Help! What to do?

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Tinkerpt

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May 10, 2017
33
Arlington va
Hi there. I am new to the forum and am trying to balance my pool without having to use a pool company. When they opened the pool two weeks ago they said my numbers were Chlorine .5, CYA 50, PH 7.6 and TA 110. They added 6#clc. I waited a few days until I could see the bottom of the pool. The water was still cloudy/yellowish so I added 6# smart shock. They water still has a tint to it though I can see that there might be spots of blue algae in the weakened plaster spots of the pool. I ordered the Taylor test kit and my initial numbers were .2FC, .4CC, Ph 7.6, TA 170, CH 300 and CYA dot never really disappeared until I got to the top and it bubbled over. I assumed that the CYA was about 10 or lower. I used the pool math calculator to adjust the PH to 7.4 and added 512 oz of 12.5% bleach to try and bring it up to shock level of 12 based on CYA. When I retested two hours later the FC was back down to .6. I did not have more chlorine to add. The next day FC was back to.2 and PH was 7.4. I added an additional 512oz of 12.5% bleach and an hour later the FC was back to .4. I then added 8# dichlor (all I had) and retested two hours later and again the FC was back to .4 and the PH was 7.2. The water is still slightly tinted although the water is clear and there is no debris. We started out the season last year with a huge chlorine demand and needed to drain the pool 1/2 way. I would love to avoid doing that again this year. Here are the readings from this morning. Please advise:

PH 7.2
FC .2
CC .6
TA 120
CH 300
CYA between 30-40 I think (this was raised but adding the dichlor I think which also further lowered my PH.
Pool is 42,00 gallons with a DE filter.

I have been backwashing and brushing.

What are my next steps? Why am I having such trouble maintaining FC levels when the pool doesn't look that bad.
 

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The low CYA and the huge chlorine demand along with rising CC levels all sort of indicate that your CYA broke down into ammonia over the winter. But it's probably all gone now or close to it anyway, and the treatment is the same as what you've been doing: bleach it into submission. Just keep adding bleach to keep FC to 12 and at some point the FC will start holding and the CC will start dropping. It takes a lot of bleach to neutralize ammonia.

No more pucks or powders until things stabilize and you can get a good CYA reading with your kit.

And good job ordering a kit and following the SLAM instructions rather than just blindly dumping buckets of "shock" in. As an aside, you can use 10 ml of water for the FC test and divide the drops by 2 to get your FC level. It's faster and uses less reagent. Probably one scoop of powder will be enough, too. If you see any undissolved powder in there after it turned pink -- even one tiny speck -- you have enough powder.
 
Welcome to the forum!

Are you testing the CYA outdoors, on a bright sunny day, with your back to the sun and the view tube at about waist level?

The CYA test is the trickiest at first, I will usually pour my sample back into the mixing bottle and repeat the test a few times until I am comfortable with my result.

Once you complete a SLAM you will be amazed at the water clarity and sparkle. Keep at it, as Richard so elegantly put it:

Richard320 said:
..... bleach it into submission. .........
Click to expand...
 
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I rechecked CYA and it was between 30-40. I am doing the reading as domct203 suggested. According to the CYA chart I need to maintain 16. I used the pool math calculator and added 768oz of 12.5% bleach even though it only called for 697oz. I rechecked the FC 30 minutes later and it was .5. That was a lot of bleach and not much changed despite checking the FC in the same spot I added the bleach. What gives. I guess my CYA could be off but wouldn't I get a little higher of a reading? I checked the date on the bleach and it appears to be fresh.<br>Thanks.
 
Tinkerpt-

It appears that you are fighting Ammonia. It can take a few jugs of bleach to overcome the problem! Keep adding the required amount of bleach to get a FC of 16. Test the water 30 - 60 minutes after addition for FC. If it drops to low levels, do it again...eventually it will start holding the FC. At this point the SLAM will become easier to manage.
 
Quick question re FC testing. So now I am getting a FC reading. The water will turn clear and then if it sits for 3-4 seconds it turns ever so slightly pink again. If I add another drop it goes clear again and then 4 seconds later turns slight slight pink again. and is not totally clear. Does the sample have to stay clear for a certain amount of time?
 

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So I have been keeping at it with the SLAM process and have not had much luck. I retested the CYA today and got a solid 30. My other reading had been between 30/40. The highest FC I have gotten has been 3. I counted it up and I have used a total of 56 gallons so far of 12.5% bleach (8 over the weekend and 48 in the past 24 hours) and I am adding the recommended amount using pool math and the CYA chart. I still see some blue algae in the weak areas of the pool. I have been brushing and vac daily as well as backwashing though the filter pressure has not changed much since I started this process. Am I doing something wrong? At this point my local BJ"s will be out of chlorine in no time and I will be broke. I am having a hard time holding out and not going to the pool company to help me "fix"/"Not fix" it. Should I be holding a higher FC with that amount of bleach.
 
Sounds very similar to what I'm dealing with. TFP Convert myself, we opened the pool (13k gal vinyl) and had an algae bloom within a few days. I've probably put 30-40 gallons of 10% over the past week and a half. It's turned from green to cloudy blue and slowly I can almost see the bottom of the pool but the cloudiness won't go away. I have gotten the chlorine to register (T100 test kit) for a solid 30+ hours now before fading to nothing. I think I'm in the same "ammonia" fight as you are since my CYA last year was through the roof from using multiple pucks to keep up with chlorine demand. I'm guessing we just keep pouring it in and eventually it'll filter out?
 
The only time I have had ammonia was last year in a 13K pool. This is what happened.

1. Added 1 gallon of bleach, 15 -30 minutes later FC was 1 or so.

2. Added 2 gallons of bleach, 15 - 30 minutes later FC was 1 or so.

3. Repeated until I had added a total of 15 or so gallons of bleach and the FC held at 12.

4. This was one day...not over a week!
 
I'm talking dumping in 7 gallons Monday night and it held through the whole day yesterday registered this morning as well. Checked on lunch break today and it was gone. Still pretty cloudy. Can't see the bottom, but almost (been like this for a few days). Filter has been backwashed almost every day. Should I stop and let the sand compact and filter better? Just can't tell where the hump is to get over with a ridiculous amount of chlorine being in there at a time.
 
The purpose of this is Shock Level and Maintain. Not dump in 7 gallons and wait 3 days, test, dump in 7 more gallons, etc...

Get your FC up to shock level for your CYA...test your FC at least twice a day, and bring your FC back up to shock level each time you test. I do it 4 - 5 times a day. The more you test the better.

Sorry, but you say you held FC for 3 days with no drop in FC?
 
Put 7gallons 10% chlorine (13kgal pool) in Monday evening and it was still around 30ppm Tuesday Night. 15+/- this morning and when I was able to make it home for lunch today, it was back to zero. Am I resetting my progress by not being able to check it/shock it every couple hours? Work = Morning, sometimes lunch, then dinnertime check points. I'm hoping since it's starting to hold for longer periods of time, that I may be close. CYA levels last year were off the charts due to my newness of pool ownership. Filled about 4k gallons when I opened it with fresh water but it seems all that CYA last year converted, right? Right now it's in the 40 range and PH is around 7.1 and TA is up close to 80+/-.
 
You are wasting FC by going over what you need. Your CYA is 40 and you need to keep the FC at 16. The more often you check the faster this will go! I would not overdose, you are just wasting money as that excess FC is just burning off and not killing nasty stuff. If you can only check 2 times a day then just bring your FC up to 16 every time you test. You can only do what you can do...Just remember this process will go faster the better you are able to maintain a FC of 16.
 
So it's just been a matter of Chlorine only working at Highway Construction pace and the rest of the supervisor Free Chlorine has R U N N O F T to the bar already, never to be seen again? Most of my heavy dosing has been at night the first couple days and it was gone by morning. Should I only be dosing the 2+/- gallons at night or higher amount since there's no sun to burn it off? Or is that a misconception as well? (pool places have told me both things)
20170516_063600.jpg
 
Hi jaduk. So I there is some confusion as Leatherman has also added their pool numbers into the mix. I am the one with the numbers above that started this thread. The pool does not look cloudy and is slightly more blue in color then the picture above. My question is even though I am adding the recommended amount of bleach and retesting every hour, I am not able to get a reading higher than 1.5 even 30 minutes after adding the bleach. I have been at it yesterday and all afternoon today I have added 60 gallons of 12.5% bleach just so far today. I don't think I have even reached the FC 16 that is shock level. Should I add the bleach and test that area immediately after? I can still see blue algae in the weak spots of the pool but the water is pretty clear. I can see the main drains down 10 feet.
 

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