Paxination's Pool - Updated

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Re: How to lower TA

Yeah after I get it used up I plan on going with the TF100. So other than my ph being slightly off (7.0-7.2) and my chlorine still high from me shocking it sunday, my water is slightly cloudy still. I have replaced the filter several times (cleaning them and reusing them a bit while I get my problems fixed). Could this be due to my ph or chlorine? I'm waiting to fix them till I get my pool vacuum from lowes. I had a water tech aqua broom (battery powered) and it crapped out 2 days after I got it. Dunno WHY I thought a battery powered pool vacuum was a good idea. Probably because it was standalone and didnt need connections to anything. I hate the water hose vacuums. Get tired of having to drain water out. So then my chems get off balance in a week!
 
Re: How to lower TA

NWMNMom said:
The SWG will not injure you, unless there is something different with a newer model you have? You could certainly be sure that your pump and SWG are grounded and bonded with the pool and of course you should already be sure to have a GFI setup for it.
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NW...correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think the intex swg has a grounding lug...the only way to get around it would be to ground the water as well. I know you laugh about grounding the water, but it is being included in required elec code more and more often.

The intex swg should be fine as I sure the 1000's of folks that have them proably don;t know any better, but to be 100% safe, it should be unplugged when folks are in the water, since it is not UL listed.
 
Re: How to lower TA

Because of the grounding issue, the Intex manuals state not to have swimmers in the water while their pumps/filters/swgs are operational - It is my understanding that this is true of all of their equipment models.
 
Re: How to lower TA

Lol. And to be honest I thought it was a chemical reason to not swim in it. Did not even realize it was due to grounding. And I even noticed that my FIRST pump (the one that came with the pool) has a gfci plug on it. And my NEW pump and my SWG both DONT have a gfci. I thought that was REALLY weird as I thought it was required for any electronics that work with water. At any rate I will replace the breaker that they are on with a GFCI breaker of equivalent requirements for it.

Well my algae problem is still present. Stuff keeps growing on bottom of pool and some brown stains keep forming on the walls of my pool (where there is the least amount of light). The brown stains come off with a scrubbing so I am sure its algae. My brush really sucks. I finally got a pole that will fit a better brush so I am going out now to get one now.

But before I go I have a question. My wife is allergic to bleach. Will this be a problem with her if I shock the pool with bleach? How will I know that the water is safe to get into? If I keep shocking it and scrubbing the pool, will the water clear up on its own as it is cloudy from the dead algae. Once it is clear how long should I wait for the chlorine levels to get to balanced levels?
 
Re: How to lower TA

Sorry - the source of your issues were sort of buried amongst the discussions of TA and grounding... :?

Algae... ok, lets see.

What were you shocking with before?

Bleach is sodium hypochlorite, 6%. Liquid clorine labeled "Pool Shock" is sodium hypochlorite 10-12.5%. Cal-hypo granular chlorine and Dichlor granular chlorine are also sold as "shock" as are a few other varieties of "shock" (some have chlorine and some don't). Your SWG produces chlorine. The point I'm getting at is once it's in your pool, chlorine is chlorine is chlorine.... :wink:

True bleach/chlorine allergies are very rare... I don't mean to offend... but was this a confirmed diagnosis or does she sometimes suffer rashes after swimming in various pools, etc? A reaction such as that is can actually be attributed to improper chlorination and high CCs - PH out of range - but people often incorrectly blame chlorine as the source.

The water is safe when you have completed the shock process and the FC holds overnight...then you let the FC drop down to "normal" levels which is based on your CYA level (refer to the chart). Now many folk will swim up to shock level and suffer no ill effects (i've done it myself.)

It doesn't sound like you have not completed the shock process...it will be difficult for you to confirm the algae is actually dead without an FAS-DPD test (included in the TF100) which is why we push those two recommended kits.

Hope this all makes sense - post back if you need clarification on anything. :wink:
 
Re: How to lower TA

Using BLEACH 6%. The calculators suggestive value for shocking my pool is 20 but I went ahead to 28 and it suggested 100oz of 6% bleach. I did that sunday. My cya hasnt changed, its still around 70. Today I decided to shock again. I bought 2 jugs of bleach. I added 1 1/2 jugs first, then scrubbed the pool. And ran my SWG for 5 hours to keep up the chlorine in it. After that I added the rest of that last jug straight into the skimmer (with SWG off, not sure how it would react with bleach going down its throat) just in case to kill off any algae in my hoses/pump. Scrubbed the pool again and changed filter and running my SWG again for another 5 hours.

Other than what I have done so far what should I do from here, step by step please (dont tell me HOW to do it, just what to do, I can figure that part out!). Not sure if I am getting all my bases covered. Is there anything else I NEED to do today, and what should I do tomorrow?

My wife has just assumed she is allergic to bleach, but not from a pool. If she gets any on her she gets allergic reactions like itching and burning and swelling. And that is just from bleach not pool water. She is fine in public pools where chlorine is used. I am just wandering if adding the bleach to the water will be a problem for her. Will it dissipate so its safe for her?

And my test kit has a DPD chlorine test for FC and TC. I subtract FC from TC to get my CC. Wow sounds funny and a mouthful! Just not a FAS which I hear is used JUST to see if chlorine is present in the water. I think!

Duh...Edit #2....it was the CYA/Chlorine chart that I got my Shock FC level. Suggest 28 for my SWG pool! Now its more like 50 or more! From the bleach I added today!
 

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Re: How to lower TA

Paxination said:
Other than what I have done so far what should I do from here, step by step please (dont tell me HOW to do it, just what to do, I can figure that part out!). Not sure if I am getting all my bases covered. Is there anything else I NEED to do today, and what should I do tomorrow?
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Continue the shock process until your FC holds overnight; your CC is .5 or less and your water is sparkly clear. To confirm the FC is dead at shock level, you have to have an FAS-DPD test.

It is better to pour bleach slowly into the return flow of water while the pump is running, rather than the skimmer. Some people do pour it thru there but why risk harming various equipment... :wink:

Paxination said:
If she gets any on her she gets allergic reactions like itching and burning and swelling.
Click to expand...

Straight bleach would likely do that to anyone...

Paxination said:
Just not a FAS which I hear is used JUST to see if chlorine is present in the water.
Click to expand...

OTO tests are used for seeing if chlorine is present. FAS-DPD accurately tests FC/CC up to 50ppm - especially useful for shocking process - DPD tests can only test accurately up to 5.
 
Re: How to lower TA

Well not straight bleach but diluted bleach water for cleaning or allready diluted stuff in spray bottles. It bothers her more so than others. When I mop my hallway with bleach water, her feet get itchy and red. But no one else is bothered by it if we go barefoot. Any ways there is no way to pour it into my return, its either straight into the pool or the skimmer. My pump just has a top that comes off but when you remove it while its running it loses pressure. Its just not possible. Not with Intex filter pumps.
 
Re: How to lower TA

Ok after a little searching on google, it seems like I have mustard algae as I see it growning on the side of the pool wall that gets no direct sunlight at all. And then I see patches of it over the floor of the pool that is extremely easy to remove. So I need to REALLY super shock it. I am going to add 2 more jugs of bleach tonight after dinner!
 
Re: How to lower TA

Bleach is added by pouring slowing into the pool, in front of a return, while the pump is running. That way it will be mixed in quickly by the water movement caused by the return.

That does sound like mustard algae. When fighting mustard algae, you want to make sure you disinfect all of the pool tools and toys. That means soaking them in the pool while the FC level is high or manually wiping them with a dilute bleach solution.
 
Re: How to lower TA

That is a very good point. I have everything in the pool soaking now! But I think I need to replace some of my water. I wasnt aware of the fact that adding bleach adds salt to the pool as well. I initially added extra salt anyways as suggested somewhere on this site (200-400 ppm more than manufacturer), and mine requires about 3200. So I went to 3600. I tried running it twice and it stopped due to high salt. BUT it seems to be working now as I left it for the pump to run a bit (added bleach in skimmer again before I read your post) and I think there was a good bit in the line still making the SWG's sensors think the pool had too much salt when it was just some bleach that was still in the line. Now its fine. Been going an hour now and not beeping at me!

So hopefully 2 more jugs of bleach after sundown and running my SWG 12 hours straight will kill it! Tomorrow is my last day off and I hope to get this fixed soon as I want to enjoy it before I get back to work on friday! Mothers day weekend is here and I work in the food industry. There wont be any pool time for me this weekend. Just sleep and taking care of my wife! And before any one suggest it, my mother died in august last year. Bad health. Sorta expected. Knew she was in bad health. Smoking all these years did her in eventually. And hopefully I will be sane this weekend as well. Funny thing, my mother remarried. My step fathers last name is SAINE. Well good night.

One last question. Since my test kit doesnt go above 5ppm with my chlorine. How often should I add bleach to my pool until its clear? And how many ppm of chlorine should I be going after here? I think 35 is suggested for mustard algae? After I get this kit used up I will buy the TF100.
 
Re: How to lower TA

The salt in bleach will never make a real difference. The quantities involved are so small compared to the amount of salt required to run the SWG that you can just ignore the salt from bleach.

When you first add salt, the salt concentration in the water can fluctuate up and down until the salt finishes mixing completely. That is probably where you got the high salt error.

It is extremely difficult to track very high FC levels using the simpler OTO chlorine test (drops turn the sample some shade of yellow, which is then compared to a color standard). Your only alternative is to add too much bleach and hope you go over the required level rather than under. That is why we recommend test kits like the TF-100, they include the FAS-DPD chlorine test which can reliably measure high FC levels.
 
Re: How to lower TA

I added enough bleach to raise the FC to AT LEAST 40 TWICE today, and I decided to try a dichlor shock treatment that is suppose to shock your pool clear and kills algaes. Bought 3lbs of that and added it twice today as well. That is another 45 FC each treatment. So 4 times today I added enough chems to raise my FC beyond 40. I hope that it will kill it.

And according to my kit its a DPD test. I drop a pill in it. Once it dissolves I compare the color.
 
Re: How to lower TA

A question. Since adding all this stuff I see MORE brown BLAHHH....on the bottom of the pool. Is it possible this is dead algae? It has formed faster today than any other day since I shocked it 4 times today. And its spread across the bottom. Mustard algae forms where there is the least sunlight and this stuff is everywhere on the bottom. And my water REEKS of bleach/chlorine smell. Still cloudy.

My SWG is giving me a high salt error again. The salt was added over a week ago or more. It should have dissolved by then. And it hasnt given me a high salt error until I started adding bleach. My salt test strips says its at 3600ppm which should be fine.

I tested my chlorine twice today and my kit says ZERO FC and when I do the test for TC it turns a brown color. Way off scale.

I started my pool with a CYA of 70 after I got it up and running. I tested my CYA after adding the first batch of DICHLOR and my CYA was at zero. It should have raised it by 43. After the second batch of Dichlor it reads about 27 now. After adding 3 lbs of Dichlor it should have raised my CYA by 83. I had allready added CYA to my water some time last week. How often do you need to add CYA? When fighting an algae is it common for the CYA to drop that fast when shocking? I know splash out is the main thing with losing CYA but no one has used it since I basically started it.
 
Re: How to lower TA

Dichlor was not a good idea. I was going to suggest this yesterday....

You need to drain your pool and start over with fresh water.

While its empty, give it a diluted bleach and water solution.

I'm going to be very blunt here so I apologize in advance if I offend you - read the Pool School articles again on defeating algae and shocking your pool. You are not following this process correctly. Making a choice like adding 3 lbs of Dichlor in one day to a vinyl Intex pool poses risk to the equipment and was an unneccessary risky choice. As I stated before, You need to have an FAS-DPD test to shock properly.

With your size pool it's better to just drain and start fresh than continue down this path.
 

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