- May 3, 2010
- 36
Me and my wife bought a home that had a pool that is roughly 10,000 gallons running on a cartridge filter.
The pump has been off for 6 months and there was lots of leaves and debris in it. I spent 3 days raking everything out and ran the pump for 72 hours (had to clean the filter every day b/c pressure kept going up).
We tested the water with the test strips and everything looked ok, but the FC read 0. We went to Leslies Pool and they told us to just add 1LB of shock (cal-hypo) to the water. The water went from green to blue over night, but I was still getting a 0 reading for FC. We went back to Leslie's and they said just through in 5LBS of shock (even though each bag is recommended 16,000 gallons). So hesitantly I did that at 9pm.
These are readings I got from test strips BEFORE I dumped in the 5 bags of shock:
FC: 0
PH: 7.2-7.4
CYA: 30-50ish
Alkalinity: 80-100
TDS: 800ish
In the morning I tested with test strips again (the pool looks bluer and I can see the bottom) and I got these results:
FC: Above required ppm (color was on the high end of the scale)
PH: 7.8-8
CYA: 30-50ish
Alkalinity 80-100
TDS: 800ish.
I was happy b/c finally I got a chlorine reading. I noticed the PH was real high so I added the recommended dosage of HTH PH minus and went to work letting the pool run.
After I got off work, I took a sample of water to Leslie's and had them give me more accurate numbers and this was what I got from them:
FAC: 0
TAC: 0
PH: 7.4
Alkalinity: 90
Calcium Hardness: 250
CYA: 40
TDS: 900
Phosphates: 200
When I tell them about getting a reading on chlorine this morning, they just say it is either it got bleached out b/c of so much chlorine (even though they recommended it!) or all the chlorine went to work and killed all the bacteria and now I have no free chlorine. He says wait two days and bring in another sample; in the mean time, if it gets greener, add more shock.
I'm so confused right now and feel like they are just giving me a lot of Crud. Every time I go, it is a different sales person so I have to repeat my story every time and seems like they have a different answer.
What does it sound like to ya'll?
I was wondering is it possible that the cartridge filter is catching all the chlorine?
Could the chlorine have all evaporated from the sun?
Or could it just be a bleached out reading?
Thank you for your help.
The pump has been off for 6 months and there was lots of leaves and debris in it. I spent 3 days raking everything out and ran the pump for 72 hours (had to clean the filter every day b/c pressure kept going up).
We tested the water with the test strips and everything looked ok, but the FC read 0. We went to Leslies Pool and they told us to just add 1LB of shock (cal-hypo) to the water. The water went from green to blue over night, but I was still getting a 0 reading for FC. We went back to Leslie's and they said just through in 5LBS of shock (even though each bag is recommended 16,000 gallons). So hesitantly I did that at 9pm.
These are readings I got from test strips BEFORE I dumped in the 5 bags of shock:
FC: 0
PH: 7.2-7.4
CYA: 30-50ish
Alkalinity: 80-100
TDS: 800ish
In the morning I tested with test strips again (the pool looks bluer and I can see the bottom) and I got these results:
FC: Above required ppm (color was on the high end of the scale)
PH: 7.8-8
CYA: 30-50ish
Alkalinity 80-100
TDS: 800ish.
I was happy b/c finally I got a chlorine reading. I noticed the PH was real high so I added the recommended dosage of HTH PH minus and went to work letting the pool run.
After I got off work, I took a sample of water to Leslie's and had them give me more accurate numbers and this was what I got from them:
FAC: 0
TAC: 0
PH: 7.4
Alkalinity: 90
Calcium Hardness: 250
CYA: 40
TDS: 900
Phosphates: 200
When I tell them about getting a reading on chlorine this morning, they just say it is either it got bleached out b/c of so much chlorine (even though they recommended it!) or all the chlorine went to work and killed all the bacteria and now I have no free chlorine. He says wait two days and bring in another sample; in the mean time, if it gets greener, add more shock.
I'm so confused right now and feel like they are just giving me a lot of Crud. Every time I go, it is a different sales person so I have to repeat my story every time and seems like they have a different answer.
What does it sound like to ya'll?
I was wondering is it possible that the cartridge filter is catching all the chlorine?
Could the chlorine have all evaporated from the sun?
Or could it just be a bleached out reading?
Thank you for your help.