Hi! First,thanks for this wonderful forum. I've been searching, reading andlearning a lot from other posts and the resources provided. This is myfirst post, so please forgive the detail. But I could really use some solid advice to get my pool balancedbefore I absolutely pull my hair out!
Brief background: On May 1, my pool was a green sesspool ofgrossness. I paid someone at the "evil pool store" to clean itup and get it balanced so that I could maintain it the rest of thesummer. After 2 weeks it was clean and blue....but far from balancedwhen they "finished" on May 15. It wasn't until May31, that I realized they were done (nobody called me)...so nothing happened onmy end for 2 weeks. At that point, the pool was blue, but cloudywith brown stains on the walls (which is why I thought they were still workingon it). On June 4 I had a pool store water test done...whichrevealed copper (.3) and iron (.1) and zero chlorine with a PH over8.6. So I've been on a steady cycle of Citric Acid to remove stains, MetalKlear to sequester metals, and when chlorine was introduced brown stainsreappeared. I've had to do this process at least 3 times during the past2 weeks. Finally, the pool store manager suggested I use The Pink Stuff whichwas applied on June 13. The good news....no brown stains afterintroducing stick chlorine. BUT....in spite of the chlorinator running24/7 on level 3 for the past week with chlorine sticks (trichlor fromthe pool store), the pool is still cloudy!! I haven't shocked it yet,fearing the pool will turn brown again, and the pool store hasn't recommendedit either. In addition at the pool store's recommendation, we've dumpedcalcium and muriatic acid and baking soda...and endless cycle....pertheir test reports. I bought their "highlyreliable" test strips which have given the same results the past2 weeks.....all levels are LOW...which can't be true, and which wasn't evenconsistent with their own test. I'm so frustrated with theinconsistency in water test results and honestly don't what to believe or knowif what we've been doing was even necessary.
Bottom line as of today June 20....my pool is STILL CLOUDY, I don'ttrust the test results therefore unsure what to do next, and worst of all I haven'tset foot in it to enjoy yet this summer. I'm tired of poor advice and service from the pool store. So upon youradvice, I purchased the TF100 last week...got it in the mail today and thefirst test results are posted below:
FC = 1
CC = 1.5
TC = 2.5
PH = 6.8
Hardness = 900 (YIKES I hope I did this test correctly. It turnspurple for me initially, not red, but eventually turned blue after a lot ofdrops!!)
TA = 40
CYA = less than 20 (I filled the tubed to the top and can stillsee the black dot)
Quick question about the FC test: I had to do this test a few times andhope I did it right. The first test, I was up to about 20 drops whichwould be extremely high. The water would turn clear, but then in a fewseconds turn pink. I also wasn't swirling it. I found a videoonline of someone actually doing the test. He swirled while he droppedall one motion. So following his example, the water turned clear after 2drops and stayed clear while swirling which is the number I recordedabove. However once again, when I sat the test tube down for a second, itturned back to pink. should I have continued with the drops ofR-0871? This was real confusing....but I know it's important to get thistest right.
BTW, I also ordered the LaMotte Metal test strips which were recommended bysomeone on a post out here so I can keep a check on metals (a pool store teston my tap water indicated trace amounts of metals). I did a test yesterdayand there were no metals showing on the strip.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Brief background: On May 1, my pool was a green sesspool ofgrossness. I paid someone at the "evil pool store" to clean itup and get it balanced so that I could maintain it the rest of thesummer. After 2 weeks it was clean and blue....but far from balancedwhen they "finished" on May 15. It wasn't until May31, that I realized they were done (nobody called me)...so nothing happened onmy end for 2 weeks. At that point, the pool was blue, but cloudywith brown stains on the walls (which is why I thought they were still workingon it). On June 4 I had a pool store water test done...whichrevealed copper (.3) and iron (.1) and zero chlorine with a PH over8.6. So I've been on a steady cycle of Citric Acid to remove stains, MetalKlear to sequester metals, and when chlorine was introduced brown stainsreappeared. I've had to do this process at least 3 times during the past2 weeks. Finally, the pool store manager suggested I use The Pink Stuff whichwas applied on June 13. The good news....no brown stains afterintroducing stick chlorine. BUT....in spite of the chlorinator running24/7 on level 3 for the past week with chlorine sticks (trichlor fromthe pool store), the pool is still cloudy!! I haven't shocked it yet,fearing the pool will turn brown again, and the pool store hasn't recommendedit either. In addition at the pool store's recommendation, we've dumpedcalcium and muriatic acid and baking soda...and endless cycle....pertheir test reports. I bought their "highlyreliable" test strips which have given the same results the past2 weeks.....all levels are LOW...which can't be true, and which wasn't evenconsistent with their own test. I'm so frustrated with theinconsistency in water test results and honestly don't what to believe or knowif what we've been doing was even necessary.
Bottom line as of today June 20....my pool is STILL CLOUDY, I don'ttrust the test results therefore unsure what to do next, and worst of all I haven'tset foot in it to enjoy yet this summer. I'm tired of poor advice and service from the pool store. So upon youradvice, I purchased the TF100 last week...got it in the mail today and thefirst test results are posted below:
FC = 1
CC = 1.5
TC = 2.5
PH = 6.8
Hardness = 900 (YIKES I hope I did this test correctly. It turnspurple for me initially, not red, but eventually turned blue after a lot ofdrops!!)
TA = 40
CYA = less than 20 (I filled the tubed to the top and can stillsee the black dot)
Quick question about the FC test: I had to do this test a few times andhope I did it right. The first test, I was up to about 20 drops whichwould be extremely high. The water would turn clear, but then in a fewseconds turn pink. I also wasn't swirling it. I found a videoonline of someone actually doing the test. He swirled while he droppedall one motion. So following his example, the water turned clear after 2drops and stayed clear while swirling which is the number I recordedabove. However once again, when I sat the test tube down for a second, itturned back to pink. should I have continued with the drops ofR-0871? This was real confusing....but I know it's important to get thistest right.
BTW, I also ordered the LaMotte Metal test strips which were recommended bysomeone on a post out here so I can keep a check on metals (a pool store teston my tap water indicated trace amounts of metals). I did a test yesterdayand there were no metals showing on the strip.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
