What to do now?

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pooldiy

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May 22, 2012
25
Nice site….much more info than pool store.
Opened pool 4 wks ago for season. Greenish at first but cleared up in a couple of days. Added salt, vacuumed, backwashed filter. In process of shocking (day 4) now per pool store clerk. There are random, shadowy streaks on bottom and up sides – notice it more when cloudy; harder to see when sunny. A bit of white cloud when brushing. 2nd season - PB finished/opened pool last spring. What to do now? (Mustard algae, too much chlorine, keep brushing daily??) Thank you for any help!

Test results this am / last pm: rec’d TF100 yesterday
FC 28/30
CC 0/0
TC 28/30
ph 8.2/7.65
TA 240/160
CH 140/120
CYA 45/45
salt ok per SWG
 
You're at mustard algae shock already. I'd run the OCLT and see if you pass. If you do Id' let the FC come back down to normal and vacuum well.
Don't pay attention to the pH until the FC gets under 10 ppm.

What did you use to shock?
Is the swcg on?
 
12.5% sodium hypochlorite liquid 3+ gal (all added 4 days ago)
swg is on
OCLT (1)Lost 2 FC last night (with swg on), (2) CCs are 0, (3) water is clear - so failed?
Leery of turning off swg per OCLT instructions – do not want to worsen situation?! Appears still need to continue shocking?
Still brushing daily……
 
pooldiy said:
12.5% sodium hypochlorite liquid 3+ gal (all added 4 days ago)
swg is on
OCLT (1)Lost 2 FC last night (with swg on), (2) CCs are 0, (3) water is clear - so failed?
Leery of turning off swg per OCLT instructions – do not want to worsen situation?! Appears still need to continue shocking?
Still brushing daily……
Click to expand...
yep, failed , sorry - keep shocking.

You must turn off the SWG for the OCLT.

See red lines in my sig.
 
If you failed the OCLT last night with the swg on you still need to continue shocking... you would have certainly failed it w/o it running then. You could run the same test again tonight to see if it happens again. Did you do your first test after the sun went down and the second one before it came up again?

What you are brushing lose could be dead algae, pollen, or just general debris. Continue brushing at least once a day to keep any algae from finding hiding places away from the chlorine.

You can't say you've officially passed the OCLT if you are running your swg overnight. You need to know for sure that you didn't lose any FC overnight to pass the test... can't prove that w/an swg running.
 
Thanks so much for the tips, confirmations (good and bad)
Yes- after sundown, before sunrise: last night/this morning:
FC 23.5 / 30
CC .5 / 0
Confirms swg is working! Not so worried about turning off swg since FC level rose with it on last night. So,will try tonight w/out swg and see what happens....
Thanks again for the help. Patience is a virtue, but does it seems reasonable to take this many days (5+) to clear this up?
 
Yeah! passed OCLT:
last night/ this am (swg off)
FC 19.5/ 18.5
CC 0/ 0
water still clear
Will check ph (and do other tests?) when FC is under 10 and vacuum per Bama Rambler's recommendations.
The random, shadowy streaks on bottom and partially up sides are still there; there are also darker gray spots on the bottom. Anything to do about those now? Need to keep brushing? OK for swimming? Thanks again for helping this rookie!
 
To test for organic staining, you could hold a trichlor tab/puck on the spot for a few minutes to see if the spot lightens. If it does, then the stain is organic and raising chlorine/FC level should remove it over time.

To test for metal staining, you can crush some cheap vitamin C tablets (ascorbic acid) in a sock and hold it on the stain for a few minutes to see if the stain lightens. If it does, then it is a metal stain.

Once you test and confirm, let us know the results. :wink:
 

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Neither trichlor nor ascorbic cleared up the streaks. It also did nothing to the dark gray spots.
As an aside, there were some small (<1") rust colored spots on tanning ledge that completely went away with the ascorbic acid and the immediate surrounding surface looks brighter/whiter. Wasn't too concerned with those but pleased that they went away. From searching site it appears maybe calcium scaling; pics on the threads I viewed looked similar? Hope not. Didn't do another full set of tests - waiting for FC to come down.
 
pooldiy said:
Neither trichlor nor ascorbic cleared up the streaks. It also did nothing to the dark gray spots.
As an aside, there were some small (<1") rust colored spots on tanning ledge that completely went away with the ascorbic acid and the immediate surrounding surface looks brighter/whiter. Wasn't too concerned with those but pleased that they went away. From searching site it appears maybe calcium scaling; pics on the threads I viewed looked similar? Hope not. Didn't do another full set of tests - waiting for FC to come down.
Click to expand...
Can you post some pics for us?
 
I fixed your image. You were pasting the HTML code needed to post the image, rather than the forum code. You can press the quote button on your post to see how I changed it.

The only thing that jumps out from your test results is that your CH level is too low for a plaster pool.
 
Thanks for fixing the pic! - here's another picture but I still don't think it's the right code?
7273896318_0117df7477_z.jpg
[/url]
IMG_1637 by pooldiy, on Flickr[/img]

I see from the pool calculator that CH should be 250-350,
and it recommends adding muriatic acid (to bring pH down)
so -- which to do first?
and how will this get rid of the streaks/stains/whatever! on the pool plaster? I've been brushing daily and it really doesn't seem to be doing anything.
Also, if I'm off a couple thousand gallons on the pool volume (it's an irregular shape), will that affect tests much?
Thank you again for all the help.
 
Oops I see that if CH is too low it could cause calcium leeching out of the plaster. And it is <2yr old plaster.
Preparing to add Morton ice melt - Safe t power heavy duty 100% calcium chloride. Seems very strange to put this in pool (instead of on driveway) so please alert if this is incorrect! Thanks again.
 
So - new test results
FC 8.5
CC 0
pH 7.5
TA 110
CH 290
CYA 55

Added m. acid, which reduced pH but did not budge TA. (also added cy. acid and calium chloride) Add more m. acid? Water still looks clear, still have the staining/calcium scale/whatever they are?? spots on the bottom of the pool. Easier to see on cloudy days, looks better in sun. Now what to do? Pumice seemed to work (or maybe it's wishful thinking), but cannot pumice the entire pool, or can I? Thanks!
 

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