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mpacheco72

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Mar 18, 2012
341
Amarillo, Texas
I just wanted to drop a quick note and tell you how grateful I am to become a member of your site! I've had an AG pool now for three years and last year I got kind of lazy with it and didn't maintain it as well as I should have. I know. Opened up this past weekend and it smelled like a lake turning over. My regular pool store wasn't open, so I ended up at Leslie's pool supply. The guy sold me Green to Clean and 2 lbs of powdered shock. It improved, but not enough. He wouldn't even test my water when I came in because it was so bad! Over the last 2 days I've added 3 gallons of 12% pool shock, two more pounds of powdered shock, and 4 gallons of all purpose bleach. It's slowly getting there. Today I took water in for analysis and my pool guy said all my chemicals except chlorine were in range. So I'm going to shock again today and then shock again tommorow. How long can I expect my pool to be light green and murky? It's a huge improvement, but the kids are getting impatient.

I'm going to buy a fancy test kit like ya'll so I don't have to run to the pool store to have them do water analysis. Then I can share my results with all of you!

Thanks for all the great information. I'm learning a ton!
 
Once you get that fancy test kit you can properly test and then you'll be able to perform the shocking PROCESS correctly. In the mean time you can quit wasting time and money and read Pool School on how to properly shock your pool. Once you've done that your little ones will be able to swim and you'll know they're in a clean and sanitary pool.
 
:wave: Welcome to the forum BTW ... Bama sounded a little grumpy this morning :wink:

Although I agree, it does sound like you are just throwing in chemicals and hoping for the best. You need to elevate the FC level to the appropriate level (based on your CYA) and HOLD IT THERE for a few days probably (adding FC hourly to start ... which is why you have to test for yourself) until you pass the overnight chlorine loss test. See links in Bama's signature for more info.
 
You should shock to the CYA level that you have add to even though it does not register on the tests. How much CYA did you add and what level do you expect it to go to?

The problem is that some of the cheap test kits only measure up to a FC of around 5. Seems like typical FC shock levels are 10+ ... so how can you add chlorine hold it there on a hourly basis if you can not measure the current level? You could wait for the FC level to drop to a level you can measure at home and then use the pool calculator to determine how much chlorine to add back up to the shock level, BUT that is not as efficient and will cost you more time and $$ in the form of chlorine. Not saying this in not possible, but it is not the process generally recommended.

Get a good test kit (maybe you can find one locally, but the TF kit is probably cheaper although you have to wait for delivery).

Read the Pool School a couple times so that you can start to understand what is going on in your pool and not lose money to the pool store.
 
I broadcast it in the pool. That's what the directions said. Oh and one more stupid question....my pool guy told me all of my chemicals were good except for FC (man, I wish I'd written down numbers!) and he told me to keep shocking until the water is the right color, clarity. He said too much chlorine doesn't really hurt since it evaporates. Is he right? I'm looking locally for a test kit now!
 
This is not as hard as it initially seems. After some reading (and more importantly doing) you will start to understand and anything you don't can get answered here.

Do you have a liner in your pool? If so, I think WAY too much chlorine could start to harm it. The FC does not evaporate. It is either consumed by organics in the water or broken down by the sun. The CYA attempts to protect the FC from the sun so that it can eventually attack the organics. If you pool is green, your FC will be used up by the algae way faster than the sun will affect it ... initially all you FC could be gone in less than an hour due to the algae ... thus the need to keep testing and adding chlorine.

If you can find at a minimum a FAS-DPD chlorine test. That can get you going on the shock process. It is the only system that can test for high (10+) levels of FC.
 

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Hi mpacheco72 and welcome to TFP! :)

None of the pool stores in my area carry the FAS-DPD chlorine test kit, most other area's don't either.
If you don't find one, just go right to TFP.net here:
http://tftestkits.net/splash-page.html

Come back to this post here and post your test results and we can help you get your pool problems fixed!
I was in the same place as you last May and with my TF-100 and following instructions pool school and the overwhelming help this forum offers!
I have a perfect pool all the time!
I became a lifetime member to give back to this site and help you, the newbies, to have the same success with your pool as I have had with mine! :whoot:

Chuck
 
mpacheco72 said:
I know this isn't rocket science, but sometimes I wish I had taken chemistry in high school, college, or somewhere in between.
Click to expand...

You really don't need to know the chemistry, although there are several gurus here that can walk you through it if you want to try to follow.

You do need to read Pool School however many times it takes to really understand how the main actors work together (or not) in your pool. Reading it used to make my head hurt, really. I know it is hard, you may want to print out some parts so you can reread again. Or copy notes into what will become your pool journal.

I suggest that you begin recording in one place everything about your pool. Equipment stats, and chemical sources and prices. Then keep records of everything you put into the pool, when and why.

I log my test results. At first I tested everything each time. Eventually I saw that some things don't change too quickly, or I was able to see what did make them change and could test when such a thing happened (rain, drought, dead squirrel) . I record date, FC & pH everytime, CC most of the time, CH and TA and CYA about each month since they don't change too quickly. Then I record what I put in (usually bleach and acid) and what target I was calculating for FC or pH.
 
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