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[rjturbot]

Hi--
I so wish I had found you guys last summer! I travel up North for the summer and while my husband was up vacationing with me in July 2013, he had a heart attack (he's doing great!) and had to stay the summer up there. We had a friend who used to have a pool watching it for us--basically adding chlorine and shock, but, he ended up getting two detached retinas and couldn't drive. The other person watching our yard had no pool experience, but, I knew we had problems when she said the sides of the pool felt slimy when she swam. So, it was no surprise when we got home after Labor Day and the pool was full of colors I had never seen before.

When the easy to clean up algae was gone we were left with slightly cloudy water, scale at the water level, a silty mess that never quite vacuums/filters out and black algae spots, which we have never seen before. The pool store told us to brush, brush, brush and put in a special algeacide, but, after 5-6 months, we still have some black algae spotting. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago when I found you guys, ordered the pool test kit and have switched to a SS wire brush, not the nylon I had been using all fall/winter!

So, here are my initial test results:
FC .5
CC .5
TA 50
pH 6.8
CH 350
CYA 63

I used the pool math page to see what needs to be done, but, I am not sure what I should do first. Seems as if getting the FC and CC up is most important. Suggestions?

I see you recommend bleach instead of the gallons of chlorine from Home Depot--what's the reason? I haven't found an answer to that yet?

 

[JohnT]

Hi--
I so wish I had found you guys last summer! I travel up North for the summer and while my husband was up vacationing with me in July 2013, he had a heart attack (he's doing great!) and had to stay the summer up there. We had a friend who used to have a pool watching it for us--basically adding chlorine and shock, but, he ended up getting two detached retinas and couldn't drive. The other person watching our yard had no pool experience, but, I knew we had problems when she said the sides of the pool felt slimy when she swam. So, it was no surprise when we got home after Labor Day and the pool was full of colors I had never seen before.

When the easy to clean up algae was gone we were left with slightly cloudy water, scale at the water level, a silty mess that never quite vacuums/filters out and black algae spots, which we have never seen before. The pool store told us to brush, brush, brush and put in a special algeacide, but, after 5-6 months, we still have some black algae spotting. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago when I found you guys, ordered the pool test kit and have switched to a SS wire brush, not the nylon I had been using all fall/winter!

So, here are my initial test results:
FC .5
CC .5
TA 50
pH 6.8
CH 350
CYA 63

I used the pool math page to see what needs to be done, but, I am not sure what I should do first. Seems as if getting the FC and CC up is most important. Suggestions?

I see you recommend bleach instead of the gallons of chlorine from Home Depot--what's the reason? I haven't found an answer to that yet?

Welcome to TFP!

The liquid chlorine you buy in pool stores or hardware stores is bleach. Just more concentrated. It's all a matter of pricing and convenience as to which you choose. The Walmart bleach is reasonably priced and readily available while in some parts of the country it can be hard to find the liquid chlorine.

You should raise your chlorine to the level recommend in the Chlorine CYA Chart for your CYA level.

Next you'll want to concentrate on your pH. Hard to tell how urgent it is without knowing what kind of test. Some don't register any lower, so it might be a lot lower. You'll want it up to 7.2 for starters and then see where it wants to go on its own. Since your TA is on the low side, you'll probably want to use soda ash or washing soda to raise the pH.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Welcome to TFP.

You're off to a good start. Ideally your CC should be zero. That way TC should equal FC. So, If you really have .5 CC then you definitely need to SLAM your pool and keep the pump and filter running.

How did you figure that your CYA was 63? Lets call it 70 to be safe. That's a little high, but since you're in Orlando it's ok for now. At 70 ppm CYA your SLAM level is 28 ppm FC. You need to use PoolMath to determine how much chlorine to add to get there and you need to test and keep it there about every hour to begin with.

The reason we suggest bleach is that it is usually cheaper than liquid chlorine but not always. If it's relatively cheap and easy to get the liquid from HD it's fine to use it. Just be sure to adjust the strength in PoolMath to match what you're getting.

 

[rjturbot]

Welcome to TFP!

You should raise your chlorine to the level recommend in the Chlorine CYA Chart for your CYA level.

Next you'll want to concentrate on your pH. Hard to tell how urgent it is without knowing what kind of test. Some don't register any lower, so it might be a lot lower. You'll want it up to 7.2 for starters and then see where it wants to go on its own. Since your TA is on the low side, you'll probably want to use soda ash or washing soda to raise the pH.

John--
All numbers are from TF100, so the pH is per their test.
Jackie

 

[rjturbot]

Thanks for the info, Dave. Back from my bleach run. First installment of bleach is in the pool. Now the day's rain is set in...just to muck things up a bit more. I appreciate the info. CYA level is the one that TF100 says is slightly subjective and may take a time or two to get it right...so since this is my first go at it, that may be why...
Jackie