Over the course of the past 12 months we've had a lot of work done in our backyard that I'm certain has affected our pool:
- installed an irrigation well (dust and more dust from the drilling)
- had pavers installed (lots of dirt moved around and concrete /sand laid down)
- renovated our lawn (tilling, compost, lime, fertilizer,herbicides)
And the pool is located dead center in the middle of this activity. And then there's the 30+ trees that border the pool.
With all of this work going on the only ones who used the pool were my two dogs The only maintenance we performed was vacuuming, backwashing, weekly shock and some algaecide.
It never occurred to me to cover the pool when the work was being done so now I'm left with the consequences.
The water is crystal clear but the pool has a green cast to it. I know some it it has to be algae but there are a number of stains on the sides, bottom and steps. Some look like rust but some others are very dark (especially at the bottom of the spa) and some are greenish/blue and one or two are more yellow.
I know I can't treat any stains until the water is balanced so I had the water tested with the following results:
TA: 115
Iron: 0
Copper: 0
PH: 7.6
Shock: 0
CYA: 0
TH: 160
TDS: 300
TC: 1
FC: 1
Based on this I was told to add 3.5 LBS CA and 6 LBS of Cal Plus. I've added both of these over the past 36 hours but the FC and CA are still too low.
How long should it take for these two chemicals take to raise the FC and CA? Should I already be seeing results?
I was told not to increase my chlorine level until I can determine if the stains are organic or metal since that will affect the treatment and and the required chlorine levels.
I was advised that the easiest way to figure out what the stains are is to apply a chlorine tab to the stain and if it lightens then it's organic and if I apply a sock with PH Down to it and that works then it's metal. The problem is not all of the stains look the same. Is it possible to have both organic and metal stains at one time? And if so, will treating one type of stain have a negative impact on the other type of stain?
I had a new DE filter installed last week and asked them what the stains were. They said algae but I always thought that algae would move or dust up when brushed and most of this seems impervious to brushing.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
- installed an irrigation well (dust and more dust from the drilling)
- had pavers installed (lots of dirt moved around and concrete /sand laid down)
- renovated our lawn (tilling, compost, lime, fertilizer,herbicides)
And the pool is located dead center in the middle of this activity. And then there's the 30+ trees that border the pool.
With all of this work going on the only ones who used the pool were my two dogs The only maintenance we performed was vacuuming, backwashing, weekly shock and some algaecide.
It never occurred to me to cover the pool when the work was being done so now I'm left with the consequences.
The water is crystal clear but the pool has a green cast to it. I know some it it has to be algae but there are a number of stains on the sides, bottom and steps. Some look like rust but some others are very dark (especially at the bottom of the spa) and some are greenish/blue and one or two are more yellow.
I know I can't treat any stains until the water is balanced so I had the water tested with the following results:
TA: 115
Iron: 0
Copper: 0
PH: 7.6
Shock: 0
CYA: 0
TH: 160
TDS: 300
TC: 1
FC: 1
Based on this I was told to add 3.5 LBS CA and 6 LBS of Cal Plus. I've added both of these over the past 36 hours but the FC and CA are still too low.
How long should it take for these two chemicals take to raise the FC and CA? Should I already be seeing results?
I was told not to increase my chlorine level until I can determine if the stains are organic or metal since that will affect the treatment and and the required chlorine levels.
I was advised that the easiest way to figure out what the stains are is to apply a chlorine tab to the stain and if it lightens then it's organic and if I apply a sock with PH Down to it and that works then it's metal. The problem is not all of the stains look the same. Is it possible to have both organic and metal stains at one time? And if so, will treating one type of stain have a negative impact on the other type of stain?
I had a new DE filter installed last week and asked them what the stains were. They said algae but I always thought that algae would move or dust up when brushed and most of this seems impervious to brushing.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.