Pounds and pounds of shock - no FC

[anhinga]

Opened our pool on Sunday to a real mess. Looked like egg drop soup clinging to the walls, floor, stairs, everything, in some places up to 3/4" thick. Added our usual 3 lb. 74% shock and 2 qt. algaecide, saw no FC reading. Added 4 more lbs. shock with no change. Used test strips from 2 diff. sources with the no diff. in results. Monday added 12 more lbs., 3 at a time, with no change. I need to mention that, when adding the shock directly to the pool, it would sink partly, then foam up like Alka-Seltzer, leaving a "head" over the surface of the pool. A visit to the pool store today yielded an educated guess: the owner said that the winter was not cold enough to kill many organisms in the water, and we needed to keep adding shock 5 lb. at a time until we get a reading. Another 12 lb. of 74%, plus 5 gal. of 12.5% liquid and 12 lb. 47% shock, and still no change.

Pool is 16X32 IG vinyl with DE filter (that we've backwashed 5X in the past 2 days), have owned the pool for 17 years and never had to do more than brush away a little algae in the spring and use our Leslie's start-up kit. We have brushed a number of times and vacuumed debris off the bottom directly to waste to get rid of the crud. It now looks not so slimy but I can't see the bottom due to cloudiness. Numbers are as follows:

FC: 0
pH: 7.0
Total Alk: approx. 120
CYA: approx. 25-30

I hope that's enough info to get the help we need -- and soon, before it gets worse. We can't afford to add $100 a day in chlorine!

TIA,
Anhinga in NJ

 

[whoozer]

A couple of questions 1) How old is your kit? 2) without buying anything have you had the pool store test the water to double check you numbers? I may have missed your info on that.
I would suggest that a good test kit is worth its weight in gold and will save you a lot of headaches. There are a few suggestions on this site for kits one that duraleigh sells I find good personally. If you haven't I would get your numbers rechecked first before buying anything else. You never know. Slime always says algea to me which does require alot of chlorine but wthout knowing the validity of you kit I would hesitate to tell you more. Have the pool store run some #'s and come back to post.

 

[duraleigh]

I hope that's enough info to get the help we need -- and soon, before it gets worse. We can't afford to add $100 a day in chlorine!

First, welcome to the forum. Two things can clear the pool.....Chlorine or draining and refilling...that's it.

When you put in "shock", that's very, very likely chlorine. Shock is something you do TO your water....not something you put in it. Pool chemical companies mislead you badly by labeling it as shock.

So, If your FC is zero and your pool is a mess, you are still faced with the two choices above. Assuming you choose chlorine, you'll need to bring your FC up to around 20-25ppm and HOLD IT THERE until your pool is clear. Your DE filter will need to be backwashed many times during this process and you should run the pump 24/7

Ask lots of questions....this forum is a great place to get answers.

Will your kit measure combined chloramines?

 

[anhinga]

A couple of questions 1) How old is your kit? 2) without buying anything have you had the pool store test the water to double check you numbers? I may have missed your info on that.

Both packages of test strips are brand new, from two different sources. I know the strips aren't as accurate as the test kit, but they're so darned convenient...

I am taking a sample to the store this morning to test. We backwashed (again) at 6am before work; now I have to be late waiting for the store to open to get my sample tested. Don't they know this is an emergency? ;-)

Anhinga in NJ

 

[anhinga]

Two things can clear the pool.....Chlorine or draining and refilling...that's it.

I was afraid of that. What are the issues to be concerned with when refilling, other than cost? What is the possibility of a cave-in? We've emptied the pool only twice in 17 years, both times for a new liner.

When you put in "shock", that's very, very likely chlorine. Shock is something you do TO your water....not something you put in it. Pool chemical companies mislead you badly by labeling it as shock.

Of course you're right; the "shock" is calcium hypochlorite, in the concentrations listed in the orig. post. Most of it is Leslie's Power Powder Plus.

Will your kit measure combined chloramines?

No; we use the test strips from AquaChek. We've been using them for about 5 years with nary a problem.

Thanks again for everyone's help -- this is very frustrating. Will post again after water test results are determined.

Anhinga in NJ

 

[SeanB]

I'll just chime in a bit about test strips. This also tells you something about pool builders chem knowledge, but that's another story.

My parents just had their pool built - completed just a couple of weeks ago. Of course my Dad was armed with a tf-100 test kit. His builder did not know this a provided him with a bottle of test strips upon completion of the pool.

As soon as the pool was filled, the builder came back to test the water - no chemicals had been added yet. He put in one of his handy multi purpose strips and told my dad he had plenty of CYA - as the strip clearly showed. The interesting part is that CYA has to be added to your pool. It is not found in city or well water. There is simply no way for it to get into your water other than to add it by itself or via pucks and my dad had done neither.

After I came over I explained this and we got out his real kit and tested the water - you guessed it zero CYA.

This tells you two things:
1. Don't trust test strips
2. Don't trust anyone else to test your water.

 

[anhinga]

Defective test strips!!!

What a shock (no pun intended) -- I took a water sample to my neighborhood pool store and you guessed it, the chlorine is off the chart. Not only were my test strips defective, but BOTH sets of test strips, bought this year from two diff. sources -- were defective.

So now we have a radioactive pool. It's still cloudy but slowly improving. We can now go into a more normal cleanup mode, brushing, vacuuming and backwashing as needed. We also bought a "real" test kit with fresh reagents. My wife is angrily writing a letter to AquaChek as we speak. We wasted $200 on shock thanks to them, and heaven knows how long it will be until we can use the pool.

Thanks for your help -- this was a real learning experience.

Anhinga from NJ