Newbie with a cloudy pool

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M

MrsDrewCrew

0
Jun 25, 2012
18
Central Valley, Ca
Pool Size
28500
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Hi Everyone!

I'm Sara from sunny CA! I've been having some trouble with my pool lately and I'm tired of dealing with the pool stores to resolve the issue.

Here's my story as brief as I can make it:

I have a 30,000 inground pebble pool, a Pentair IntelliFlo Variable Speed Pumps and a DE filter. I also have a new booster pump, but I don't use it anymore because I use a Dolphin pool vacuum instead of my polaris.

So, my water is cloudy. I took it in to be tested because I thought my test kit wasn't working. My chlorine was 0, ph 7.2, CH 120, CYA 30, TA 100, Phosphates were 300! Yikes! So, based on that he said to raise CH first with 48lbs of calcium hardness last night, then to shock it with 5 bags of shock this morning. I did that. Retested chlorine this evening and it was 0. So, i took it upon myself to add more shock- I added 5 more bags. Now my chlorine is about 1, and my ph has dropped to 6.8. and the pool is still cloudy. FIlter has been running at 2500 for 24 hours, I've ran my vacuum twice, and now I don't know what to do.

I don't want to go back to the pool store. I really want to do something different. Can anyone help me? Can I switch to this BBB method now, or do I need to stick with the pool store chemicals?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!


Thanks,
Sara
 
BBB method is really about understanding your pools chemistry and only adding what is needed ... Not really about the chemicals used ... Although some are more recommended than others.

What test kit do you have? See my signature for the kits we recommend.

Start reading pool school ... See the upper right of the page.

You need to go though the shock PROCESS ...it is not a product that you throw in blindly. review the process as described in the pool school article.

Feel free to ask any questions that come up.

Luckily it looks like your CYA is not yet too high, but you have to stop using the bags of powder.

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone ;)
 
Welcome to TFP.

Adding 10 lbs of Dichlor (if that's what you added) would have raised your CYA by 20 ppm so you're at ~50 ppm now. If that's the case, your shock level will be about 20 ppm FC and it'll take 9 gallons of bleach to get there.

But your immediate concern is the pH you need to add 4 boxes of Borax to get it up.

Once you've done that you can start the shock process. You'll need a good test kit in order to shock properly.

Look at the "shock" packages and tell us if it's Dichlor or Cal-hypo. We can go from there.
 
[center:3bpdu1t1][youtube:3bpdu1t1]uijLXS-IJZM[/youtube:3bpdu1t1]
I've been dying to use this! :mrgreen:
You're on the verge of having a green pool.

No, it's not too late to stop being pool-stored.
Pool School has your answers.
First things first: you really, really, really need your own test kit.
And don't get pool stored there, too! Skip the article in Pool School and go straight to http://tftestkits.net

:testkit:

From here on out, all you want to be adding for chlorine is bleach or Pool chlorine.
Same stuff, different strengths. If you're in California, you shouldn't need to add Calcium.
No more Cal-hypo. And you already added enough CYA, so the other powders are out, too.[/center:3bpdu1t1]
 
I love the video! I am definitely going to "nip it in the bud" NOW!!

The test kit that I have is from Leslies Pool here where I live. It's called "Total Poolcare DPD Test Kit". Tests for Free & Total Chlorine, pH, Acid & Base demand, TA, CH & CYA. All the bottles inside at Taylor reagents. Will this work?

My current test results are:
FC-0
TC-2
CC-2
pH- between 6.8 & 7.2 ( light orange, but not yet yellow)
TA-60
CA- 260
CYA-60

I have bleach, borax and baking soda on standby!

How should I treat the pool?

One additional question. We are going to be out of town for 4 days. What do you do in this situation when it will be in the high 90's and pool is in the full sun. Am I going to return home to a green pool?


Thanks!!!
Sara
 
Does the chlorine test use powder? I think that kit is missing the all important FAS-DPD chlorine test.

You can add that test by ordering from tftestkits.net

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone ;)
 
Yes, you need to order the FAS-DPD test kit from either tftestkits.net or find it on amazon.com because the FAS kit helps you test for the higher values of Chlorine when you go through the shock process. The regular DPD test kit is good, but not helpful in determining accurate levels of Cl above 5ppm...and Cl shock values can get pretty high. I think someone already estimated your Cl shock level to be 20 ppm.
For now, I would throw a BUNCH of chlorine in the pool every day before it gets out of control. Order your kit and once it arrives you can get to work bringing your pool in line!
 

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DruCrw1 said:
I also had about 10 kids and 8 adults in it yesterday! :)
Click to expand...
The shocking process link was in my previous post.

With that many swimmers yesterday, that could cause your higher CC level. However your FC level is very low, so it is likely that you have algae. To be sure, I would do a Overnight Chlorine Loss test: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/overnight_fc_test

To do the test, I would raise your FC level up to the shocking level of 16 ppm (from poolcalculator.com and 50 ppm cya) tonight and test one hour later for the evening measurement, then test again in the morning before the sun hits the pool. Post your FC and CC results for both.
 
Ok, I added my bleach at 9 and just tested at 11. FC was 15.5 and CC was 1. I will test again in the morning. I hope I'm doing this right. I've been reading in pool school, but I keep doubting myself! When should I be able to get back in the pool if the OCLT passes? We are going to be in the 100's the next 5 days! Yikes!!!

Thank you everyone for your help!! I REALLY appreciate it!
 
Hi DruCrw1, :)
Actually you need not only to pass the OCLT, but pass the .5 or less CC's for safe swimming... once your under your chlorine shock value, that is when it's safe to swim.
Use this chart for shock values :
pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock
I was new here once, I was very scared and overwhelmed!
Your CYA of 50ppm requires at least 20ppm of chlorine to get to your shock level.
Your short of your shock value at 15.5ppm and your possibly just slowing the algae growth and not killing it like the shocking process will do for you!
GET it up more!
With consideration to having some algae and very hot weather (same for me here in Fl.) I would add enough chlorine to get up to 23 ppm to overshoot a little (not harmful for pool, just no swimming). This way gives you a little cushion of NOT ever falling below your shock value of 20ppm. I feel this would be good for you in your situation.
Test after the first hour to see how much your chlorine drops. if back down to 20 or less, you must add chlorine again to get it back up and maintain 20ppm or slightly more all the time.
Brush pool, run pool filter 24/7 and watch filter pressure buildup and clean when needed.
Your TA is a bit too high, but that can wait for now and be adjusted later after shocking process is completed.
Don't test pH when chlorine levels are above 10ppm as the test are invalid, you can test this after shock process when chlorie level are in the noral range and can be adjusted in conjunction with the TA. Don't stress/overthink this part for now we can help you later with this!

Come and post back here with your progress so we can help!

Chuck
 
Thanks sO much chuck! You made me feel better about this! :)

I wish I'd had your message sooner. I only shocked up to the 15.5. My numbers this morning are:
FC 2
CC 1
TA 140
CH 340
CYA 60

So do I wait until tonight to get the ppm up to 23? Or do I donut kow during the day? It's 8 am here in CA and its going to be over 100 degrees today. Should I wait until tonigt?
 
DruCrw1 said:
So do I wait until tonight to get the ppm up to 23? Or do I donut kow during the day? It's 8 am here in CA and its going to be over 100 degrees today. Should I wait until tonigt?
Click to expand...
Can I pretend I'm Chuck? The Shock Process means keeping FC up all the time, as much as you can. Each time you let it go down, the algae starts reproducing. It's the old two steps forward and one step back. Keep adding.
 

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