Green since June

[kroman81]

Hi all,

I'm a first time home owner and I have an 11 x 22 x 4.5 above ground dough boy pool (Aprox 7500 gal). According to my neighbors, the previous tenants did nothing to their pool but add bleach every once in a while and it was nasty green all year.

This whole summer I have been dumping HUNDREDS of dollars worth of chemicals thanks to a pool store "conviently" located a half mile away from me. I have had sporadic, brief moments of somewhat clear water, but within 36 hours, the pool looks like green tea all over again. I think that I have purchased the whole stores worth of algicide!

Well, after spending a little time on this site, I have come to the (obvious to most of you) conclusion that I have not shocked my pool nearly enough. The pool store does free tests, but they have never once talked to me about the CYA/FC relationship and I'm sure that's what has been screwing things up.

My pool levels as of the 14th: (I'll do another test later today)

CYA: 75
TC: 2.5
FC: 2.5
Ph: 7.4
Total Alk: 112
Adj. Alk: 89
Hardness: 107

The pool store employees had me thinking that the algae was going to be killed quickly when we did a test last week and my FC was at 6! It is now obvious that they might be a little wrong and I'm not going to be killing any algae with these stats. So......

After reading posts about how it's just as effective and much cheaper to use clorox bleach (???), the pool calculator says that I should be adding 397oz of bleach to get my shock level up to 28 (considering a CYA of 75) in my 7500 gallon pool. Is it safe to add that much at once? It sounds like a lot of chlorine and bleach to be adding at once.

Please advise on if I'm heading down the right path. And for clarity sake, once my FC is up in the 20's (I can't believe how high that sounds), it needs to CONSTANTLY stay there until the pool is clear?

Thanks everyone. I'll post pics either later today or tomorrow.

 

[WestSidePool]

Yes it's safe to add that much at one. I have a much larger pool, but I remember having to add 4+ 1 gallon jugs of 12% chlorine to shock my pool.
Just dump it slowly in front of the return jet, so it spreads out in the water, and doesn't just settle to the bottom on the liner.

You seem to have read up, just follow the shocking guide in Pool school You need to get your FC up to shock level as fast as possible and keep it there until you pass the 3 tests saying you are done.
Good luck.

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome

You are starting to "get it". Yes the FC must be maintained at shock level until you pass the 3 tests to stop the process (the word shock to us is a LOT different than how the pool stores use it).

What test kit do you have? Realize that only the FAS-DPD chlorine test will be able to test above 5ppm (not even the pool stores use this test for some reason). It is typically required to order it online if you have not already.

By reading Pool School, getting a recommended test kit, and following the advice here ... soon you neighbors will not believe how clear your water is just from using a little bleach everyday.

EDITED my horrible typos ... yikes

 

[kroman81]

Thanks for the quick feedback. Honestly, I'm more concerned about the wife killing me for flushing so much money down the toilet!

Due to my close proximity to the pool store, I've been using their analyzer (BioLabs, by BioGuard). It's a big, stinkin' contraption, and I'm assuming it's more accurate than a little test kit.

 

[jblizzle]

Due to my close proximity to the pool store, I've been using their analyzer (BioLabs, by BioGuard). It's a big, stinkin' contraption, and I'm assuming it's more accurate than a little test kit.

That is not a good assumption. The problem with the big contraptions is that they need to be calibrated regularly and operated by someone who knows what they are doing. Some of the fancy computers just read the colors off of the horrible test strips !!!

Spend the $ to get one of the test kits we recommend and then you will never have to go to the pool store again (unless their chemical prices are reasonable ... but at least you will not fall for their :blah: )

 

[Patrick_B]

Hey there!

Welcome to TFP. You are on the right track for sure. Great to see you jumping right in and learning. Keep on it, keep learning and let us know if we can help. Not familiar with the tester you mention, but the Taylor or TF Kits are very easy and accurate. No guessing, and it will likely be the single most important thing you ever aquire for your pool.

 

[kroman81]

OK,
As soon as I got home from work I added 200 oz of bleach, waited a couple of minutes, and added 200 more. As I don't have a test kit and the pool place is closed, I'm going to dump another 200oz before bedtime. I'm assuming that's fine...?

I'll do a test in the morning, and add more bleach as/if needed. I have a poker tourney tomorrow evening, so brushing and vacuuming will have to wait 'til Saturday (a man's gotta have his priorities), but I'll make sure to keep the pool at shock level 'til at least then.

Thanks again everyone and I'll keep you posted.

 

[dmanb2b]

Due to my close proximity to the pool store, I've been using their analyzer (BioLabs, by BioGuard). It's a big, stinkin' contraption, and I'm assuming it's more accurate than a little test kit.

That is not a good assumption. The problem with the big contraptions is that they need to be calibrated regularly and operated by someone who knows what they are doing. Some of the fancy computers just read the colors off of the horrible test strips !!!

Spend the $ to get one of the test kits we recommend and then you will never have to go to the pool store again (unless their chemical prices are reasonable ... but at least you will not fall for their :blah: )

Welcome to TFP Kroman81,

Yup, what jbizzle said...pretty tough to beat the accuracy of a good drop based test kit. The TF100 (better value IMO) or the Taylor k2006 are the only two kits I'd recommend.

Pool store test results are about as reliable as the weather forecast...50% chance of rain :lol:

 

[jblizzle]

OK,
As soon as I got home from work I added 200 oz of bleach, waited a couple of minutes, and added 200 more. As I don't have a test kit and the pool place is closed, I'm going to dump another 200oz before bedtime. I'm assuming that's fine...?

I'll do a test in the morning, and add more bleach as/if needed. I have a poker tourney tomorrow evening, so brushing and vacuuming will have to wait 'til Saturday (a man's gotta have his priorities), but I'll make sure to keep the pool at shock level 'til at least then.

Thanks again everyone and I'll keep you posted.

WHOA there ... slow down. This is NOT the shock process we recommend.

200oz of 6% bleach raised your FC by 13ppm. Your shock level is 25-30ppm. So, after what you have currently added you should be close. But, I would not add that much more again until you know the level has dropped some. Too high FC can fade your liner.

You likely could add more tonight, but hard to say how fast the FC is dropping. Certainly you should be able to add another 200oz in the morning, but you are kind of flying blind here.

 

[kroman81]

OK,
As soon as I got home from work I added 200 oz of bleach, waited a couple of minutes, and added 200 more. As I don't have a test kit and the pool place is closed, I'm going to dump another 200oz before bedtime. I'm assuming that's fine...?

I'll do a test in the morning, and add more bleach as/if needed. I have a poker tourney tomorrow evening, so brushing and vacuuming will have to wait 'til Saturday (a man's gotta have his priorities), but I'll make sure to keep the pool at shock level 'til at least then.

Thanks again everyone and I'll keep you posted.

WHOA there ... slow down. This is NOT the shock process we recommend.

200oz of 6% bleach raised your FC by 13ppm. Your shock level is 25-30ppm. So, after what you have currently added you should be close. But, I would not add that much more again until you know the level has dropped some. Too high FC can fade your liner.

You likely could add more tonight, but hard to say how fast the FC is dropping. Certainly you should be able to add another 200oz in the morning, but you are kind of flying blind here.

Thanks for the heads up. As I said in my OP, I was a little alarmed that I needed to add so much bleach. According to the chlorine / CYA chart, I needed to have a shock level of 28. Are you saying that this wasn't recommended simply because I can't test it right away?

I'll forgo adding bleach tonight and just add the 200 in the AM.

Further, does a faded liner eventually become a weakened, corroded liner, or is it only a concern for aesthetic reasons?

 

[jblizzle]

Assuming the CYA level you reported was correct, you have the shock level correct ... we just do not generally recommend pushing the FC level that high if you can not confirm you hit near the target. Also the process is you test your current FC level and then calculate how much more to add to get back to shock level. Since you can not test, I just did not want to you end up continually overshooting to higher and higher levels if it does not drop as fast as expected.

I am not sure if the fading affects the strength ... but I would guess it may have some affect.

 

[kroman81]

UPDATE:

My wife just got back from the pool store and our latest readings are
CYA: 20 (a drop of 50+ within 3-4 days???)
FC: 11.9
TC: 11.9

According to the stats, I'm a litle above shock level, but I just don't understand such a rapid drop in the CYA. Is this the evidence that I need to justify buying a test kit, or is it possible for the CYA to drop that quickly without doing anything?

 

[jblizzle]

There is a small chance that the CYA could have dropped that much, but doubtful. Most likely it is testing error and a perfect example of why we do not recommend pool store testing, especially for CYA.

 

[Txmat]

As you will learn in Pool School normally the only way to reduce CYA is by replacing the pool water with water that does not contain any CYA. So, the question is did you drain water and replace it or have a huge splash out and replace the water or a heavy rain? Absent these it is highly unlikely that your CYA changed at all. So that goes back to the store testing. Get your own test kit and then get your CYA to below 50 and your shocking will go much better.

 

[kroman81]

Thanks for the info. I just ordered a Taylor Complete FAS-DPD Pool Water Test Kit K-2006, but it might not come till the 28th. What do you recommend that i do in the mean time. I want go work on this stupid pool, but i dont want to cause harm to the pool due to inaccurate pool store tests...

 

[jblizzle]

Man where does everyone order these kits from that take over 10 days? Ordering from Dave (tftestkits.net) you would have had it well before next weekend. I can only assume you found somewhere to save a few bucks at the expense of a 5+ day delay.

Best you can do is take water samples to a few different places and see how all the numbers compare. Anyone doing a drop based kit is likely better than stores using strips. Beyond that, just try to keep the FC around 10ppm (which may be below shock level) for the next 10-11 days ... you may hold the algae at bay, but not likely to clear it up.