opening for my first time

[hooligan]

I moved into a house that used to drain and scrub the pool every year and I decided to try to learn to clear a swamp with chemicals. I started yesterday. I'm using PoolTime 6 way test strips it looks like my chems are as fallows

Total hardness : 250
TC: 10
FC:10
PH: 8.4? it's a bright magenta color
TA: 40
CYA: 0

I've added 3 lbs of stabalizer in a sock this morning. I went through 2 gallons of 10% liquid chlorine yesterday and added 2 more today. The pool went from a dark green to a very light green white cloudy milky today. I know I'm going to have to adjust my PH next. What am I going to have to do to get my water clear?


-Loki

 

[JohnT]

Welcome to TFP.

You can't trust your pH results while your chlorine is at a high level.

To do a good job cleaning up the pool, you need to be able to measure your chlorine accurately, which you can't do directly with the strips.

You have two options to measure the chlorine. You can dilute the pool water sample with distilled water and then test the mixture with your strips. Multiply the reading by your dilution. For example, 1 part pool water to 1 part distilled water, you multiply the strip reading by 2 to get your actual reading. 2 parts distilled to 1 part pool water, multiply the reading by 3, etc..

The other option is a better test kit like the TF-100 or the Taylor K2006.


Start reading these articles for step-by-step advice:

pool-school/defeating_algae

turning-your-green-swamp-back-into-a-sparking-oasis-t4147.html

Be meticulous and you'll have it clear in no time!

 

[waste]

Loki, welcome to TFP!!

You sound like you're on the right track with your pool (you came here and you've tried to do your own testing)

Please follow John's advice and know that we're gonna be here to help you :-D

 

[hooligan]

so I'm a little over a week into trying to clear my pool up. I've managed to keep it at shock levels pretty well. For the first week I was having problems with my pump not running 24 hours, but I figured out the problem with my timer. I also am using a brand new filter and I heard that new cartridge filters are not very effective for filtering so I added a 36 oz of cellulose fiber today. My water is still pretty cloudy and I'm hoping this will help. My FC is still dropping like crazy every day. Since I added the cellulose fiber to my cartridge filter will that wash out when I clean my filter? Also there is a good amount of foam on the surface of my pool. Do I need to worry about vacuuming before the water is clear? Any suggestions or advice is appreciated


-Loki

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

The cellulose isn't necessary. Just keep shocking and filtering. New filters with clear water, etc. but a swamp that filter will be "old" in about an hour.

The foam - did you add algaecide?

As for vacuming, do you think there are any solid organics in the bottom, like leaves, etc.? if so you should manually scoop them out with a leaf rake/net etc. you can try blind vacuming if you like.

Are you still testing with strips?

 

[hooligan]

The only thing I've added to the pool is chlorine, stabilizer, and cellulose. I am testing with a leslie's total poolcare dpd test kit. the FC test only goes to 5 ppm and when I went to leslies to get my water tested they said it was too cloudy to test. Does that matter much? do I need to be testing anything besides my FC at the moment?


-Loki

 

[JasonLion]

I would bring CYA up to 30, if you haven't already. It is much easier to fight algae when you have some CYA in the water and are not losing all your chlorine to sunlight each day.

Yes, all of the cellulose washes out when you clean the filter. It isn't worth adding any cellulose until you are sure the algae is all dead. Even then, it only helps a little bit. Cartridge filters are reasonably good on their own.

Foam at this point is a little unusual. If algaecide was never added, that means you have a fair bit of organic debris still in the water.

Have your done an overnight FC loss test recently? That is a good way of measuring your progress in killing algae. The less FC you lose overnight, the closer you are to wiping out the algae.