K2006 kit, but haven't had much luck finding one in stock.. I'm going to Leslie's Pool Supplies in Marietta this afternoon to see what they offer. It looks like they have a decent offering of supplies from their website, and they have the Taylor kit online. I'm hoping I can find one (or something good enough to get me started) in the store.
 
Shut the chlorinator off. As the tablets dissolve, they release FC and CYA. The FC will get used. The CYA stays and rises, which then makes the minimum FC level rise, so then you need more FC, but adding more via pucks also raises CYA which then makes the minimum FC level rise, so then you need more FC, but adding more via pucks also raises CYA which then makes the minimum FC level rise, so then you need more FC, but adding more via pucks also raises CYA which then makes the minimum FC level rise, so then you need more FC.... and on and on and on in a death spiral until your pool is a green mess again and next time around it starts with "Drain 75% of the water"

Leaving it on will also mess up the overnight loss test you need to pass to call the SLAM complete.

When it's all done and sparkling, then you can use a few pucks to raise CYA to maintenance levels. or just leave the breathing room so you can use the feeder when you leave town.
 
I'm heading down to Marietta this afternoon to pick up one of the recommended kits.
Click to expand...
That won't work. You will be VERY hard-pressed to find anything at a store.

You can order online and have the TF-100 by Wednesday of the K-2006C a little while longer. If you are going to follow what we teach, you will need one of these.
 
OK... after speaking to zipties on the phone (I Love the handle... "It's fixed... I ziptied it"). She has ordered a K2006C kit, and has promised to post a FULL set of numbers once she gets it. She also promised that she was going to turn OFF the feeder that uses the tablets.

I promised her that we could/would get her pool straightened out so they could enjoy it instead of having to WORK on it all year long. (not to mention the cash savings vs. the pool store)

I came to this site 3 years ago, and you people have not steered me wrong yet, it is time I started to give some back! I opened my pool last weekend to CLEAR water! All I have had to do is brush, and vacuum to get the stuff that settled to the bottom over the winter out! I am now in the process of getting my numbers in line with where they need to be.

zipties... stick with us... you won't be disappointed!

Here are some pictures that I took 10 minutes ago of my pool to show you the results of the process we follow!

pgluyks.jpg


xxTwfX0.jpg


The white bar you see is the OLD thermometer that settled to the bottom of the pool... I just have not fished it out yet.
 
Last edited:
Ron! That is so awesome of you! That is what TFP is all about!

zippy! You will love your pool once we get it clear. It is going to take quite a bit of bleach so keep at it until you can break the hold of the nasty stuff.

Kim:kim:
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
How are you testing? Above you said dip strips.

You can't do a slam without an FAS/DPD test kit. Dip strips can't even come close to testing high FC, they will usually just bleach out completely. OTO kits are completely off the scale and DPD kits can test higher levels but give such a broad range that it is useless.

If you add bleach and circulate for 15 minutes, then test and you still don't have a result, your test is not working.
 
This is ridiculous! I'm getting such conflicting information.. two people above said nothing about the test strips bleaching out, they just said keep adding chlorine ever so often and then test. I've been adding all day and night hoping to see FC move, and now you're saying my strips aren't going to work? My super duper necessary kit won't be here until Tuesday. How do so many other people make due and get readings with the cheap kits if y'all make it seem like I can't even drop a speck of chemical without one? I'm so exhausted trying to figure this out.

Now I've got 20 empty bottles of bleach sitting on the side of my pool following these recommendations and now you're saying I might be damaging my pool and equipment....
 
if your testing with Clorox test strips it's pointless .... they are highly inaccurate. might as well be measuring wind speed with a frying pan.

wait til your test kit comes in and you'll know exactly what your FC number is and the fine folks here will guide you to the promised land !
 
Relax... Take a breath.

Your pool is a swamp right now, so whatever is in there will consume the chlorine you have put in... and MORE!
Trust me... you are killing whatever is in there, and your pool WILL come clear as long as you follow our process. We want to do it in a manner that won't bleach out your liner, or harm your equipment.
Keep your empty bleach bottles (at least 10 of them)... I get 12.5% bleach to the tune of 55 gallons at a time... I can give you some of it for what it cost me. So you are covered (since you live close).
We DO need a full set of numbers once you get you test kit (Tuesday).

Again, relax... we got your back. :)

BTW... did I mention that we LOVE pictures!
Take one now... of the swamp.
Then take one EVERY day of the process (at the same time of day from the same angle if you can).
Post them here
You will be surprised at the results!
 
Sorry for the frustration zip,

NOBODY on this forum will advocate test strips or free pool store testing!

Some of these folks answer hundreds of questions each day and some small details like your testing with dip strips might get glossed over unless you mention it in every post. It's very hard to read through an entire thread every single time, and have every piece of info needed to make recommendations, that's why all details need to be placed in the signature. The advice is free, offered by folks answering questions for free because they wish to help and most have been where you are at one time.

The standard answer in this situation is add a gallon of bleach each day until your test kit arrives, that will help keep things from getting worse.
 
I would also like to add to DSmith99's insightful post, that in your big size of a pool, 1 gallon of bleach added at a time is like spitting in the wind. It will kill some, but far from what you will need.

Big pools take more bleach than small pools to get the same reaction.

Guess-Strips are laughable for their accuracy. And during a SLAM process you need accuracy because if you put in too little FC, you've just wasted your money as the algae can reproduce faster than the lesser-quantity-than-needed bleach can stick around. Gotta work with hard core numbers.

I prefer the TF-100, but the Taylor 2006 works. The problem with the 2006 is it comes with smaller bottles of reagents so you should consider calling Rebecca at TFTestkits.net (phone number on website) and order the reagents you'll need to continue the SLAM. (I don't know the item #s to tell you, she'll know)

One more thing- do you mean you had your pump on recirculate (which bypasses the filter) or on the filter setting? You need it to go thru the filter so that it too can be exposed to chlorine, and it will work as a filter to help trap all the schmutz. Backwash as needed.
Maddie :flower:
 
I was running on recirc for a few days, now I've got it going through the filter. It's hitting the max pressure on the dial in just a couple hours.

I cleaned the filter completely before opening the pool (opened and washed off the grids) and added 4lbs of DE as soon as I turned it on to filter yesterday. After it running for a little bit I noticed the pressure dial was up at the red arrow around 20, I backwashed and added another 2 lbs of DE and running it this morning, its back up in the red. I'm guessing it's normal to backwash frequently when it's cleaning up the crud?

Am I adding enough DE? The hayward instruction books says add like 6-8lbs, but other places I've read say add 2, so I'm meeting in the middle around 4 and adding an extra 2 after backwashing. Does this sound ok?

Also not sure if I'm doing the backwash correctly because last year after backwashing the pressure kept jumping up quickly, even with a clean pool, so I ended up taking it apart and washing the grids after almost every backwash just to keep the pressure down. That jobs is a PITA!
When I backwash I let it go for a few minutes until I see the sight glass stay clear then I turn the system off and let it settle, then turn it on and backwash again for a few more minutes. I end up seeing gross stuff in the sight glass for the first minute or so then it clears up and I turn it back off and resume filtering like normal. Does this sound ok or is there something I'm doing wrong? I backwashed this morning, and it looks like I'm going to have to do it again this afternoon.

This is how it sits right now
IMG_2022.jpg

Current Pressure after backwashing about 2 hours ago
IMG_2026-1.jpg

This is the sight glass I look at when backwashing
1494259233_zpsvciwbcax.jpg


Current setup. In-line chlorinator is off for the time being
1494259235_zpsc3mmjwge.jpg
 
Darn, wish I could advise you better on DE filters but I don't know enough about them to say in your situation. I hope someone else will come along who can tell you more.

That's one green pool for sure :sad:

Maddie :flower:
 
My backwash process (Pentair Nautilus) happens when my pressure gauge hits the backwash mark
Pump Off
MultiPort Valve to Backwash
Pump On
Backwash until sightglass is pretty much not clouded
Pump Off
Multiport valve to Rinse
Pump On -- this for about 30sec to a Min
Pump Off
Multiport back To backwash
Pump On
Again--watch the sight glass. (I've discovered that the rinse cycle will generally loosen up places it is 'stuck')

Do the rinse to backwash process until your rinse is pretty much 'just pool without filter contaminant -- sometimes for me this is one or two times, others it's 5 or 6 . . . that can vary

After your "no contaminant rinse" -- then you need to do a filter re-charge

Your DE WILL clog up MUCH faster when filtering out algae . . .

Your ORIGINAL startup (or if you break it down and do the PITA cleaning) is generally the ONLY time you use a full charge of DE and then use however much Hayward is saying to use. This (from all my reading here, and everything else) is paramount.

After normal backwashing you use about 80# of the Hayward amount because you won't generally 'ever' rinse out "all" of the original charge. If you use the full charge everytime, you'll find that your filter clogs much much faster.

One last, I shifted from DE to a cellulose fiber product (FiberClear) and have been REALLY happy with the change. It is much easier to work with and my sources--cheaper.

Also, with as much algae as your pictures show . . . plan on daily backwashing until you get to clear . . .

I hope this helps
 

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