Opening problems

[tludvik]

Hi board,
This is our 3rd season on BBB. Due to mitigating circumstances, we let it turn into a swamp over the winter (no cover, lots of leaves, etc.) Started 10 days ago trying to turn the swamp into an oasis. Installed the pump, started pulling out leaves, and started adding bleach. It turned light milky green that afternoon and still has not gotten any clearer after all this bleach and all this time. Any suggestions?

17,700 gal steel side-vinyl liner AGP
Dual speed pump (we've been running it at both high and low 24/7)
Cartridge filter (we've cleaned it twice in the last 10 days)

FC- 13 (lost 1 overnight last night) (I've been keeping it a little higher trying to knock the cloudiness out, but now that I have a good level of CYA, I know what my shock level should be)
CC- 1.5 (used to be 2.5-3)
pH- 6.8 (added borax this morning & haven't check it again- letting it circulate)
TA- 90
CYA- between 30-40 (I added a couple of pounds of solid CYA this weekend to get it to 40. It was 30 yesterday, but if I remember correctly, it takes a week to get the true reading)

When I get to the far side of the pool (away from the skimmer & return) to brush it, I get a strong "lake/pond" stench. I am still pulling a few leaves off the bottom, but nothing major. A piece to my auto cleaner broke so I haven't run it.

 

[JasonLion]

It sounds like you are doing almost everything right. Clean up as much debris as you possibly can, keep the pool at shock level. It also sounds like you are starting to get close, not much FC lost, and fairly low CC. The smell is from the CC. You need to keep shocking, both because of the CC and the overnight FC loss.

The low PH is a concern. Shocking is not as effective when PH is out of range. Remember that PH tends to read a little higher than actual when the FC level is high, so raise PH up to at least 7.5, and try to test PH when the FC level is low (typically late afternoon when you haven't added chlorine in a while).

 

[tludvik]

Thanks Jason- will do! Crossing my fingers!

 

[tludvik]

Updated numbers- 6:30 pm

FC- 10.5 (about to add some more bleach to get it up to 13-14)
CC- 1
pH- 6.8 (still)

According to the poolcalc, to increase the pH, I need to add borax.

Why do I not add baking soda? The poolcalculator doesn't instruct me to add any. Won't that raise the pH as well?

No color change today, btw.

 

[duraleigh]

Baking soda is used to raise TA and has little, if any, affect on pH.

 

[tludvik]

Quick update. I've determined we have a pump issue with is affecting the filtration. My numbers have spot on for days in a row, and nothing about the color or cleanliness of the water is getting better. I noticed that the water coming out of the return is very weak and the suction into the skimmer is minimal. I guess the guy who "fixed" our broken pump at the end of the summer didn't do a very good job. Since we were due to replace our $120 filter this season, we'll probably bite the bullet and get a new system.

Should we try something new? Sand filter? DE?

 

[JasonLion]

You may just need to do a really through cleaning of the cartridge. Try soaking the cartridge overnight in one cup of automatic dishwasher detergent for every five gallons of water. Remember to throughly rinse the cartridge before putting it back into the filter.

 

[tludvik]

Jason,
We've done that. In fact, the pressure gauge hardly ever goes up because I clean it often. Before the blade broke in the pump last year, I couldn't hardly force my hand in front of the return to even get close to the eyeball. Leaves that fell in the middle of the pool were on a fast ride to the skimmer. Now I can stick my finger into the eyeball with no problem at all, and leaves that are floating never make it over into the skimmer! There is just hardly any water flow at all even on high.