Ready to give up....

[docxo]

I have been shocking the pool since Tuesday at noon, keeping FC levels 24 or greater using 6% great value bleach.
We have never had CC's until the past 2 days at 0.5 (due to storms both nights??). Passed the overnight drop test 2 nights in a row (last night went from 24 to 23.5 with a heavy storm), but there is no visible difference in the water. The shallow end looks clear, but in the deep end you have to squint to see the drain. At the beginning of the season I could see the drain from my upstairs bedroom window. There has been zero difference in the appearance of the water after 5 days of shocking. I have been brushing daily as recommended and keeping filter running 24/7 and SWG on "super chlor" except when doing overnight drop test the past 2 nights. when I backwash after vacuuming the water coming out looks normal, not dirty. In the mornings there is a small amount of debris but in the past I have definitely seen more. I would have expected more if I was "killing off" anything. what do I do next? I'm sick of buying bleach.....It is about 95-100+ degrees here every day for the past 3 weeks. Heavy storms every 4-6 days. I have missed out on a full week of swimming. This is no longer enjoyable.


pH 7.5
FC 23.5
CC 0.5
TA 70
CH 50
CYA 20---This was a sudden drop from Tuesday's 40. 2 1/2 wks ago we added 4 lbs of stabilizer when it was at 40 and the CYA did not go up. Now it's suddenly 20????


20x40 concrete with stainless steel sides . sand filter. circupool RJ series SWG. TF 100 test kit.

 

[JasonLion]

It can easily take a week for a sand filter to completely clear up the water, so I don't see anything surprising here.

Have you tried adding a little DE to your sand filter? That will help it catch the small particles that cause the haze you see in the deep end. Even if you don't use DE, stop backwashing as frequently at this point. A "dirty" filter catches fine debris more efficiently.

The difference in CYA measurement is most likely measurement variation, the test is never completely precise. CYA might have gone down a little, but it is unlikely to have gone down that much.

 

[duraleigh]

I do not see anything particularly out of the normal. As Jason said, shocking is a PROCESS that takes some time. The end period of shocking requires that your water is crystal clear before you let the FC come back down to normal levels. Without a clear pool, you should have kept your FC up.

You are not alone in your frustration. Others have been through it. Remember that your water is made up of the same stuff as everybody else's so these methods WILL work...without exception.

You do seem to have an inordinate amount of testing issues. The variation in CYA you describe points to testing error over anything else, CYA is quite stable and predictable.

what do I do next? I'm sick of buying bleach

Develop some POP, reread Pool School, and get your FC back up to shock value. You will waste a lot more money if you toss in clarifiers, etc. from the pool store.

 

[docxo]

I do not see anything particularly out of the normal. As Jason said, shocking is a PROCESS that takes some time. The end period of shocking requires that your water is crystal clear before you let the FC come back down to normal levels. Without a clear pool, you should have kept your FC up.

I have kept my FC up. Are you saying that since it dropped to 23.5 this morning with a shock level of 24 that all is lost???

After vacuuming this morning I think it may look slightly better. Will keep shocking.

Regarding the backwashing, our pool guy told that every time we use the manual vacuum that we need to backwash after. Is this not true?

 

[ultra800_96]

Regarding the backwashing, our pool guy told that every time we use the manual vacuum that we need to backwash after. Is this not true?

No that is not true. A slightly dirty sand filter will actually help clear up a pool. I only backwash when needed, using the manual vac or my aquacritter. If my gauge says it's time..5-6 lb rise I verify it by checking to see how strong the water is at the returns. If I feel a substantial lack of water pressure at the eyeball, then it's time to backwash, not before.

 

[duraleigh]

Are you saying that since it dropped to 23.5 this morning with a shock level of 24 that all is lost???

No. I am saying that you are not through shocking the pool. You will be when....

1. Your water is crystal clear.
2. You lose less than 1.0 FC during the OCLT
3. Your CC's test is .5 or less

 

[docxo]

Ok so it's normal to take this long to shock a pool is what I hear you people telling me. I am about to run out of the testing stuff already and just got the test kit 2 weeks ago. Is there a point that if the water is still not clearing up you just have to figure that shocking is apparently not the answer and quit spending hundreds of dollars on bleach and try something else? Just swim in milk water in shame and hope nobody stops by to see it? I am starting to think that this forum is just another version of a pool store trying to get you to buy the TF testkit. all a big advertisement.

 

[Richard320]

Ok so it's normal to take this long to shock a pool is what I hear you people telling me. I am about to run out of the testing stuff already and just got the test kit 2 weeks ago. Is there a point that if the water is still not clearing up you just have to figure that shocking is apparently not the answer and quit spending hundreds of dollars on bleach and try something else? Just swim in milk water in shame and hope nobody stops by to see it? I am starting to think that this forum is just another version of a pool store trying to get you to buy the TF testkit. all a big advertisement.

There's a reason the XL add-on is sold - it uses a lot of reagents to keep tabs on a pool being shocked.

It hasn't even been a week! And I doubt you've spent hundreds of dollars on bleach; and if you have, it's still less than what you would have spent at the pool store.

testimonials-t21757.html

 

[anonapersona]

It is easy to get tired of buying bleach when you are shocking. Still, you can get a lot of bleach for the $36 you would have spent on each bottle of whatever from the pool store.

I am wondering about circulation in the deep end. Is there a valve that controls the water that goes to the filter from the deep end? Is it open or closed or in between?

 

[docxo]

It is easy to get tired of buying bleach when you are shocking. Still, you can get a lot of bleach for the $36 you would have spent on each bottle of whatever from the pool store.

I am wondering about circulation in the deep end. Is there a valve that controls the water that goes to the filter from the deep end? Is it open or closed or in between?

I just wasn't expecting it to take a week, guys. Thanks for the reassurance to keep going. I have no experience with pool stores either, so that's why I have all the questions. It's all new to me.

I have wondered about the circulation and will check on the valves. I know there is a main drain valve, a front skimmer valve, and back skimmer valve and will double check. Yesterday I adjusted the eyeball a little downward to see if I could improve the circulation deeper down. Seems like the shallow end is crystal clear and has been the whole time.

 

[supertune]

Maybe your tired of carrying too many jugs of bleach?
If so, go to pool store (and some big box stores) and buy ONLY liquid shock (10%-12.5% chlorine) that will be less amount of liquid chlorine to carry.
You will adjust the percentage in the pool calculator to what matches what you buy.
Yes, a sand filter does take longer to clear your pool over a DE/cartridge filter.
You have been given great advice from the posters, stay the course as you will see one day it will be perfect!
Keep the pump running 24/7, keep the SWG turned off until done with the shock process, don't backwash as much, NEVER let your FC fall below your shock value CYA/chart, keep brushing pool everyday, try leaving the manual vacuum hooked up and leave down in the deep end for a few hours at a time to help pick up dead algae out of the deep end.
As was stated, your water is no different than our water, it WILL clear up just like ours did when we went through the same thing.

Chuck

 

[bullet20]

my pool is clearing with bbb but still have some cloudy nest i guest the sand filter is taking forever t clear these white partical's in the water.What up with adding DE to sand filter i read jason suggested? would this help?

 

[Beamup]

Adding DE to a sand filter helps it catch smaller particles and clear the water more quickly. There's a Pool School article on it:

pool-school/add_de_to_a_sand_filter

 

[docxo]

Maybe your tired of carrying too many jugs of bleach?
If so, go to pool store (and some big box stores) and buy ONLY liquid shock (10%-12.5% chlorine) that will be less amount of liquid chlorine to carry.
You will adjust the percentage in the pool calculator to what matches what you buy.
Yes, a sand filter does take longer to clear your pool over a DE/cartridge filter.
You have been given great advice from the posters, stay the course as you will see one day it will be perfect!
Keep the pump running 24/7, keep the SWG turned off until done with the shock process, don't backwash as much, NEVER let your FC fall below your shock value CYA/chart, keep brushing pool everyday, try leaving the manual vacuum hooked up and leave down in the deep end for a few hours at a time to help pick up dead algae out of the deep end.
As was stated, your water is no different than our water, it WILL clear up just like ours did when we went through the same thing.

Chuck

Oh my. I thought I read somewhere in pool school to keep the SWG going unless doing the overnight drop test. I have kept it running the entire time. Thank you for the encouragement, I do appreciate it. I have a polaris 380 but I didn't think it would do a good job picking up the fine particles so I have been doing the manual vac. It is looking better today but still not totally clear. Will keep trudging along.

 

[Butterfly]

An SWG is not capable of adding enough FC fast enough to reach shock level, therefore bleach/liquid chlorine is used.

You can use the SWG while shocking to help maintain the FC level or you can turn it off and give it a break.
This might also be a good time to clean the SWG if needed. The SWG just needs to be off during the OCLT.

 

[beezar]

Ok, newbie question here (never had to shock yet, and hopefully ever...): if the original poster passed the OCLT two days in a row, what's the point of continuing to shock even if the water is cloudy? If the chlorine is not being used up overnight, aren't the organics gone? Could the cloudy water just be dead algae that takes time for the filter to clear, and there isn't a need to maintain shock levels?

 

[docxo]

An SWG is not capable of adding enough FC fast enough to reach shock level, therefore bleach/liquid chlorine is used.

You can use the SWG while shocking to help maintain the FC level or you can turn it off and give it a break.
This might also be a good time to clean the SWG if needed. The SWG just needs to be off during the OCLT.

Yes, this is how I understood it to be. I was worried when the other poster said to turn it off because I've been using it during the day to help keep levels up. Thanks.

 

[docxo]

Ok, newbie question here (never had to shock yet, and hopefully ever...): if the original poster passed the OCLT two days in a row, what's the point of continuing to shock even if the water is cloudy? If the chlorine is not being used up overnight, aren't the organics gone? Could the cloudy water just be dead algae that takes time for the filter to clear, and there isn't a need to maintain shock levels?

This question has also crossed my mind. today was day 7 of shocking. Passed OCLT for several days, 0 cc's but still not crystal clear, slightly better, still shocking.

 

[frogabog]

Crystal clear, and clear enough to see things at the deep end with fair detail are two different things.

At least that's the way I understand "clear" in the shocking process. It's going to be a clear cloudy/particulates look rather than crystal clear. Opaque and obscuring is not clear.

 

[Butterfly]

Ok, newbie question here (never had to shock yet, and hopefully ever...): if the original poster passed the OCLT two days in a row, what's the point of continuing to shock even if the water is cloudy? If the chlorine is not being used up overnight, aren't the organics gone? Could the cloudy water just be dead algae that takes time for the filter to clear, and there isn't a need to maintain shock levels?

This question has also crossed my mind. today was day 7 of shocking. Passed OCLT for several days, 0 cc's but still not crystal clear, slightly better, still shocking.

Depending on what kind of filter you have, it can take the filter a week or more to completely clear up the water, even after all of the algae is dead. DE filters are usually much faster than that, but require frequent attention when cleaning up algae. Sand filters are the slowest, and cartridge filters are somewhere in-between.

While shocking, the appearance of the water should improve each day, though perhaps only by a little. If you fail to see any improvement you might have a problem with your filter, or have a higher CYA level than you think, or bad circulation, or have some other more complex problem.

The goal of shocking is to add enough chlorine to oxidize all of the algae, combined chlorine, bacteria, viruses, ammonia, and other organic contaminates. Oxidization breaks down the organic molecules into smaller parts which are harmless. When shocking, you need to keep adding chlorine until the breakdown process is complete.

Of the three criteria to be done shocking, clear water is one of them. We cannot assume that all is okay with only two criteria met. Too many variables cause the need for clear water to be a part of the criteria.