New Member: Dark Green after vacation: TEST Results TF-100

[jebarr]

Hello Fellow members and hopefully experts

Usual story; man goes on vacation to return home to swamp. I have a 16'x 48" Intex pool with Steel Pole supports and vinyl lining, so I guess it is around 5000 gals. I have an Intex Sand filter pump that is supposed to pump 1650 gals/hr. Last week I started shocking the pool by adding about 6 bags of Super Sockit a couple every day. I also added two 3in Chlorine tabs to skimmer and two in my prefilter basket. Nothing worked- still dark green. Pump was backflushed several times and replaced with new sand just in case it was bad- no help. I found this forum and tried to start the BBB by adding a total of 7 x 3qts of liquid bleach for the next 3days. My test strip said PH was very high so I added about a half a gal of muriatic acid- still deep green and pump running continuously for past 7 days. Well my TF-100 test kit arrived this afternoon and after some careful testing here are my results:

FC 115

PH 8.4

CC 0

CH 150

TA 400

CYA 100

TC 115

My daughter is supposed to have a birthday pool party next Saturday. Is there any hope or should I drain and start over?

Thanks for all your help,

Jebarr

 

[lightingguy]

Re: New Member: Dark Green after vacation: TEST Results TF-1

The only sure thing for this weekend would be to drain it and start over. Even if you get it blue by the weekend - with a sand filter it will most likely still be very cloudy.

Your test results are pretty wacky and are further reason to drain -

FC 115 - One hundred and fifteen? So 230 drops?

TA 400 - This is very high.

PH - With your chlorine levels high this test is unreliable

CYA 100 - You'll want to get this down and a partial drain is the only way.

 

[linen]

Re: New Member: Dark Green after vacation: TEST Results TF-1

Welcome to tfp, jebarr

I assume the FC is actually 11.5 took 23 drops? The FAS-DPD doesn't measure correctly above 50 ppm.

I agree with lightingguy that if you need it this weekend, a total drain and refill is about the only way at this point.

 

[jebarr]

Re: New Member: Dark Green after vacation: TEST Results TF-1

Thanks guys for the quick responses. The party is actually next weekend, so would you guys recommend the same thing: drain and refill?

Yeah the FC test threw me a little. I was at about 150 drops when it changed to yellow. I kept going to try to get it to change it to red. At about 230 drops it was a little orangish so I called it at that time. I had dumped in about 5 gals of bleach earlier in the day so I figured it was going to be really high but I was getting impatient with the losing battle to algae. My CYA was actually probably well above 100 but that was the closest reading.

The good news is that I am on well water to a large aquifer so refill is basically free. The bad news is I am on well water and I seem to need a lot of chemicals to get the pool blue. But this time I am going to try the BBB method right off so maybe the rest of the season will go smoothly.

 

[techguy]

Re: New Member: Dark Green after vacation: TEST Results TF-1

Your CL test... Is it a tube with drops from a yellow capped bottle that turns your water yellow or a tube and a scoop or two of powder that make the water pink and drops?

 

[jebarr]

Re: New Member: Dark Green after vacation: TEST Results TF-1

Ok...After doublechecking, my mistake. I was confused with the TA test as I was typing this by memory. My CL test is the one where you add a heaping scoop of powder to test water, it changes to pink, and then you keep adding reagent until it turns clear. At 150 drops it finally changed to a light yellowish color. I kept going since it said "clear" and after 230 it got somewhat clearer.

 

[jblizzle]

Re: New Member: Dark Green after vacation: TEST Results TF-1

Is there any chance you were using the wrong reagent for the FAS-DPD chlorine test? Even given the amount of stuff you have put in the pool, that FC seems unbelievable high ... Although I admit I have not run the numbers through poolcalculator.

Your best bet for cleaning out the pool by next weekend would be at least replacing some water to lower the CYA.

The other option would be a full drain and fill. Since you have cheap water. Is it full of metal though?

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone

 

[duraleigh]

Re: New Member: Dark Green after vacation: TEST Results TF-1

If your water is like most water costs around the country, you can drain it completely for about $25.00 and start from the beginning.

Short of that, doing a 1/2 drain might work well for you, too. YOu could do the half drain, post your test results, and we'll help you from there.

PS - One of the important things we teach about pool water managements is careful testing, additions, and dosing. Be very thorough with your testing and reporting and the TF-100 will do what it is intended to do.

There are hundreds and hundreds of people on this forum who have that same kit and all of us will help walk you through any of the tests.

I believe you can be ready by next weekend! :lol:

 

[jebarr]

Re: New Member: Dark Green after vacation: TEST Results TF-1

I was very careful with testing so dont think i used wrong reagent.

I am starting to drain it today. The grass needs the water anyway. I will hopefully have it filled by sunday or monday and then i will retest and repost the results.

Thanks again for the advice guys.

Jebarr

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

Re: New Member: Dark Green after vacation: TEST Results TF-1

I was very careful with testing so dont think i used wrong reagent.

I am starting to drain it today. The grass needs the water anyway. I will hopefully have it filled by sunday or monday and then i will retest and repost the results.

Thanks again for the advice guys.

Jebarr

If you have FC of 115 - I don't think your grass will appreciate the water. You might want to pump it to a holding tank if you have one and let some of that Chlorine level drop before watering with it. There is also a pretty high salt content with your TA so high - you might want to test this on a section or dillute it to ensure that you don't kill the lawn.

EDIT: I checked poolcalculator.com and it says 5 gallons of 6% bleach would raise the FC by 62ppm - so unless your bleach was stronger, your water level lower than 5000 gallons (which is what I told the calculator to use), or you started with 40ppm I would guess that the fact that the test isn't designed for > 50ppm is the problem. You can dillute this water 2:1 with distilled water or well water without chlorine and check it again (maybe 3:1) to see if you can get the accurate FC number.

You might also want to check the CYA the same way - if you have a reading of 100 - it could be higher.

If you have the option - dump and refill sounds like a winner here.

 

[jebarr]

Re: New Member: Dark Green after vacation: TEST Results TF-1

I retested about noon today and my values were:

FC: 75
PH: 7.5
CC: 0
CH: 150
TA: 300
CYA: 90
TC: 75

So some of my numbers did get a little better. I forgot last night I also dumped in about 32 oz of Muriatic acid so that is why the ph came down. Overall the pool was a lighter green but still very cloudy. I am draining some of it now. Its about a 1/6 drained. I did find an area with not very good grass to drain it on but my FC went down to 75 so although high its not as bad as 115 of yesterday. Pool calculator said that I should drain 69 % of it last night. So after I drain it a good bit, should I add more bleach and then scrub the walls and ladder to finish killing all the algae. And am I getting the small amount of water chemistry right or when am I safe to start refilling. Also should I just wait for it to fill and then do a water test? I mean it might take a couple of days to fill so I just am leary about letting algae take a foothold again.