New to the site - post #1. After having maintained this pool for 10 years (it was 5 years old when we bought the house) I'm having my first year of problems...well, problems that I finally know about. Have been a 10 year Leslie's customer, using Chlorshock, Tabs and whatever else they told me to put in.
Hopefully all information needed is correct in my signature. Pool just hasn't seemed right this year. I get full sun from about 10 am till the sun sets. The whole summer has been a battle (cloudy and algae) and the during the heat wave the last 2 weeks I've been unable to keep any chlorine in the pool. My response of course (per Leslies) was to cram the hopper full of tabs every day, turn it all the way up and shock every morning.
So now I'm here...and embarassed...and ******.
I've read the pool school files about 5 times each. I've ordered the Taylor kit. I've gone to Sams and bought a few packages of Clorox. I was already using Baking Soda. Planning on using the Soda Wash for PH once the CYA stops moving from all the Crud I've put in.
Chemically, I can't seem to keep chlorine, my ph has been off the charts low and, now that I actually even look at that last tab on the strip, my CYA is off the charts, about 150. I know the numbers on the stick are useless, test kit is on the way. I've already stopped with the tabs, pulled them all out and chucked in garbage. No more shock. Been pouring Clorox in and I can now see some chlorine in the pool. Water is starting to clear. On the stick the chlorine levels match (total not higher than free at any given time [testing 3 times a day] so presumably kinda clean). Ph keeps dropping, I'm sure that will continue until all the shock and tab chems have released in the next week. I'm aware I'll need to drop some water to get the CYA back. I replace about half each winter via draining and natural refill, so I'd like to not replace quite as much right now.
All that said...my question on the OCLT is this. Do I HAVE to bring it to shock levels to actually execute the test? Lets say I bring it to 12 ppm, but with 100 CYA shock level is 29. Can I still be checking the next morning to see if it held above 11 and know it's cleaned up, or do you HAVE to get to the shock levels given? I'm just worried that I'll be putting too much bleach into the pool to actually reach that level, assuming I can even get it back down to 90/100 this year before closing it.
Just a word of thanks also to all those that have put this site together. The amount of information here is amazing. I'm converted. Really amazing site!
Hopefully all information needed is correct in my signature. Pool just hasn't seemed right this year. I get full sun from about 10 am till the sun sets. The whole summer has been a battle (cloudy and algae) and the during the heat wave the last 2 weeks I've been unable to keep any chlorine in the pool. My response of course (per Leslies) was to cram the hopper full of tabs every day, turn it all the way up and shock every morning.
So now I'm here...and embarassed...and ******.
I've read the pool school files about 5 times each. I've ordered the Taylor kit. I've gone to Sams and bought a few packages of Clorox. I was already using Baking Soda. Planning on using the Soda Wash for PH once the CYA stops moving from all the Crud I've put in.
Chemically, I can't seem to keep chlorine, my ph has been off the charts low and, now that I actually even look at that last tab on the strip, my CYA is off the charts, about 150. I know the numbers on the stick are useless, test kit is on the way. I've already stopped with the tabs, pulled them all out and chucked in garbage. No more shock. Been pouring Clorox in and I can now see some chlorine in the pool. Water is starting to clear. On the stick the chlorine levels match (total not higher than free at any given time [testing 3 times a day] so presumably kinda clean). Ph keeps dropping, I'm sure that will continue until all the shock and tab chems have released in the next week. I'm aware I'll need to drop some water to get the CYA back. I replace about half each winter via draining and natural refill, so I'd like to not replace quite as much right now.
All that said...my question on the OCLT is this. Do I HAVE to bring it to shock levels to actually execute the test? Lets say I bring it to 12 ppm, but with 100 CYA shock level is 29. Can I still be checking the next morning to see if it held above 11 and know it's cleaned up, or do you HAVE to get to the shock levels given? I'm just worried that I'll be putting too much bleach into the pool to actually reach that level, assuming I can even get it back down to 90/100 this year before closing it.
Just a word of thanks also to all those that have put this site together. The amount of information here is amazing. I'm converted. Really amazing site!
!