frogabog said:
Cloudy pool, cal-hypo...
Switch to bleach?
When it is as hot as it has been, 103 inside the garage, 105 outside, I like to switch to Cal-Hypo if I can. Just 'cause I worry about the strength of the bleach as it is transported and stored locally, as well as in my garage. I can stack it up in the laundry room but I get complaints.
Yeah, I am not certain what the CH is. It had been at 290 in May and I was using bleach (and trichlor pucks for vacations) so it should not have gone up. I figured it was right where I left it. Haven't had any rain so I didn't expect it to go down so don't test it often. I'd been adding a lot of water to the pool, mostly due to evaporation. I figured there are some losses to small leaks but tap water is low CH, no reason for CH to go up or down much at all.
Weird results on the CH test, never really changed to blue, but actually didn't start out red either, just barely pinkish, barely. Hard to say when it changed, if at all. Stopped counting at CH 500ppm, in 25 ppm increments, no way it is that high as I had not been adding any calcium for a long time. I don't see any place more calcium could come from if I am not adding it. Stripping it out of the sandstone rocks of the waterfall? Maybe the tap water has changed wildly? I can check that at least.... CH 40 in tap water.
Redid the test with sample sized to 10 ppm increments. Maybe it was CH 60. Still such a slight pink to start with I was unsure. Retested with all new reagents, same non-answer. Did the test as per instructions for metals in water (no reason to think any metals in water) but no better results. No way CH is super high so it must be super low. (???)
Stopped up the overflow on the pool to raise the water level thinking, hey if CH is low, let's try to dissolve the scale lines above the water level. And go to cal-hypo for calcium. At least for a while, until I get a reasonable showing on the CH test. I've added enough Cal-Hypo to boost CH by 28 ppm. If it was still near 300, that is OK. If it is terribly low that is not nearly enough.
Meanwhile I am paying more attention to pH for I think that it may be related to the lack of sparkle. Or maybe that is the scale line dissolving, I dunno.
Washed the cart filters today. Pressure went from 16 psi to 15 psi. Was 11psi when new and this is first cleaning of filters since new ones installed. They were dirty, water looked like chocolate milk. A lot of debris had passed the skimmers when the skimmer socks were knocked out of place by so much debris from the high winds.
I wonder if all the junk in the filter could interfere with the CH test. Maybe there is enough iron in the bits of pine needles and such to affect the CH test. So, now with filter clean, and some added CH I will test again. If it was super low, then it will be up to a more measurable number.
Maybe the lack of sparkle is due to the smoke in the air. Or I nipped an algae bloom just in time. I have not done a proper shock. Maybe I need to do OCLT to see if that is it.
