Advice Needed

[psteichen]

Hey everyone! I opened my first pool this spring, details in the signature. I made the mistake of waiting for the pool to finish filling before adding any chlorine. By the time it filled (2 days to fill 6400 gal, and 2 more days till I returned from work) an algae bloom had taken hold. I know the recommendation for small pools like mine is to start over, but I really would rather not need to run my well pump for 2 more days again and flood my yard with the drained water.

What I've done so far: I balanced the PH at 7.2, added CYA to about 35, and brought the chlorine level up to the mid 20's. I realized afterwards that 16 would have been sufficient, but its too late now.

The TF100 tests indicated CC of 1.0 5 days after shocking (the post office lost the kit for a few days so I had to wait for testing) and now 10 days after shocking I tested it this morning and the CC level is zero. The FC level is now 19.5, PH is up to 7.5, TA is 200, CH is 140. I have the pool cover on to hold out the leaf litter, and the kids will not be swimming in it for another month as we have yet to get any warm weather here in Minnesota (water temp is 56F). I started the pool early to give myself time to get the hang of the testing and maintenance before swim season starts (July and Aug).

Another thing to mention: The algae is still being filtered out of the pool. Twice a day I remove the cartridge filter and spray it clean with hot water, but even today (10 days after treatment started) the filter is still stained brown with algae, and the skimmer has brown residue that needs to be cleaned daily. I did brush the pool a few times, but not daily, because it has been raining (and the trees dropping leaves and bird turds) daily, so getting the rain water and crud off of the pool cover, removing it, brushing, and then reinstalling the cover is a 2 hour job.

Okay, so my questions: Can I stop intentionally shocking now that CCs are down to zero, or must I continue until the algae is all filtered out? And is it a problem to allow the FC level to remain at shock levels for a few more weeks? I ask this because with the cover on (and we've had no sunny days for a month) it will probably stay that high for a while. It only dropped from 21 to 19.5 in the last 5 days. Will this hurt my pool or equipment to maintain the high FC level until swim season starts?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Casey]

Are you sure the brown is algae and not metals from your well. What does your water look like i.e clear, cloudy, brown, green? A pic would be very helpful.

 

[Butterfly]

^^^what Casey said.

Have you had the well water tested for metals?

Already having your kit and pretty well educated on pool care, you are way ahead of the game

Welcome to the forum

 

[duraleigh]

Good posts on metals. Certainly you should have no more dead algae collecting in your filter.

However, to answer your question, you are finished shocking when....
1. Your pool water is sparkling
2. Your CC's are .5ppm or less
3. You can hold your FC overnight without losing more than 1ppm.

Seems like you have done all that and now just need to figure what that stuff is in your filter.

 

[Richard320]

I'd question that 7.5 pH with that high FC. There's a good chance the true pH is lower, perhaps much lower, [s:2pjwt334]which could make metals precipitate. Which would be great, if you ask me. Filter it out instead of buy sequetrant, heck yeah![/s:2pjwt334]

accurate-ph-test-during-shock-levels-with-r-007-t61076.html

EDIT: It was pointed out that lower is acidic. I knew that! My bad.

 

[psteichen]

Hey thanks for the advice everyone! I have very small amount of iron in my water (less than 1ppm). I will try the procedure for getting a more accurate PH reading during shock. I have also put a CuLater pack in the filter to remove the iron.