To drain or not to drain for Nitrates

Jump to latest Follow Reply
buzzbait00

buzzbait00

0
Aug 10, 2007
75
North Alabama
OK!My pool was basically a swamp this spring.I knew it was going to be a bear to get straighten out,but this is turning out to be a GRIZZLY!The pool is and has been milky(6 inches visibility) , has suds on surface and has not held chlorine in weeks.

As a last ditch effort I ......went to the pool store :shock: The guy said it was probably nitrates,that nitrates would cause a pool not to hold chlorine.He tested and it had 5 on nitrates.They said I needed to SHOCK the Crud out of it and sold me $60 worth of cal-hypo.
Now,Im reading that you cannot shock out nitrates.That the only way to get rid of nitrates is to drain,ion resins,ozone or uv..ALSO,Im reading that 5 is not all that high of a number for nitrates.So,are nitrates my problem?If so,can they be "shocked out." Another ? I have is after all this shocking,why am I still showing Combined Chlorine?
Day before yesterday I added 12lbs of 73% cal-hypo and 4 182oz jugs of 6% bleach.Yesterday I added 4 182oz jugs of 6% bleach.
The #'s as of this morning
FC-15
CC-1
PH-7.4
CH-130
CYA-25
TA-100
bout 25000gal vinyl

In the past month I've added 25lbs of dichlor,at least 50gal bleach and 12lbs %73 cal-hypo :cry:
 
buzzbait00 said:
ok!I just added 4 more big bottles of %6 and will test and add 4 more this evening
Click to expand...

Don't wait that long to test if you don't have to. Sometimes you will use it up in an hour or two. If you show it any mercy it will just keep growing. You want to knock it down and keep kicking it!
 
buzzbait00 said:
They said I needed to SHOCK the **** out of it and sold me $60 worth of cal-hypo.
Now,Im reading that you cannot shock out nitrates.That the only way to get rid of nitrates is to drain,ion resins,ozone or uv..
Click to expand...
Just to set the record straight, nitrates can only be removed by water dilution with water lower in nitrates. There are specizlized ion exchange resins that remove nitrates (and sulfates) exchanging them with chloride. However, ozone and UV will not do anything to nitrates since that is already the most oxidized form of nitrogen. You don't need to worry about nitrates for the same reason you don't need to worry about phosphates. Chlorine will prevent algae growth regardless of such algae nutrient levels if your FC is appropriate for your CYA level.
 
Added 4 more big bottles of 6% yesterday evening.Total chlorine went from 22 to 17 over night with a CC of 1.
This has been going on for some time now,It just won't stop using chlorine :(
I still don't understand the cc of 1.As high and as long as I've held the FC shouldn't the CC be gone?
The water still looks the same.
Is their something Im missing?
Could it have something to do with my low CH?Thats the only parameter i know of thats way off.
 
No, it has nothing to do with CH.

CC is constantly being both created and destroyed. Somewhere there is a reservoir of organic debris that is using up chlorine and constantly recreating CC.

Have you been brushing the pool? Now would be a good time to do a really through brushing, and to look in obscure places where algae might be hiding out.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
I've been brushing but its hard to get everywhere when i can't see the bottom.Seems to be white powder on the bottom or something.Last time i vaccumed the pressure went up but I was watching the cap, nothing green came through the line it just got real cloudy.Is it possible i have massive amounts of dead algae in the pool(thus the milky water) and my filter is not taking it out so the chlorine is working hard to try to break it down?Should I try clarifier or sink and sweep?
 
Cloudy water can indicate dead algae in suspension. If it is in fact, dead algae, more filter time is what is needed since dead algae cannot be made more dead by high FC levels. Filter time is what is needed but that determination can only be made once we are certain that the organics in the water have been killed. It is the overnight FC loss test that allows one to confirm this.
 
257WbyMag said:
Cloudy water can indicate dead algae in suspension. If it is in fact, dead algae, more filter time is what is needed since dead algae cannot be made more dead by high FC levels. Filter time is what is needed but that determination can only be made once we are certain that the organics in the water have been killed. It is the overnight FC loss test that allows one to confirm this.
Click to expand...
but Im thinking something other that organics that is not letting me hold FC givin the MASSIVE amounts i've put in
 
Well, it depends on just how much stuff is in the water. A normal amount of after algae bloom debris wouldn't be enough to use 4 ppm of chlorine overnight. But you are cleaning up from a major green swamp, so perhaps there is enough more than usual to cause that. I suspect debris on the bottom of the pool is more likely than stuff in suspension causing problems.

If I am reading correctly, you haven't been at this all that long yet, three or four days. Give the filter some time to do it's job, and get everything solid you possibly can out of the pool. Brushing is very important and scooping out anything you can catch with a leaf rake will also help significantly.

From what you have said, this isn't what we would call a massive cleanup. I reserve that for people who have piles of bleach bottles larger than the average SUV :) Cleaning up a green swamp takes some time.
 
22 yesterday eve at dark,17 at sunrise and now at 3:00 its at 10 :(
This has been going on for at least a week.
I don't think it's debris or algae sucking up all the FC.Im not getting anything in the leaf net.
Maybe its like Chemgeek's ammonia problem?
 
Ammonia reacts with FC extremely quickly. If you had ammonia, FC would be zero.

It seems like you are making definite progress, a loss of only 4 overnight isn't that bad. Hopefully you won't lose anything tonight, or at least lose less tonight.

Meanwhile, how is your filter doing? Have you needed to clean the filter recently?
 
buzzbait00 said:
oh!I tested with my aquarium ammonia kit and it read 0
Click to expand...
Just so you know, ammonia test kits actually test the sum of ammonia AND monochloramine. They work by adding some Dichlor to the sample which converts any ammonia to monochloramine and then the test dye indicator actually measures the resulting monochloramine, though reports as ppm N for ammonia. 5 ppm CC as monochloramine would show up as 1 ppm N ammonia.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply