See updated test results at bottom
I have already beat myself up for not adhering totally to the BBB method. http://www.troublefreepool.com/images/smilies/hammer.gif I need advice on my pool badly. We are trying to sell our house and need to get the pool pristine quickly for market. The pool has been great since doing BBB and very little effort.
History: We opened pool and started 24/7 filter in mid April. Weather still cool at the time and water looked pristine. Did not have time to do SLAM but at least were filtering clear water. FF to April 30, we get 7" of rain. Kept up with pumping water out but ground saturated and water over flowed deck into pool several inches. Water became a blackish gray. Blind vacuumed to waste, put in Barracuda, then Dolphin to get things cleaned up.
Added 10 x 121 oz jugs 8.25% bleach to start SLAM and bring to shock level from the prior season (24 ppm) at night. Tested chlorine in the morning (FC=0) and added another 15 jugs. Tested after work, again no FC so added another 15 jugs and threw a bunch of 3" trichlor pucks in skimmers to try and hold the chlorine up. Memory fuzzy for details since we had a LOT going on at the time. The DPD powder test showed a flash of pink but swirl and became clear again. Thought that meant no chlorine, so keep adding more bleach. Also added blue (? brand) algaecide (copper containing, I'm sure) for 3 treatments since after the flood it ended up swampy looking. At some point in the process, we tested for TA and got TA = 0, so added 50# of baking soda.
I have totally screwed things up and need help. Called TFTestkits a while ago (maybe a week) about inability to get DPD powder test to turn sample pink and we were SURE we had chlorine in the pool. Turns out the chlorine was TOO high to measure. And learned that the other tests should be deferred until we get the water in shape. So over the past week or so while the FC has been well over 100, we have left the cover on fearing someone would fall in, been vacuuming and brushing, and doing many, many DE treatments to clear the cloudy water. Pump filter still running 24/7.
This morning, I broke down and did a full set of tests (not sure they are valid) because although water is still greenish, it's still cloudy but making improvements. These are my results using a 50:50 dilution and already multiplied by 2.
pH 7.01 (pinpoint meter)
FC 86
CC 0
TA 240
CH 160
CYA (undiluted test) 40
I can be here 2 days so will leave cover off to let sun work on the chlorine and keep doing DE treatments.
Should I clean the filter and restart with multiple DE treatments?
Should I add Borax to get the pH up or just wait until cloudy goes away?
Am worried some of the green could be copper but still cloudy so unsure about that.
What else can I do to speed up getting to clear? Need to get the cover off so we can properly show the house to potential buyers with a pristine (usually trouble free) pool. It is June and need to get this back in service.
Have never ever seen this much rain in my over 50 years of being in the area.
Thank you in advance for your advice.
Update at 5:00 pm test:
pH 6.87 (pinpoint meter in pool)
FC 62
TA 240
PLEASE help: my pH is very low and TA (if I can trust the result) high. I need to go out of town and hubby is new to pool care (maybe he should have been doing it instead of me this year). My chlorine level is coming down with sunlight exposure (yeah!). Can I add borax to increase the pH without doing more damage to the high TA? I think I can trust the pH despite the high chlorine since it looks like the pH test problems in high chlorine is due to reagent issues. This is with a pH meter. The pool is getting less cloudy with about 5 DE treatments today but still has a greenish tinge. I am worried about leaving with a low pH. Note the updated values for FC and TA were done with 50:50 dilution and results multiplied by 2 for above numbers. Can someone please help?? Do I need to worry about the pH or can it wait until the chlorine drops to SLAM levels?
I have already beat myself up for not adhering totally to the BBB method. http://www.troublefreepool.com/images/smilies/hammer.gif I need advice on my pool badly. We are trying to sell our house and need to get the pool pristine quickly for market. The pool has been great since doing BBB and very little effort.
History: We opened pool and started 24/7 filter in mid April. Weather still cool at the time and water looked pristine. Did not have time to do SLAM but at least were filtering clear water. FF to April 30, we get 7" of rain. Kept up with pumping water out but ground saturated and water over flowed deck into pool several inches. Water became a blackish gray. Blind vacuumed to waste, put in Barracuda, then Dolphin to get things cleaned up.
Added 10 x 121 oz jugs 8.25% bleach to start SLAM and bring to shock level from the prior season (24 ppm) at night. Tested chlorine in the morning (FC=0) and added another 15 jugs. Tested after work, again no FC so added another 15 jugs and threw a bunch of 3" trichlor pucks in skimmers to try and hold the chlorine up. Memory fuzzy for details since we had a LOT going on at the time. The DPD powder test showed a flash of pink but swirl and became clear again. Thought that meant no chlorine, so keep adding more bleach. Also added blue (? brand) algaecide (copper containing, I'm sure) for 3 treatments since after the flood it ended up swampy looking. At some point in the process, we tested for TA and got TA = 0, so added 50# of baking soda.
I have totally screwed things up and need help. Called TFTestkits a while ago (maybe a week) about inability to get DPD powder test to turn sample pink and we were SURE we had chlorine in the pool. Turns out the chlorine was TOO high to measure. And learned that the other tests should be deferred until we get the water in shape. So over the past week or so while the FC has been well over 100, we have left the cover on fearing someone would fall in, been vacuuming and brushing, and doing many, many DE treatments to clear the cloudy water. Pump filter still running 24/7.
This morning, I broke down and did a full set of tests (not sure they are valid) because although water is still greenish, it's still cloudy but making improvements. These are my results using a 50:50 dilution and already multiplied by 2.
pH 7.01 (pinpoint meter)
FC 86
CC 0
TA 240
CH 160
CYA (undiluted test) 40
I can be here 2 days so will leave cover off to let sun work on the chlorine and keep doing DE treatments.
Should I clean the filter and restart with multiple DE treatments?
Should I add Borax to get the pH up or just wait until cloudy goes away?
Am worried some of the green could be copper but still cloudy so unsure about that.
What else can I do to speed up getting to clear? Need to get the cover off so we can properly show the house to potential buyers with a pristine (usually trouble free) pool. It is June and need to get this back in service.
Have never ever seen this much rain in my over 50 years of being in the area.
Thank you in advance for your advice.
Update at 5:00 pm test:
pH 6.87 (pinpoint meter in pool)
FC 62
TA 240
PLEASE help: my pH is very low and TA (if I can trust the result) high. I need to go out of town and hubby is new to pool care (maybe he should have been doing it instead of me this year). My chlorine level is coming down with sunlight exposure (yeah!). Can I add borax to increase the pH without doing more damage to the high TA? I think I can trust the pH despite the high chlorine since it looks like the pH test problems in high chlorine is due to reagent issues. This is with a pH meter. The pool is getting less cloudy with about 5 DE treatments today but still has a greenish tinge. I am worried about leaving with a low pH. Note the updated values for FC and TA were done with 50:50 dilution and results multiplied by 2 for above numbers. Can someone please help?? Do I need to worry about the pH or can it wait until the chlorine drops to SLAM levels?
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