All I did was go away for a few days!

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Okay, snuck out early from work and went to the pool store - here are the results:

--------------------------- Current----Ideal
Saturation Index---------- 0.6---minus 3 - .3
CYA-------------------------132-----30-200
Tot Chlorine---------------10-------1-3
Free Chlorine--------------10------1-3
PH--------------------------8.1-----7.2-7.6
Tot Alkalinity--------------102
Adj Tot Alk.----------------62
Tot Hardness--------------261-----175-225
Manganese----------- NO

Green algae, Black Algea, Mustard, Slime/mold, Metal Stain, Scaling, WL, Plaster <12 All No

Recommendations: Add Muriatic acid, do not swim until chlorine level drops.
 
I am suspicious of the Chlorine reading since you tested 20+ at home, may be that they cannot test above 10. If we assume that your test at well above 10 is right, then you can ignore the pH as it reads falsely high (unless I am wrong and they use some test that is different and unaffected). If pH is unreliable then you can ignore the saturation index of 0.6 as well.

Let's assume the CYA is correct, at 130 since they cannot measure to that accuracy of 132 in reality.

CH is often about 2/3 of the total hardness number (I read somewhere) so CH may be around 175 which is a bit low if you have plaster.

TA at 100 is on the high side but that just says that after everything else is back to normal and if the pH is indeed high or creeps up too fast for your taste, you can drop it down some with acid to get a slower pH rise.

So, what seems important, if indeed they can be trusted, is the CYA of 130-ish which is what you went there to find out. Going to the CYA chart, we see that you need to shock at about 50 (twice the shock level for CYA=60), or change out some water to get that CYA to a better level.
 
Good, then be sure to ignore their advice about adding acid and about not swimming.

Yes, you certainly can swim in your pool with FC above 10, maybe not now though. First we need to find out for sure what your chlorine level is. You can swim if the FC is less than Shock Level -- IF the water is clear and blue. Not good to swim if it is green or cloudy.

Now would you mind doing a 3 to 1 dilution and using a strip again to see if that tells us anything more? 3 parts kentwood and 1 part pool water, multiply by 4 to see rough estimate. Maybe you can see something less than 10+ at that dilution.

Off topic -- how is New Orleans doing? I've only been back once post-storm for a high school reunion. Only now do I not get all teary-eyed to hear "What a Wonderful World" which was sort of the post-Katrina theme it seems. Now I just get a little teary-eyed. Lost my last good friend who still lived in town recently and I sorta-kinda still blame the storm for that. Her life was so messed up by all that I think it had a lot to do with her death.
 
7:30pm Test strip readings:
PH 7.8
FC 10+
TA 100
CYA 120

3 parts Kentwwod to 1 pool water reads between the 5 & 10 range for the free chlorine.

Pool is now totally clear and sparkling again, and a nice bright blue, though I know there are still problems to address.
 
anonapersona said:
...Off topic -- how is New Orleans doing? I've only been back once post-storm for a high school reunion.
Click to expand...
It gets better every day, but sadly, the local government stinks (as usual) and things just aren't the same, nor will they they ever be for the locals.

Only now do I not get all teary-eyed to hear "What a Wonderful World" which was sort of the post-Katrina theme it seems. Now I just get a little teary-eyed. Lost my last good friend who still lived in town recently and I sorta-kinda still blame the storm for that. Her life was so messed up by all that I think it had a lot to do with her death.
Click to expand...
Wow, sorry to hear about that! A lot of folks were badly effected by the storm, and many will be changed for life. The 'atmosphere' here is just not the same anymore... Sorry about your friend. I feel for you, I lost a few in and after the storm myself.


-Rich
 
3 parts Kentwood purified water to 1 part pool water reads 5 now for the free chlorine.

EDIT: The pool is sparkling, clear and blue looking this morning! Now I have to work on the water balance.
Bad cell phone pic (wife has the camera):
poolnowblue.jpg
 

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Oh, okay, you caught me just in time! Just got home from work with the acid a few minutes ago. I'll go and store it for now.

Latest test using 3 parts Kentwood purified water to 1 part pool water now reads 1 on the free chlorine, so that's 21? It's slowly coming down...

Do you think we can swim by tomorrow?
 
BigGuy said:
Latest test using 3 parts Kentwood purified water to 1 part pool water now reads 1 on the free chlorine, so that's 21?
Click to expand...
No, the pool water is 1/4 of what you tested, so you multiply by 4 to get the true result. 4 x 1 = FC 4. That's a little odd because you were at 5 on the strip, just about 8 hours ago, and 4 x 5 = FC 20. What happened? Probably a test glitch, you should try again. If the strip still shows 1 or 2, try testing straight pool water.
--paulr
 
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