Ok, my neighbor got pool-stored really, really bad. He's reading Pool School and is a little overwhelmed by it all, but he'll get it. Meantime, I was working with him to get his chlorine steady and CYA up. Then he tells me his alk & ph aren't even showing up. I know he needs a test kit... working on that too. Meantime, I know there's now way with our high-alk well water that his readings could be so low. That was until he told me, per pool store, that he's been adding "shock" and about a gallon of muratic acid every week! Apparently he did this most of last summer and started it again this spring. His water is clear and appears clean-no algae. He does need to add cya. He didn't even know about that one. He has a SWG. Large intex 24 x 52 (12,400 gal.). I'm surprised there's a pool left. His ph doesn't register at all on the regular phenol drop test. Alk, if there is any, is maybe around 10. I ran the numbers he had through the pool calculator. It calls for 200+ oz. of baking soda and 2000+ oz. of borax. I suggested he at least dump around 150 oz. of baking soda, then aerate like crazy and we'll re-test and go from there. I know the baking soda and aeration should also raise his ph some. I haven't been able to test with my test kit to see if there is any ph or alk reading. His readings with the kit he has appear to be correct compared with pool store unreliable readings and test strips too. This situation is totally new to me. Any suggestions on getting the acid lowered fast? I did think about draining about half and refilling from the well. Very high alk & ph water here in Texas, but we're in a severe drought and really aren't allowed to even be adding water to pools right now, or watering yards, or anything else (we're lucky to still be able to take showers!).
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!