coffee anyone?

[vangoghinarles]

where to begin .... after months of cloudy baquacil water and switching to chlorine, I haven't had completely clear water yet ... pool store said it was metals, so i did the metal magic and that turned it from green to blue, but it was still cloudy. almost got it clear this week, when the pool store said all my levels were right, so it must be phosphates keeping me cloudy .... did the phosphate treatment, could see the bottom and see the dirt well enough to vacuum after a day or so .... next on the list was to shock it..... did that 3 days ago, and the next morning, I had pool full of coffee-colored water. tired of messing with this dang pool!

don't know what else to do ..... i'm keeping chlorine tabs in it, vacuuming it once a week, cleaning the cartridge filter almost daily these days ..... any suggestions other than a big stick of dynamite?

 

[duraleigh]

The dynamite will leave a small hole, but it will certainly work if your goal is simply to be rid of your issues. It may cause some new ones, though.

It sounds like you have taken about 30% of the advice given from your prior posts here and blended that with pool store advice. That NEVER works.

Since you are tired of the pool and your season is drawing down, I would close it up and start again next year as a chlorine pool and then decide if you want to deal with pool store advice or follow what we practice here on the forum.

 

[vangoghinarles]

Dave, I followed the advice for changing from Bac to chlorine. I have been using chlorine tabs instead of liquid and checking my chemicals. When it didn't clear up, I went to the pool store (bad sharon) because I had done the work - vacuuming, cleaning the filter, etc. and didn't know what else to do. My pool is 100% in the sun from sun up to sun down and all the tests came back good except phosphates were high. The shock turned it brown and I don't know what to do now. I don't want to close it up for fear it will be worse in 6 months. I'd love to follow the advice of this forum 100%, so tell me, what would you do?

 

[duraleigh]

so tell me, what would you do?

I would do what I suggested......I wasn't kidding.

However, if you wish to clear your pool now, you certainly can....it'll probably take about a week to 2 weeks putting you with a clear pool somewhere around the end of September. I doubt you will swim by then so you will have to close the pool (clear) and then reopen to a (hopefully) clear pool in the Spring. Is that what you want to do? Post back

 

[vangoghinarles]

Yes, I want a clear pool and I'm willing to do the work. Please advise the steps. Thank you.

 

[Butterfly]

Step 1, post a full set of test results

Welcome to the forum

 

[rcy]

Did you backwash after doing the phosphate treatment? (and of course, you do know that phosphates don't cause cloudy water, right?) Why was a shock recommended (by the pool store I assume)?

 

[Lana537]

"Where to begin" and "don't know what else to do" ???

1) Order yourself a professional test kit--do your own testing! No more pool store, OK? Click on Pool School upper right hand corner--2nd section, 5th item down.

2) Read and re-read Pool School.

3) Post testing results here. Get advice here. Don't talk to the pool store.

Lana

 

[vangoghinarles]

okay.... will purchase Tf test kit next paycheck. for now, relying on free test kit from Rec warehouse and test strips.
ph between 6.8 and 7.0
TA 120
cya 0
fc 0
cl 1.0

was cloudy blue until i shocked it a week ago. i'm hosing the filter down daily - water coming off is as dark brown as black coffee. pump running on low 24/7. have 2 3' sticks of chlorine in the pool a week.

will use pool calculator and see what it suggests, is this where i should start

 

[Leebo]

Is your CYA really a zero?? Have you ever added any cyanuric acid at all?? It's impossible to keep the chlorine in the pool with a zero level of CYA, which could suggest why your pool hasn't ever got clear. Are you using chlorine tabs or liquid chlorine?? I would suggest maybe even having a pool store test your water, but don't listen to anything but their numbers. After that kick him in their chins and walk back to us. We'll lead you into the clear.......

Either way....get your FC up to around a 10 level for now and look into that CYA level again. Start by pouring 280 ounces of liquid bleach into the pool and letting the shocking start.

pool-school/shocking_your_pool

 

[Dalandlord]

okay.... will purchase Tf test kit next paycheck. for now, relying on free test kit from Rec warehouse and test strips.
ph between 6.8 and 7.0
TA 120
cya 0
fc 0
cl 1.0

was cloudy blue until i shocked it a week ago. i'm hosing the filter down daily - water coming off is as dark brown as black coffee. pump running on low 24/7. have 2 3' sticks of chlorine in the pool a week.

will use pool calculator and see what it suggests, is this where i should start

Do you mean two 3" Tri-chlor tabs a week? If so that cya number of 0 is suspect.

 

[vangoghinarles]

yes, two. when i used only one a week the chlorine never registered. will get water tested at pool store tomorrow. what specifically should i ask them to test for? btw, the pool is clearing and there are huge brown spots in a circle in the bottom. when i vacuum though, it just stirs up the water. is there any way to vacuum it out without just stirring it up?

 

[Dalandlord]

yes, two. when i used only one a week the chlorine never registered. will get water tested at pool store tomorrow. what specifically should i ask them to test for? btw, the pool is clearing and there are huge brown spots in a circle in the bottom. when i vacuum though, it just stirs up the water. is there any way to vacuum it out without just stirring it up?

Every time you use one of those 3" trichlor pucks you are adding somewhere Around 2.5ppm of cya to the pool. It doesn't get used up and it doesn't evaporate. The only cya loss is to splash out and backwashing and you don't backwash with a cartridge filter. So think back about how many pucks you have used so far and multiply that number x 2.5 and that is what you can expect your cya number to be. The pucks you used in the last few days won't show up in a test yet.

Tell them to be sure to test for cya or stabilizer whatever they call it. Let them test for everything but be sure they do cya.

As far as vacuuming just go slow and try not to stir it up as you vacuum.

 

[vangoghinarles]

Okay... numbers from pool store today:
Free Chlorine 0
Combined Chlorine --
Bromine --
ph 7.4
Total Alkalinity 80
Calcium Hardness 300
CYA 0
Saturation Index --
Copper 0.3ppm
Iron --
Salt --
TDs--
Phosphate --
They said to add 6 lbs 1 oz Alkalinity up and 5 lbs 8 ozs UV Shield (cya)

so what do YOU GUYS think I should do?

 

[frogabog]

First off, do not believe that 0 CYA number. It can't be 0 if you use tri-chlor.

Tell us exactly how many pucks you have used in this water, and how much you have refilled due to backwash or splashout.

 

[Dalandlord]

When did you do the Bac conversion? Get a calculated guess at how many weeks you have been using the trichlor tabs. Then add up how many weeks you added 2 tabs a week. So it you converted 6 weeks ago and use 2 tabs a week for 2 weeks that is 8 tabs. Multiply that times 2.5. That would be example would be 8 x 2.5ppm= 20ppm. Then you lost some due to overflow from hurricane Lee so it would be less than 20ppm. That shock level would be 11. For your pool 2 182oz jugs of 6% bleach would get you to about 12 ppm.


That is just an example but we need some kind of guess like that to work with. Then we can at least come up with a shock level estimate. Refresh my memory do you have a total chlorine test kit where you put the 5 drops and compare the color?

If you bought a package of trichlor and you still have the pack you can count how many are left.

 

[vangoghinarles]

Okay... I had an 8 lb. tub... container says each stick weighs .8 oz. I have 3.5 sticks left. So 16 sticks, I've used 12.50 sticks. I've added a lot of water over the summer .... my pool has no shade at all.. I just added about 2-3 inches 2 days ago.

Thought I had the pool fixed - water was clear as a bell, showing me the huge brown hurricane-shaped spot in the center that was all of 8 feet across. And then i started vacuuming and it was a miracle that it was all coming up. Then I noticed the return on the pump started pumping the leftover back into the pool! It wasn't but a few minutes and the entire pool was brown and I could not see the bottom. I put in 8 ozs more algecide, removed the ladder and ran the filter with a sock on the skimmer, cleaning the filter 3 times over the weekend. I've turned it off now, so the metals can settle to the bottom. I did notice around the edges of the pool, some yellow-ish looking sand-type residue and there's no sand around my pool, so I'm concerned its mustard algae.

I'm thinking of over-filling it and then disconnecting the filter end that goes back into the pool, and letting it run off into the yard. At least it wouldn't fill the pool back up with dirt.

Oh, and right after it cleared up, I put the two sticks of chlorine in the skimmer and within hours, the water starting turning green. It was clear, not cloudy, but it was still green.

Is it still metals, you think? Pool store said 'trace' of copper, but not enough to treat. I'm done with them other than testing until my kit comes in.

What's my next step?

 

[Dalandlord]

You really need a test kit. Is it coming soon? I don't see anything in this thread that says anything about metals. Why do you say "still metals?" Your filter should have a valve position labeled waste. You can vacuum with the filter on waste and that gook will go strait out without clogging up the filter. Overfill and use that to vacuum. You need to keep the pool at shock level!

I calculate the cya you added to the pool including the two pucks you just put in at "35".

All the water you loose and replace due to evaporation does not change you cya. The water evaporates not the cya, so it actually goes up when water evaporates and returns to where it was after you replace the water. The only way the cya goes down is if you pump out water from too much rain or the little bit that slashes out. So unless you got a lot of rain it's still 35 after the two sticks you added. Even if you lost some to rain it will still be over 25. Do not add any more of the tabs or you are going to have to buy large amounts of bleach to shock. You are just driving up the cost and work of shocking.

You shock level is about 14 and you mustard shock level is 22 based on a cya level of 35. That is about 3 gal of 6 percent bleach to get to shock and 5 gal to get to mustard shock level.

Adding too much algaecide is going to make the pool foam. Stop using that and the pucks. Use bleach or liquid chlorine for now. Unless you have some way of testing every couple of hours i don't know about, I would just wait till you get the test kit to continue. I would dump in a few gallons of bleach a day just to try and keep up as best I can till then.

Do you have a test kit on the way?

 

[Bama Rambler]

so what do YOU GUYS think I should do?

Get your own test kit!

I appologize if I just haven't read back far enough but when you say "sticks" that usually implies Cal-hypo not trichlor. There are trichlor sticks but trichlor is usually hockey puck shaped. Do you have the ingredient list from the tub?

 

[vangoghinarles]

thanks everyone.... i've added 3 gals of 6% and am waiting for weekend, hoping it will clear up from the brownish green color so i can see the bottom. should i leave the filter off a while, so whatever sediment is in there can settle, or leave it running and just keep cleaning the filter/

also in my chlorine sticks, they're by proteam, called pure stix and the active ingredient is 99% trichlor, 1% other, so no more sticks for me. it did rain here today --- added at least 2.5" to the pool in addition to the 2-3" i added last week, so it should be diluted.

i have baking soda and borax ready whenever the time is right.