One more new to BBB and clueless

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mvoorn

mvoorn

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LifeTime Supporter
Aug 7, 2009
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Hi all and thanks for setting this site up!
I've been having problems holding the FC levels, pretty much coming out with 0.2 almost everytime we tested, for about 2-3 weeks. I've always tested through a Pool Supply Store, and now know that I need to buy the tester that you guys recommend. :lol:
Algae has been present, not much, but it pops in and out throughout these last weeks. :|
I've shocked so much, due to pool store advice :hammer: ... the last test I did came out this way:
FC - 0.2
Total C - 0.2
CC - 0.0
pH -7.4
Hardness - 375
Alakalinity - 115
Cyanuric Acid - 100
Copper - 0.0
Iron - 0.0
Dissolved Solids - 900

Obviously when they sawthe CyaA levels they said, drain about 2 feet from your pool. I drained a bit more than that. Then I started looking online for advice, and found you. :party:
Right after refilling I used 3 large bottles of 6% chlorox. I bought a 6 way teest from walmart, at least while the new one arrives in the mail. AS a first time tester, these are the approximate levels I got with the Walmart test:
TC - 1-2
Alk - 100-110
pH - 7.2
Hardness - 300
CynA - 70
Obviously no test for the CC, I will take the water to be tested at the Water Supply Store today, just for more accurate numbers.

I have read many of your pool school articles, but it takes time for a newbie brain to make sense of it all... from what I've said, do you think I'm on the right track? Or are there any recommendations to get a hold of my pool!! ??
THANSK!! For taking the time to answer all our questions!!
Michelle :mrgreen:
 
You will get better advice from the pros here but the short answer is you are right to get bleach and right to shock the pool, you just need to shock with bleach and not the stuff the pool store was using that drove the CYA so high. Your Calcium Hardness is too high to want to use much cal-hypo so bleach as the source of chlorine is your best bet.

Get familiar with the Pool Calculator and start keeping your chlorine level at "Shock Level" testing every few hours for the first few days, then slacking off as the FC level begins to hold at shock level. Might take a few days to clear the persistant algae.
 
Thanks for you answer! I continue to use the clorox and it's impressive to see the blueness return after each bottle... and that is even when the water never really turned cloudy or green... Obviously, I have a few other questions.
-Regarding algae: I have some porous spots that seem to have the black algae well gripped into them, I have a small metal brush to scrub those areas, will the scrubbing and clorox eventually take care of these 'blackened holes"?
-"Shock Level": Where do I find what my appropriate shock level is?
-I also have an inline chlorinator (those that hold the chlorine pucks/tablets), do I understand correctly that I should not use that as long as I"m using the chlorine as my main sanitizer?

I really hope I'm doing the right things... I have this fear that I'm going to mess it all up and that we'll have to empty everything, replaster, and start from scratch... which wouldn't be a problem if the pool wasn't only a year old!!! :shock:
Thanks again,
M.
 
Oh, hey, you're in Kingwood! Welcome neighbor! I'm in The Woodlands.

Black algae--- I've not had that in my pool but the advice you will find here, do a search, will say to use a trichlor puck and scrub it with that as well as the stainless steel brush.

Shock Level -- you need to know your CYA level to find your shock level on the Pool School Chlorine-CYA chart. If you did your home test correctly then CYA of 70 has a Shock FC level of 28 and your Target FC is 8 and your Min FC is 5. So, you need to add enough bleach to get the pool to HOLD at 28. Find the article on How to Shock Your Pool in Pool School.

Inline chlorinator -- Yes, your CYA is borderline too high so take the pucks out, don't just turn it off because they will still dissolve. I'd use gloves, then let them dry before putting them away, maybe into a separate bucket than the new ones. Keep them for use during vacations -- you'll want to be able to load that up and then ask someone to come over and check skimmers and add water and maybe even drop a jug or two of bleach into the pool for you if needed. You may find that CYA drops over time, giving you a bit of room on that.

The thing is, you need chlorine, frequently, even when the pool is perfectly clean and sparkling. When the pool is LESS than perfect, you need MORE chlorine. You can get chlorine from 3 or 4 basic sources, bleach or liquid chlorine from the pool store, cal-hypo which add calcium (Leslies Power Powder Pro, among other brands), dichor or trichlor which add CYA (granular shock or tablets), or a Salt Water Generator.

I keep a little of the first 3 sources on hand all the time. Mostly I use bleach, but cal-hypo will do if I am out of bleach and it lasts a long time. Bleach and liquid chlorine do degrade in heat and are sort of nasty to store so you don't want to keep too much of that on hand. Tablets add CYA but they do add a constant flow of chlorine to the pool, fine if CYA is low or if you are away and cannot tend the pool.

I am amazed that no one else is answering, I guess they are all at the pool!
 
Hey, I entered your data into the Pool Calculator and find that you will need 4 of the 182 oz jugs of bleach to get from FC 2 to FC 28. Try Sam's or Walmart store brand, also compare to the "liquid shock" from the pool stores. Last I looked Sam's was best, taking into account the difference in strength.

You will dump all 4 jugs in, slowly, a pencil sized stream poured into the pool at a return while the filter is running. Then it's be wise to brush the pool. Wait about an hour and test FC. If it is less than 28, use the Pool Calculator to find out how much more to add. Best to do as much of this as possible after the sun is off the pool, and be sure that before you go to bed the FC has been returned to 28. Measure again in the AM, how much chlorine you lose overnight tells you how much algae you have in the pool consuming chlorine.

And, when you look at the Chlorine- CYA chart, take note of how much lower the Shock level is at CYA of 30 or 40 or 50. That is a reason to let your CYA get to those lower levels. I am at 50 right now for the hot part of the summer.

PS I played with the Pool Calculator a little for you, if you can get the CYA to 60 with a slight drain of water, or just time and splashing, you can go from your min of 5 to your target of 9 with one 96 oz jug of bleach. That is the recipe for a Trouble Free pool, you just test daily and when FC = 5, add a jug of bleach! You will still watch pH and add acid as needed, separately.
 
I am amazed that no one else is answering,
Click to expand...
No need! You are rapidly becoming the teacher and an authority on BBB! :lol: :lol: (Good work!)

mvoorn,

Keep following anona's advice. Chlorine (and more of it than you realize) will cure your pool problems. There's lot's of help here on the board and Pool School is a wonderful place to get started learning.
 
Thanks for all your help, anonapersona (what does your username mean?)!! I really appreciate everyone's help!!
I checked my chlorine leves just a few minutes ago, before turning in, and I was disappointed to see that the water barely turned a touch of PALE yellow... leaving me with a chlorine level of .5 or less... SNIF!
The Cyanuric acid also seems to have gone up, according to the 6-way test from walmart... from about 65 to about 80 tonight... UUURRRGGGHHH... I just poured my last jug of clorox (I will buy more tomorrow)... do I just keep pouring it in until my chlorine levels can hold??????

Puzzled, discouraged, and mortified of pooling! :oops: :? :shock:

Thanks!
 
mvoorn said:
Thanks for all your help, anonapersona (what does your username mean?)!! I really appreciate everyone's help!!
I checked my chlorine leves just a few minutes ago, before turning in, and I was disappointed to see that the water barely turned a touch of PALE yellow... leaving me with a chlorine level of .5 or less... SNIF!
The Cyanuric acid also seems to have gone up, according to the 6-way test from walmart... from about 65 to about 80 tonight... UUURRRGGGHHH... I just poured my last jug of clorox (I will buy more tomorrow)... do I just keep pouring it in until my chlorine levels can hold??????

Puzzled, discouraged, and mortified of pooling! :oops: :? :shock:

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yes, you need to keep your chlorine level at 31 ppm according to the CYA chart if your CYA is 80 pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock

Your chlorine is dropping rapidly because you have algae growing in your pool, you need to keep your pool at shock level until you pass the overnight free chlorine loss test pool-school/overnight_fc_test

Buy more bleach & stop adding things things that raise your CYA

Actually you should replace water to get your CYA level down to 50 before anything else, then your shock level would be 20 which is a lot less bleach you would have to add
 

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In a pinch you can use cal-hypo, since your CH is at 300 and you are Ok to go to 350. That is why I keep it on hand.

Find out with the Pool Calculator what you will do to the CH if you add the cal-hypo as your chlorine source until you can get to Walmart or Sam's or Costco or the pool store for bleach or liquid chlorine.
 
mvoorn said:
Thanks for all your help, anonapersona (what does your username mean?)!! I really appreciate everyone's help!!
I checked my chlorine leves just a few minutes ago, before turning in, and I was disappointed to see that the water barely turned a touch of PALE yellow... leaving me with a chlorine level of .5 or less... SNIF!
The Cyanuric acid also seems to have gone up, according to the 6-way test from walmart... from about 65 to about 80 tonight... UUURRRGGGHHH... I just poured my last jug of clorox (I will buy more tomorrow)... do I just keep pouring it in until my chlorine levels can hold??????

Puzzled, discouraged, and mortified of pooling! :oops: :? :shock:

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Overnight the algae won't grow but as soon as sun hits it you are losing ground. So, get some chlorine ASAP. The cal-hypo would be fine to add to boost you in the evening then run to the store for more bleach as soon as places are open.

You may still be seeing rising CYA from the last tabs or powder shock if dichlor, that you used. You may want to drain some water if that is not too hard. We are on water restrictions here and have been asked to not fill pools until after 10 PM or before 4 AM :shock: so do what you can.

I dunno about that ozonator, can you turn it off? At least until you have the algae under control?

But, chlrine is killing algae on contact, but it dies in the process, so what happens is that right away, in 30min or an hour, you may lose most of what you just added. So you have to test and raise it to shock level as fast as possible. And overnight is when you can actually start to win the race, as you kill faster than it grows. So that end of the day value is really important.

And, my name came from a forum long long ago, 1999 perhaps, when they did not make one register their username. A place I visited had a problem with impersonators who flamed under the names of others active in the forum. All at once, everyone had to pick a name. Most chose versions of Anonamous, Anon1, AnonMom, AnonDad. In that forum, even gender was occasionally used for attacks by the bad persons and even from normal folks it can color responses. So I chose to cloak my name as well as my gender. And I couldn't help but to rhyme it. Anona-Persona. And since my real name is Ann it was sort of a triple play. My second choice was on-Anon, but I thought that might give me away as a woman (implying I was too wordy)!
 
thanks again anonapersona!
I haven't added anything from a pool store since last tuesday (Before I learned about this site and BBB). I keep adding chlorine, this morning it was close to zilch... so I ran to Walmart and bought 14 jugs of clorox... the cashier looked at me with an bewildered eye! At least today it's cloudy so hopefully i can use that to my advantage!
Unfortunately the 6-way test from walmart only goest to 5, so I don't know how high my levels really are, but they are a lot darker and brighter than the 5... so it must be higher than that!! I hope I get the new test kit soon!!
I will continue to add chlorine to win the fight against algae, keep un brushing and scrubbing, and hopefully this will pass!!!
I did drain almost 3 feet out of the pool last wednesday and refilled thursday, so I'm hoping the CYA will eventually go lower! At least all over levels seem to be alright.

Thanks, I will continue posting as I continue... and of course asking questions!
 
Here I come again... I just ran test, chlorine still seems to be holding, but my hardness test didn't even turn red when I added the indicator... does that mean my hardness levels are low?? If so, do I need to add the Calciun dihydrate (Or whatever name) that is specified in the pool chemicals intro in this website???
Sorry to be such a bug, I just don't want to deal with pool stores and their seemingly biased opinions...
Thanks.
 
That's what I thought, but...
I've been using the 6-way method that I bought from walmart, while the FT100 arrives. This is what I've done since the day before yesterday to use it.
I get water from elbow-deep in the pool.
Put the 25ml in container supplied, drop 5 drops of the Hardness Indicator. (Previous times, it had turned red, then I added the titrant drops, one by one and swirled until it turned from red to blue, which had been giving me a result of 300) Today, for the first time, it didn't turn red at all. So I went and got another sample of water, just in case, from a different spot in the pool (not by returns), elbow deep, repeated the 5 drops for the hardness indicator... and again, nothing.

That is what I can tell you so far... :?
 
mvoorn said:
That's what I thought, but...
I've been using the 6-way method that I bought from walmart, while the FT100 arrives. This is what I've done since the day before yesterday to use it.
I get water from elbow-deep in the pool.
Put the 25ml in container supplied, drop 5 drops of the Hardness Indicator. (Previous times, it had turned red, then I added the titrant drops, one by one and swirled until it turned from red to blue, which had been giving me a result of 300) Today, for the first time, it didn't turn red at all. So I went and got another sample of water, just in case, from a different spot in the pool (not by returns), elbow deep, repeated the 5 drops for the hardness indicator... and again, nothing.

That is what I can tell you so far... :?
Click to expand...
what color was it? DId it stay blue? Or was it some other color?
 
mvoorn said:
Here I come again... I just ran test, chlorine still seems to be holding, but my hardness test didn't even turn red when I added the indicator... does that mean my hardness levels are low?? If so, do I need to add the Calciun dihydrate (Or whatever name) that is specified in the pool chemicals intro in this website???
Thanks.
Click to expand...

You are doing fine, we are all here to help. Since I don't know anything about the test kit you have I have to defer to those who do.

As for the calcium, you don't NEED it, your Calcium Hardness tested before at 300 was smack in the center of the suggested range of 250-350. You COULD use cal-hypo for chlorine in a pinch, if you had it on hand and did not have bleach. But, getting the bleach is better. Save the cal-hypo for emergencies if you have some now, it lasts a long time. Calcium shouldn't vary much, and I doubt that it changed by more than the percentage of your drain and fill, or less, if your fill water contains any calcium. I'll guess that your fill water is on the hard side of normal and that is has some calcium and a bit of magnesium -- why all those Texas Cheerleaders have such great teeth.
 
New Numbers - CyA question

Threads merged by Moderator. Please keep all questions on one thread for consistency and history purposes.

Hi all,
I got my water tested today:
FC - 5.0
TC - 5.0
CC - 0.0
pH - 7.6
Hardness - 260
alkalinity - 100
CyA - 100

I've checked the CyA/Chlorine chart and it recommends a shock level of 39.
1. How long do I need to keep the pool at shock level?
2. Do I have to drain part of my pool again to lower the Cya levels? I drained 40% of it last wednesday and refilled it thursday, and since then I've only added chlorine (Since I came into this forum and the BBB method).

Thanks,
Michelle
 

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