Housewarming Party in 4 Days! - Milky Blue Water

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Butterfly said:
Since you have received two pieces of info that seem to contradict, I just want to point out that they are both right :)

Shock level for CYA of 55 is between 17 and 22.

17 is from the PoolCalculator.Com and the 22 is from the CYA/Chlorine Chart in Pool School.

Both shock levels will work, but one is more aggressive than the other.
Click to expand...

So I'm at 10 now..and I need to get to 17 or 22. How do I do this? Obviously I add more bleach, but how much more if I'm using 1.42 gal jugs that are 6% bleach.

The pool store gives me this print out every time I go and it's divided into two columns, one is current, and the other one is ideal.
For Total Chlorine it says ideal is 1.5-3, same for free chlorine. But I understand that is the ideal range, when you're not shocking to kill off organisms and bacteria in the water, correct?

Also, about the backwashing. I went out there and backwashed it a few minutes ago and I'm not quite getting the gist of the whole clean psi numbers. I'm not sure what my clean psi would be. Currently it looks like it's at 60..but the gauge seems to go up from there and it didn't seem to change when I backwashed and rinsed for a few minutes. Also, there seems to be a bit of sand in the little glass that doesn't move when I backwash? I have a Hayward SP series sand filter.

Would I be better off doing a partial drain and refill since the party is Friday? Or is this salvageable? I'm sorry this is just very confusing for me, with so many different numbers and factors and not being able to have a test kit readily available, I'm trying to do it by eye and based on what the results the pool store gave me, and I have so much to do with the house besides the pool for the party.
 
Ignore any "ideal" #'s from the pool store.

Use the PoolCalculator.com to calculate your doses. Link in my sig.

There are some instructions for using the PoolCalculator in Pool School.

Enter your current FC level in the NOW column, and 22 in the TARGET column.
But, add your pool size first. :wink:

Your gauge on your filter might be broken. When you turn off the pump, does the gauge go to zero?
You should backwash (followed by a rinse) each time your psi increases about 6 psi over the clean psi reading.
Do you have a sight glass or clear pipe so you can see the water that is being backwashed out? How did it look? Did you rinse at least 30 seconds after backwashing?

Make sure the gauge is working!
 
Butterfly said:
Your gauge on your filter might be broken. When you turn off the pump, does the gauge go to zero?
You should backwash (followed by a rinse) each time your psi increases about 6 psi over the clean psi reading.
Do you have a sight glass or clear pipe so you can see the water that is being backwashed out? How did it look? Did you rinse at least 30 seconds after backwashing?

Make sure the gauge is working!
Click to expand...

Ok, I cut the pump off so I could raise the water level (it had to dropped below the bottom screw of the skimmer faceplate) and the gauge's needle didn't go down to 0. I'm sorry, it's at 160 psi, not 60 and it goes down from there. I rinse for about a minute after backwashing for 2-4 minutes. The sight glass shows murky water that has bubbles in it, a bit of sand but the sand doesn't move.
 
You can use the pool calculator.
For example:
For a 25K pool, to go from FC of 9 to FC of 22 would take 7 of the small 96oz jugs of 6% bleach. (Or around 4 of the 174/182 oz jugs.) (674 oz total).

This amount to add will not be something you can judge by eye.
 
Ok the pool calculator is showing that I need 3.8 jugs (182 oz) of bleach to bring it to a target FC of 22. Would 4 jugs be okay? Or should I do 3 and a quart? Also, do I add these in all at once or one at a time, an hour apart?
 
xwildatheart said:
Butterfly said:
Your gauge on your filter might be broken. When you turn off the pump, does the gauge go to zero?
You should backwash (followed by a rinse) each time your psi increases about 6 psi over the clean psi reading.
Do you have a sight glass or clear pipe so you can see the water that is being backwashed out? How did it look? Did you rinse at least 30 seconds after backwashing?

Make sure the gauge is working!
Click to expand...

Ok, I cut the pump off so I could raise the water level (it had to dropped below the bottom screw of the skimmer faceplate) and the gauge's needle didn't go down to 0. I'm sorry, it's at 160 psi, not 60 and it goes down from there. I rinse for about a minute after backwashing for 2-4 minutes. The sight glass shows murky water that has bubbles in it, a bit of sand but the sand doesn't move.
Click to expand...

Go get a new gauge! They are relatively cheap - $10 to $15 maybe? Call your pool store and see if they have one and go get it! They will tell you how to replace it.
 
xwildatheart said:
Ok the pool calculator is showing that I need 3.8 jugs (182 oz) of bleach to bring it to a target FC of 22. Would 4 jugs be okay? Or should I do 3 and a quart? Also, do I add these in all at once or one at a time, an hour apart?
Click to expand...
It's okay to go over a little, just don't get carried away :)
 
How high does your chlorine test go? 5? 10? This method won't be that accurate, but it is better than nothing until you can get a test kit with a FAS-DPD. Try diluting your pool water with distilled water and then testing. So, if you use equal parts, you would multiple your result by 2. If you used 1 part pool water to 2 parts distilled water, you would multiple by 3. If you used 1 part pool water to 3 parts distilled water, you would multiple by 4. Each increase in the ratio is also an increase on how inaccurate your number can be, so it has to be taken with a grain of salt, but might keep you in the target *zone*.

Add the bleach all at once. Four jugs is fine - your chlorine has probably gone down since that test, so you will need slightly more than the is calculated right now. Test again in an hour and you will probably be ready to add bleach again.
 
Butterfly said:
Go get a new gauge! They are relatively cheap - $10 to $15 maybe? Call your pool store and see if they have one and go get it! They will tell you how to replace it.
Click to expand...

Ok, The pool store is closed for the day. Will I still be able to filter the water enough to clear it up until I can get the gauge replaced?
 

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If you have the OTO walmart test kit you can dilute the water with 50% distilled water and compute x 2 the results. If you don't have distilled water, leave tap water out overnight and use that to dilute, <1ppm should degrade overnight and most chlorinated water from plants will have less than 1ppm FC. You're only looking for total FC anyway so overnight <1ppm tap (chlorinated) water should work good enough to help you understand your current FC level.

Whatever you do, don't stop shocking. It is safe to swim in shock levels, nothing bad will happen to your guests who swim. They do not need to know that you are shocking, keep up this process and maintain shock level religiously.

If you panic and let it go below shock level just to keep guests happy you'll end up with a problem pool. You are absolutely on your way to a clear sparkly pool, don't stop and disrupt the process. Chances are, you'll have a better looking pool at the party than you think, simply because you have maintained shock level till then.

Swimmers will increase chlorine demand so plan to test after the party and be sure to dose back to shock. Shock level is FINE for your party. Keep the faith, you'll be more than happy at the results. Promise. :~}
 
Okay I vacuumed today and you can pretty much see the bottom in the shallow end and some in the deep end. It's blue..certainly not as clear as I'd like but at least manageable for the party. But now it's raining..should I shock it again once it's done raining?
 
You may want to let the FC drop a bit for party time... It might set you behind a little but also might not make your guests ask if you have too much chlorine in the pool. One less thing to worry about, parties are hectic in the first place!
 
I would not recommend a pool party in a cloudy pool...and by not having the proper test kit you really have know idea what your levels are. When you are testing with an OTO kit and diluting the sample it may be close enough for shocking the pool but not accurate enough that you can be sure that it is safe enough to swim in.
 
If xwildatheart sees the turn in the pool tomorrow, by maintaining CL even if slightly off, the pool should be good to go. They can nearly see the bottom of the deep end. The turn is coming as long as shock level is maintained. Please xwildatheart, focus on maintaining till party time.

In light of the recent body left unnoticed for two days while swimmers swam... I hope/assume xwildatheart will use proper judgement for the party. If one can't see someone at the bottom of the pool, there should be no swimming. I've seen some darn nice pools not quite yet finished shocking recently, clear enough for swimming. Plus we know that high chlorine levels at or under shock level won't kill ya as long as it's appropriately related to CYA.

Can't cancel a housewarming... but you can ban swimming. Party on dude (either way)!
 
Keep it at shock level. Though I have no idea how you know it's at shock level without a good test kit. :scratch:

I never recommend swimming until you've passed the OCLT but it's your call. You can swim up to shock level for your CYA (if you can trust your cya number).

I would keep it at shock until it clears up. Did you ever get a new gauge?
 
For what it's worth, when you backwash and see the water moving through the sight glass, do you let the filter backwash for several minutes UNTIL the sight glass is perfectly clear? Sounds like our pools have the same filtering set up. Even without a gauge, I can tell when my pressure is high because my flow through the returns is greatly reduced even at psi raises of 5.

Good luck.
 

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