Phosphate problems

[MrcTag]

Still having a problem holding chlorine in my pool. I had my water tested at a different store and they checked for phosphates and said my phospahte level was really high (above 2500 ppb). What is the best way to get rid of this problem? I found stuff called Phosfree and PhosPhloc which is supposed to solve this problem. Is this the best way to go and how is it used in my pool.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Marco

 

[ktdave]

If you post:
Free Chlorine (FC)
Total Chlorine (TC)
pH
Total Alkalinity (TA)
Cyanuric Acid (CYA) AKA stabilizer/conditioner

As well as type of pool (plaster, vinyl, above ground, etc), volume of pool, what your water looks like. This will be very useful in getting you some good advice.

 

[MrcTag]

If you post:
Free Chlorine (FC)
Total Chlorine (TC)
pH
Total Alkalinity (TA)
Cyanuric Acid (CYA) AKA stabilizer/conditioner
As well as type of pool (plaster, vinyl, above ground, etc), volume of pool, what your water looks like. This will be very useful in getting you some good advice.

OOPS! Sorry about that, I guess that info. would be useful huh. OK here goes:

In Ground
23000 gallons
Hydrazzo finish (colored plaster)

FC...0
TC...0
CYA...40
PH...7.1
TA...122
TH...259
Phosphates... above 2500 ppb
Water...Slight green color with small algae blooms in areas

Thanks

 

[JasonLion]

You should never allow FC to go to zero. Chlorine needs to be added every day, unless you have an automatic feeder or a SWG. With CYA of 40 you should keep your FC at 3 or above at all times.

Since you have let the FC get to zero it sounds like you are starting to get algae. To kill all the algae you need to bring the FC level up to 15 and hold it there by testing and adding more chlorine to keep FC at 15 until the FC level holds overnight. While that is happening it would be a good idea to brush the whole pool once a day. That will kill off all of the algae, and keeping FC at 3 or above will keep it from coming back.

You don't need to worry about phosphates. That is just something the pool stores are using to push products on people who don't need them. If you have enough chlorine in the water to keep the pool safe from bacteria and viruses you won't have algae regardless of your phosphates level.

 

[MrcTag]

Thanks Jason. I've been pouring chlorine in my pool by the boatload and still can't get any readings on my test kits or the ones at the pool store. Could the phosphates be locking up my chlorine? This has been like this all summer! I do live right next to a farm that does a lot of planting and fertilizing, could that be contributing to my problem? I'm at my wits end.

I've found a lot of very useful info. at this sight I only wish I would have found it long ago.

Thanks

 

[JasonLion]

What kind of chlorine test are you using? Some of them bleach out and show zero chlorine when the chlorine is actually very high. The best kind of tester is a FAS-DPD chlorine test, which reads FC and CC from 0 to 50 by increments of 0.5 or by 0.2.

One simple way to check is to dilute the pool water, one part pool water to three or four parts of distilled water and measure that. If that shows any chlorine level then your actual level is to high for the test kit you are using.

On the other hand, if a fair amount of fertilizer got into the pool it can take a huge amount of chlorine to clear it out.

 

[MrcTag]

What kind of chlorine test are you using? Some of them bleach out and show zero chlorine when the chlorine is actually very high. The best kind of tester is a FAS-DPD chlorine test, which reads FC and CC from 0 to 50 by increments of 0.5 or by 0.2.

One simple way to check is to dilute the pool water, one part pool water to three or four parts of distilled water and measure that. If that shows any chlorine level then your actual level is to high for the test kit you are using.

On the other hand, if a fair amount of fertilizer got into the pool it can take a huge amount of chlorine to clear it out.

I use the test strips but the one pool store used a liquid drop test.