Pool is 1 week old and chemicals are off.....

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drdjsmm

drdjsmm

0
Jul 19, 2011
15
Missouri
Hey all! Just had our above ground pool installation finished! A 28' round! We added the chemicals that our store suggested. They then suggested we add chlorine sticks to the skimmer and once a week add 2 bags of shock and algicide. I added the weekly amounts of those chemicals this past sunday night. We swam on monday and we all noticed itching. With testing using bioguard maintain 4 way strips, the free chlorine is in the 0 range. The pH is 8.0 or higher, and the alkalinity is above 180. They sent granular pH reducer, so I have begun adding that to the skimmer slowly. I also noticed that there is white granules on to pool floor. From reading I think this is calcium as the pH is so high.

Do I continue to add the pH reducer until it is in range?
Do I need to add muriatic acid or sodium bisulphate to decrease the alkalinity?
Do I then add granular shock to get the free chlorine back up??

Questions, questions!
Thanks,
a new pool owner.
 
Welcome to TFP!

We can help you get control of your pool but you will need to do some things first. To begin, we would ask that you take a sample of water to the pool store and have them run a full set of tests to include, FC, CC, pH, TA, CYA, and CH. Don't buy anything from them. Just get the tests and report back to us. Test strips like you have are notoriously inaccurate.

You need to get yourself a high quality test kit of your own. Accurate testing numbers are the best prevention that you can have. If you don't know exactly what is going on in your water, you will be chasing your tail when trying to balance things. I would suggest, and others here would too, that you get yourself a TF-100 kit from http://www.tftestkits.net. It's the Cadillac and the best value out there.

Start reading Pool School. There is a wealth of information in there to help get you on the right track. There is a bit of simple chemistry and you will catch on quicker than you would think. Once you do though, things will "click" and make sense.

So, for now, get us some test results and we will go from there. As it stands, we recommend muriatic acid in place of powder pH reducers. It is easier to dose, mixes well, and is a good deal cheaper.
 
Okay, here's the results:

Free Available Chlorine: 0.57
Total Chlorine: 0.57
Combined Chlorine: 0
Total Alkalinity:353
pH level: 8.1
Calcium hardness: 228
Cyanuric Acid: 10
Saturated Index 1.1

The pool is also infected with mustard algae.

The pool person recommended adding 6 lbs of Sodium Bisulfate. An hour later 1 quart of "AlgaeKill II" which is copper ethanolamine complex. Then 2 bags of shock.

So what do I do??
 
You need to get the pH down but we recommend using muriatic acid instead of dry acid.
Then add enough liquid chlorine or bleach to get to about 6 ppm.
You can use the Pool Calc to figure out how much you need of each.

Why do you think you have mustard algae?

You'll do yourself a favor if you go ahead and order a good test kit.
 
Yes it can take a week or more for stabilizer to show up on tests. What amount of stabilizer has been added? This is important to know so you know how much chlorine yuo need to add to the pool.
No, I would not add the algaecide. With chlorine at 0 what you need to prevent algae is chlorine. I am not fond of copper in a pool, can stain the pool and turn blonde hair green.
 

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I added the dry acid. Added between 3-4 lbs. How long should i wait before adding chlorine? I have a lot of the granular chlorine (calcium hypochlorite). Should I use that (and how much) or should I use the chlorine bleach. The pool calculator says we should add 167 oz of 6% bleach.
 
6 lbs should take you to CYA of 31, so use that for a "calculated CYA" when using the Pool Calculator or Chlorine?CYA chart

As suggested, go to 6 ppm chlorine, using bleach.

In general, wait 30 minutes between acid and bleach additions.

I would hold off on the cal-hypo, you can use it later but for now when pH and TA are so high, bleach is better.

When anyone suggests putting chemicals in the pool (including us) go to the Pool Calculator, down at the bottom, and see what effect that amount will have on the pool. You want to keep pH near 7.5, between 7.2 and 7.8 is fine.
 
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