Green to Blue = woo-hoo!!

[Traveller]

I am new here and have been thrilled with the wealth of knowledge on this forum and organized in the Pool School. I have a 22,000 gal. above ground vinyl pool which came with the house when we bought it a few years ago.

I must admit that I have really had no idea what I was doing the last few years and threw myself on the mercy of the local pool store. They really did a nice job of keeping my pool clean and clear, but it cost an arm and half a leg. The bigger issue for me was that I had absolutely no idea what the various numbers, tests, powders and liquids that they kept telling and selling to me meant. So this spring I was doing a little learning online to get smarter and found this awesome forum.

I have studied Pool School, bought my bleach, borax and baking soda, and have been putting numbers into the pool calculator, and I think I am in the home stretch. Two weeks ago when I took the cover off, the pool was a green swamp (no exageration). It has been on a steady dose of bleach since then to get things under control. I have also had to adjust pH and add CYA to get things in line. As of 20 minutes ago, here is the latest test results:

FC = 2
TC = 3
CC = 1
pH = 7.5
TA = 150
CYA = 30
Pool = 22,000 AG / Sand Filter

My DE filter died end of last season, so I tried a sand this year. The first one I found (given to me) was too small and had issues, but now I have a Hayward s220t and things look great! Pool water has gone from green 2 weeks ago, to grey / cloudy, to cloudy, to blueish-hazy, to blueish-foggy, to pretty darn blue as of this weekend!!! I can cleary see the bottom in the deepend. It is still going through chlorine, so I want to get it back up to shock level of 11-12. The great and wise Pool Calculator tells me to add 422oz of 6%, so I am going to dump in 4 96oz jugs now. I am then going to test in a few hours and again in the morning to see how much was consumed over night.

Here are my questions:
1) Anything I should be doing about the high TA at this time?
2) what is a safe range of chlorine to let the kiddo's swim?
3) when adding chlorine, I pour one jug after another into the pool in front of the return jet. Should I wait some time between each jug or is it ok to just keep pouring in the entire dose?
4) anything else you see in my numbers or other recommendations?

Thank you!!

ps - I wish I had taken a before shot of the green monster, but here it is tonight looking mucho better.

 

[Butterfly]

I am new here and have been thrilled with the wealth of knowledge on this forum and organized in the Pool School. I have a 22,000 gal. above ground vinyl pool which came with the house when we bought it a few years ago.

I must admit that I have really had no idea what I was doing the last few years and threw myself on the mercy of the local pool store. They really did a nice job of keeping my pool clean and clear, but it cost an arm and half a leg. The bigger issue for me was that I had absolutely no idea what the various numbers, tests, powders and liquids that they kept telling and selling to me meant. So this spring I was doing a little learning online to get smarter and found this awesome forum.

I have studied Pool School, bought my bleach, borax and baking soda, and have been putting numbers into the pool calculator, and I think I am in the home stretch. Two weeks ago when I took the cover off, the pool was a green swamp (no exageration). It has been on a steady dose of bleach since then to get things under control. I have also had to adjust pH and add CYA to get things in line. As of 20 minutes ago, here is the latest test results:
You are doing good!

FC = 2
TC = 3
CC = 1 Ruh Row...
pH = 7.5
TA = 150
CYA = 30
Pool = 22,000 AG / Sand Filter

My DE filter died end of last season, so I tried a sand this year. The first one I found (given to me) was too small and had issues, but now I have a Hayward s220t and things look great! Pool water has gone from green 2 weeks ago, to grey / cloudy, to cloudy, to blueish-hazy, to blueish-foggy, to pretty darn blue as of this weekend!!! I can cleary see the bottom in the deepend. It is still going through chlorine, so I want to get it back up to shock level of 11-12. The great and wise Pool Calculator tells me to add 422oz of 6%, so I am going to dump in 4 96oz jugs now. I am then going to test in a few hours and again in the morning to see how much was consumed over night.

Here are my questions:
1) Anything I should be doing about the high TA at this time?
Nope, forget about it for now.
2) what is a safe range of chlorine to let the kiddo's swim?
Up to normal shock level based on CYA, not cloudy, and CC less than .5
3) when adding chlorine, I pour one jug after another into the pool in front of the return jet. Should I wait some time between each jug or is it ok to just keep pouring in the entire dose?
Pour one jug after the other to get to shock level/entire dose.
4) anything else you see in my numbers or other recommendations?
Nope but, what is CH level?

Maintain shock level until you reach the three criteria to be done shocking. See red lines in my sig.

Thank you!!

ps - I wish I had taken a before shot of the green monster, but here it is tonight looking mucho better.

 

[Traveller]

Thanks for the response. The CC of 1 caught me as well, and I am wondering if it was a fluke as I have been measuring 0.0 CC for the last few days. As for the CH reading, unfortunately my current test kit doesn't have that test (I know, I need to buy a better kit). I did get a pool store test 4 days ago and it showed a CH of 140. I've done nothing but chlorine since then so I suspect it hasn't moved.

I tested tonight and show FC of 11, and TC that appears the same, so CC of 0. Margin of error is a little higher though since I have to dilute the sample to measure shock-level chlorine in my DPD kit.

 

[Suziqzer]

You're not done shocking until all three criteria are met... including clear water. I would do an overnight chlorine test and see how things look in the morning.

 

[Traveller]

Thanks Suziqzer - I am on it. I am back up to shock level and have taken a night-time reading. Now we wait until morning.

I gotta tell ya, I am liking this mad scientist feeling sitting at my kitchen table with all my vials and droppers... mu-ha-ha-ha-ha...

 

[Suziqzer]

It's fun to get the test kit out when people are over to swim too... Makes you feel smart.

When you have sparkling clear water that doesn't smell like chlorine, color blond kids hair green, and is gentle on the eyes, people aren't intimidated by your testing, more like, inquisitive. Not inquisitive enough to adapt it to their own pools though if they have one. I have been known to double check the chlorine before, during, or just after a large bather load just because I can't stand not knowing if my levels are where I want them.

 

[Traveller]

Well it looks like we are still burning through FC. Last night it was 11 and this morning it was 8.

I'll keep it at shock level.

 

[Traveller]

Lastnight it went from 11 to 10, getting closer... Still a very slight haze to the water so I am going to keep it going at shock levels.

 

[Butterfly]

You're getting close

 

[anonapersona]

And don't forget to brush.

 

[Traveller]

Good reminder. I try to brush daily while it's been at shock level.

Today the kids went in for the first time this season and gave it a good stirring up as well.

The water is looking fantastic - just the slightest hint of haze in the deep end. I expect total crystal clarity tomorrow or the next day.

 

[88rxn/a]

congrats!!
im am pretty much in the same exact boat as you...shocking and brushing...i did get a chance to get in my pool and scrub the floor with a hand brush using my foot. i was having a hard time getting the edge with my regular brush and i could see algae forming back every morning. i think i might just have after today though!

 

[Traveller]

The kids spent several hours splashing around so not sure what that did to things, but it appears I still have something burning up the chlorine, so the shock continues. Here is tonight's test results:

FC = 6
TC = 6
CC = 0
pH = 7.5
TA = 170 (hmmm - why the rise???)

so I am going to add 281 ounces of 6% bleach to get back to a shock level of 12 for the night (per the pool calculator).

Guys - please tell me when I should start doing something about the high TA.

Thanks!

 

[linen]

The kids spent several hours splashing around so not sure what that did to things, but it appears I still have something burning up the chlorine, so the shock co

Swimmers, sun and possibly algae.

so I am going to add 281 ounces of 6% bleach to get back to a shock level of 12 for the night (per the pool calculator).

I am getting 13 ppm FC for cya of 30 ppm...not 12, am I missing something?

Whatever it should be, do not go below ever until you are done shocking, that will get you trough this process faster. This includes overdosing at night since you do not want to drop below 13 ppm FC by morning. Since you had a lot of potential chlorine consumers in your pool today I would probably dose up to more like 16 ppm tonight.

Guys - please tell me when I should start doing something about the high TA

Wait until you are done with the shocking process.

 

[Traveller]

Whatever it should be, do not go below ever until you are done shocking, that will get you trough this process faster. This includes overdosing at night since you do not want to drop below 13 ppm FC by morning. Since you had a lot of potential chlorine consumers in your pool today I would probably dose up to more like 16 ppm tonight.

That is probably my problem - I have taken 12 as my shock level (from the CYA/CL chart in school), and shocked up to that level, then it would drift down during the day until I brought it back up again. You are saying I need to KEEP IT ABOVE that level as much as possible, correct? So I should bring it up to something like 16-17, let it drift back down while I am at work to maybe 12-13, then bring it back up again? I have been hesitant to bring the levels above the shock level from the chart (12 in my case).

thank you - I am still learning...

 

[linen]

You are saying I need to KEEP IT ABOVE that level as much as possible, correct? So I should bring it up to something like 16-17, let it drift back down while I am at work to maybe 12-13, then bring it back up again?

Yes, that is exactly how you should do it. The less you drop below 12 (I think it should be 13 ppm for cya of 30 ppm?) the quicker/more effective the process will be.

 

[Traveller]

Got it. Thanks.

Is there a recommended "safe" upper limit to chlorine level? I will have several days this week where I cannot measure and adjust the FC level throughout the day.

By the way, I was using "12" as that is what I got for CYA of 30 from the CHlorine / CYA chart in the pool school. I see that the calculator show 13.

 

[linen]

By the way, I was using "12" as that is what I got for CYA of 30 from the CHlorine / CYA chart in the pool school. I see that the calculator show 13.

Yeah, sorry about that I saw poolcalculator in an earlier post and missed that you mentioned you are using the cya/chlorine chart in your last post. Either works fine.

Is there a recommended "safe" upper limit to chlorine level? I will have several days this week where I cannot measure and adjust the FC level throughout the day.

Mustard Algae level for your cya concentration should be considered an extreme maximum. With that said, being at high FC concentrations (for a given cya concentration) should be avoided when possible since the cumulative effect can be hard on equipment and surfaces. Just make sure you are at or above you shock level as much as possible. If you happen to dip to 11-10 ppm by the end of the day when you are able to re-dose, it is not the end of the world.

 

[Traveller]

Thank you for all your help!