Pump and filter fixed and running, now working on water

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If you have algae, which you appear to have, then the FC level is expected to fall fairly quickly after you add chlorine.

Is it possible for you to post a picture of the PH test? That might allow us to help you figure it out. If the PH really is very high your chlorine might not be as effective as it is supposed to be.
 
I did the Ph test again and it's looking closer to 7.8 now. The TA didn't change (I don't think I added enough baking soda) and I need to run out to get more today. Should I try to lower the Ph now (I have acid) or wait until I get the baking soda?

Should I add more chlorine now or wait until sundown? I am confused about that as well since it seems to be best to wait until evening but it's only 6.5 now.

Thx
 
As always with the PH test there is some ambiguity, but that looks like 7.8 to me. 8.2 has a bit of purple to it, which I don't see in your picture. Likewise 7.5 is more orange, which again I don't see.

Ideally you should add more chlorine now. Adding chlorine more often speeds up the whole process. Chlorine added after sunset is more effective, but it gets sunny part of the day, so what can you do :)

PH at 7.8 and TA at 60 are both acceptable in the short run. You will want to raise TA a little and lower PH a little, but no rush on that.

Remember, this whole process takes a while. You don't need to get everything exactly perfect, just get as close as practical and relax a little more :)
 
I was not smart enough to run the overnight FC test last night. Like a dork, I measured the FC at sundown 5.0 but added chlorine to bring it up to 10 FC this morning. Forgot to check what happened to it after I added!

So this mornings numbers:

FC 10
CC 0
TA 80
Ph 7.8

So now I've overswung the TA number? Crazy. I will post a few photos after I get them downloaded. The yellow stuff on the sides did not return yesterday from what I could see.

Thanks
Anne
 
TA of 80 is totally fine, as is the PH for now. PH can be brought down a little with acid LATER if it creeps higher than that.

I think you are doing fine :) The fact that your FC is still at 10 this morning is likely a good sign. I would repeat the overnight test tonight. What I would suggest is dosing with bleach to reach shock level say around 6 or 7 pm in the evening and then test the FC about 10pm, but don't add anything at that time. Then test in the morning and compare the two. As early as you can - before the sun hits the pool... to see if the FC is holding.
 
Unfortunately, I have to head out of town for a couple days so I'm leaving all measuring in the hands of DH. But I was able to do the measure last night at 6pm. Unfortunately, I noticed I didn't write them down at that time so I'm guessing.

6pm
FC 6.5
CC 0
Ph 7.8 still same deep red color

So I added chlorine based on the pool calculator and I overshot hugely.

8:30pm
FC 14
CC 0

This morning I got up for my flight so I had to measure at

3:45am
FC 14
CC 0.5

What did I do wrong (I am assuming I don't want ANY CC but maybe I'm wrong here?) but I did not seem to lose any chlorine so that must be good, right?

I have DH at the ready to check the water tonight and add whatever is needed. Looks like I might not need anything until then anyway. Smells a bit like an indoor pool out there when I was testing the water! lol

As usual, any advice is appreciated. I think I still have 5 1.2 gall of chlorine so at least I don't need to make a run to the store until the weekend at this rate! :)
 
CC of 0.5 or lower is fine, and you didn't lose any FC, so you are doing well. The smell is from the CC. From the photo, the pool looks fairly clear. All together that says to me that you are very nearly done, just burning off the last of the dead algae.

You want to make sure the pool floor finishes getting cleaned up. The pool cleaner might need some help, or it might get everything given some time.
 
Jason, thanks. I think I'm going to need my vacuum. It seems my Polaris is doing circles around the dirt so I think there's something wrong there. I noticed a small leak in the pipe from the filter to the booster pump so I think that is affecting it. I have a hose and vacuum so I may be learning how to do things the old fashioned way this weekend!

Thanks
 
Just spoke to DH who tested the water which is now at 4ppm for FC! We had a hot sunny day but even that seems excessive to me. I am having him dump in chlorine to bring it back up tonight - I won't actually be home until tomorrow night.

Although I didn't have him check it, would it seem that the Ph is still out of whack? Is it unusual to lose that much in this situation? It's possible that DH tested wrong but well, the kit has a pretty good explanation of it...

That's all for now. Will post more on Friday.
 

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I thought high Ph causes loss of chlorine? Don't know, read so much at this point, it's hard to keep straight. :)

Back up to 13 this morning although we did not do the overnight test (I will do tonight since it's too hard to get DH to do anything related to the pool), we just tested and added the appropriate amount of chlorine. When I get home and tomorrow/Sat, I will start doing hourly checks.

thx
 
Don't worry about it. There is a lot of detail in pool care and it is easy to get mixed up about it. Take you time about it and focus on one thing at a time.

Very very high, or very very low, PH can cause chlorine to be ineffective, but neither causes loss of chlorine. Chlorine primarily goes away because of sunlight; and it also gets used up fighting algae or other organic contamination in the pool. Remember that you need to add chlorine every day to make up for the chlorine consumed by sunlight, even if you don't have algae.
 
Checked everything last night when I got home. After a day of sun, FC was down to 3.5

I put in some chlorine and checked an hour later - 9:30pm
FC 14
CC 1
Ph 7.8


This morning at 6:30am, I checked FC
FC 14
CC 0
TA 100

No FC loss. I need to get out and buy some more chlorine as I've gone through 12 gallons since I started this process.
I will vacuum and clean the filter tomorrow. I will also get some stabilizer. Anything else I should be doing at this point?

How much longer should I try to keep the chlorine up at shock level?

Edited at 12pm, I checked FC
FC 6.5
CC 0

Should the FC go down so much in 6 hours? It seems a lot. Yes, we are sunny here and the pool has full sun. Just checking!

Thanks
Anne
 
OK, added 4 lbs of 99% stabilizer by the sock method last night. Most was dissolved in the 2 or 3 hours, (I have 2 returns I put them in front of).

This mornings numbers are (I didn't measure overnight loss this time because it had been staying the same the last nights that I did it):
FC 13
CC .5
Ph 7.8
TA 110
CYA 20

TA keeps going up even though I haven't done anything since last week? How long should I wait before I add more CYA - I aimed for 40 and got 20. At least I can tell a difference - before I could see the dot plainly, today it was definitely 20.

Will vacuum today and keep an eye on the FC loss.

Any other recommendations at this point? Thank you!
 
Very very high PH is more of a purple. Red is more likely to be 7.6 to 7.7. It is the color, not the intensity that matters. If you have doubts, drop a little borax in the PH sample tube while you are looking at it and it will change to the very high PH color.

If your CYA is still around 20, shock level is around 11 to 12.
 
How long should I wait before I add more CYA
Click to expand...
I would give it 4-5 more days and test again. I don't underastand why, but CYA seems to not show up on the test for that length of time.

Don't be surprised if you don't get a test result of close to 40 around Tuesday or so. I think Jason missed the part of your post that said you calculated and dosed to obtain 40ppm so treat your pool as if it has 40ppm CYA in it.....making the shock value up around 16ppm
 
Thanks Dave. I even tested CYA again at noon and it had gone up to 25.

Vacuumed this morning and it looks sooooo nice now. Makes me wish we had a heater so I could go swimming now. Also took my Polaris apart and it had a broken belt driving the front wheel so I am not surprised now that it wasn't going where I wanted it to go. Learning WAY more about this stuff than I ever thought possible. Eventually I may have most of what I need at my disposal now, instead of constantly having to run out and purchase yet another item....
 

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