Help....ready to drain it, start over or just leave it down.

[new2pools]

okay, so heres the deal.....last year removing the cover was such a bear....an all day event (not kidding) we decided to leave the pool uncovered this year. Well, not sure that was a great idea as we have been fighting to get the water clear for mos.

Here is what I have done.....

I have checked and added cya as my pool registered as 0. Last month put in an entire tub of it....in 2 weeks increments. Tested cya, still not reg. ...Tested cya, still not reg again. Now, I'm out of that and cannot test it at the moment. How I put this in was by pouring it into hot water and letting it dissolve somewhat, stirring etc, and then after a few days pouring it slowly into the skimmer. Did this both times I added. It has been at least 2, maybe 3 weeks since I last added.
OKay, can't tell you today what my cya level is today. Have to order more product to test.

OKay, secondly, I should have stock in the amount of chlorine we have dumped into this pool. I am NOT kidding. I have yet to get the pool clear. Blue, yes, clear NOT. I have added up to 9 large jugs of chlorine at a time. And tested the next day to have it reg as only a FC of 2 or even 0. Where the test water does not even turn pink! We scrubbed the bottom and sides of the pool after the last addition.
I have gone into the calc and put in the amount of bleach it has said several times.....nothing....so I just started putting in more than it says to try to knock it out.

When I have tested my CC....it has been about 2.

I am sooo frustrated and just feel like draining the pool and starting over. Gee, by the time I get it straight summer will be over. :grrrr: And I might just do that......17,000 gallons but I think it may be quicker at this point than trying to get this water straight.

(actually, I really feel like taking the pool down and just forgetting it.....it's just been impossible this year and I feel like I've done nothing but dump money into it...for nothing)

 

[dattia]

OMG... your story is exactly like mine. Down to the smallest details and even the size of the pool. It took me quite a while to get my pool sparkiling but that is exactly what I have now. I was stuck at the turquoise stage for weeks, but then I got blue and shortly after....crystal clear. My issue was keeping the pool at shock levels. I was going through mind-numbing amounts of chlorine, and while I raised the FC to shock numbers and above... I didn't keep it there. It has to be a several times a day effort for several days straight. I was SO ready to drain mine, but then decided it wasn't going to beat me... and I beat it!

I'm not sure why your CYA isn't registering. I was surprised to find a CYA of 0 when I opened mine from last year (uncovered as yours was) but it did register several days after I added it. I found leaves and debris in the pool to be a major foe. I could not see the bottom to get them all, and when the pool finally cleared enough to see, I had missed a LOT! Do you have leaves and such remaining in yours? When I finally got everything out, brushed and maintained the shock level (I went a bit higher than recommended shock level), the pool turned around quickly.

Hang in there and keep the faith...it WILL clear.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

What it sounds like is you had bacteria enter the pool and it converted your CYA into ammonia. As you added CYA, if you need kill the bacteria first, I suppose it could be possible the bacteria converted the new CYA addition into ammonia too.

Or, you cleaned the filter too soon after adding the CYA? We recommend adding CYA via a sock method - either hanging in front of the return or set in the skimmer, so that it doesn't interfere with cleaning the filter during a Defeating A Swamp process.

Ammonia creates a HUGE chlorine demand, like you describe. The only thing you can do is continue to pour in chlorine- but I would recommend you use the 12.5% strength if you can find it so you use less jugs. It sounds like you did make progress, right? Don't give up now.

You add 9 jugs at once. If your shock level is 10, for example, you add the jugs, wait 30 minutes and test for FC. You don't wait till the next day! You have to test within the hour and CONFIRM that you reached shock level. When you test, and say you are only at 5, you add MORE bleach until you reach 10. You just have to keep going. If you fall short and never hit shock level, you'll never defeat it. You Can't wait until the next day. The bleach is being consumed by the ammonia or whatever it is, as you add it. If you never get ahead of it, you will fight a losing battle.

So anyway, I think this was an ammonia issue. It doesn't entirely explain the CYA addition you described but I can only guess that was possible, especially if you added CYA first and didn't kill the bacteria before adding it....not sure.

 

[JasonLion]

When you say "an entire tub" of CYA, how large was the tub? A 4 lb tub of CYA would raise the CYA level by just under 30, which might not always register on the test. Also, did you check the ingredients, to be sure it was 90+% cyanuric acid? Some people have been running into 50% cyanuric acid, which adds a lot less CYA than you expect.

This does sound very much like ammonia. You might want to get a cheap ammonia test from a pet store to check the ammonia level to get some idea of how much chlorine you still need to add.