My frustration knows no bounds at this point.
We had our 10,000 gallon in-ground pool with vinyl liner and SWG installed in the fall of 2012, the first few months chemicals were no problem - chlorine stayed good, everything was good. In 2013, first full summer it was a battle all summer long - rarely saw chlorine levels up were they should be and had a few bouts with algae that some super shocking solved. Fast forward to 2014, opened the pool and everything looked great pretty quickly - very clear water, tests (from pool store and sticks) all good. Then had a birthday party with 4 11-12 year olds in the pool for a few yours, cloudy the next day, then 12-14 eight year old and unders in the pool for several hours water very cloudy at the end of that party. Over the next several days things slowly got better. But I finally broke down and bought the LAMOTTE COLOR Q PRO 7-PLUS KIT to get better readings without trips to the pool store (which isn’t all that close to us) and love that thing! But, I can’t get anything that consistent, pool water is very clear after shock but I just can’t seem to keep it that way. Any help is greatly appreciated. I feel like I have a decent understanding of how all this works, but clearly I don’t.
Here are the recent days readings and steps, my main questions are why isn’t FCL staying up and why can’t I seem to keep the CYA level up?? Any advice/info is greatly appreciated!!
10,000 gallon, in-ground, SWG, vinyl liner, pump runs 24/7, sand filter
June 18 - water still a bit cloudy, I’ve been shocking and a few backwashes up to this point.
Water 88 degrees
FC 0.02
Ph 7.5
TA 155
CH 232
CYA 33
Salt is at 3200 ppm
Added Ph Minus in an effort to get TA down I aerated with a bit of rain, kids splashing and return jets breaking the surface of the water.
June 19 - water a bit more clear
Temp 88
FC 0
Ph 7.3
TA 161
CH 327
CYA 32
Again added Ph minus and attempted to aerate water to bring TA down.
June 21 - still not 100% clear water but close
Temp 88
FC 0.03 (still, despite SWG on and seemingly working (I can see chlorine getting made in the tube) and turned to ‘boost’)
Ph 7.5
TA 151
CH 267
CYA 27
Shocked in evening with 2 lbs of 68% Cal Hypo, also added approx 2.5 lbs of CYA by putting in socks and putting socks in skimmer basket for slow release.
June 22 (about 16 hours after last nights shock)
Temp 89
FC ‘hi’ reading on my Color Q
ph 7.3
TA 137 (this reading is adjusted by subtracting 1/3 of CYA, all other TA readings straight from Color Q)
CH 278
CYA 44
By end of this day pool is again crystal clear (certainly 2 lbs of shock paying off in that regard)
June 23 - pool losing some of it’s clearness again, not cloudy - I’d say merky and again getting some blackish gunk lines around skimmer basket, especially inside.
Temp 89
FC ‘lo'- seriously! I went from ‘hi’ to ‘lo’ in 29 hours!?!?!
TC 0.39 (I don’t normally record that simply because the app I use to record doesn’t have a place for it)
Ph 7.3
TA 131
CH 279
CYA 57 - finally that’s looking closer, added another .75 lbs via a sock.
June 24 - still not clear at this point.
Temp 88
FC ‘lo’
TCL ‘lo’
Ph 7.3
TA 112
CH 281
CYA 49 - what??? Back down??
Added 1 lb of shock
June 25 water is okay but not sparkling
Temp 89
FC 0.06
TCL 0.36 (is this same as CC -combined chlorine?)
Ph 7.6
Ta 151
CH 308
CYA 45
I'm guessing at this point that I need to SLAM, it seems I probably have an algae problem as I simply can't maintain FC. Also is TCL and CC the same thing or do I add FC and TCL to get CC?
Thanks again in advance for any help!
Scott
We had our 10,000 gallon in-ground pool with vinyl liner and SWG installed in the fall of 2012, the first few months chemicals were no problem - chlorine stayed good, everything was good. In 2013, first full summer it was a battle all summer long - rarely saw chlorine levels up were they should be and had a few bouts with algae that some super shocking solved. Fast forward to 2014, opened the pool and everything looked great pretty quickly - very clear water, tests (from pool store and sticks) all good. Then had a birthday party with 4 11-12 year olds in the pool for a few yours, cloudy the next day, then 12-14 eight year old and unders in the pool for several hours water very cloudy at the end of that party. Over the next several days things slowly got better. But I finally broke down and bought the LAMOTTE COLOR Q PRO 7-PLUS KIT to get better readings without trips to the pool store (which isn’t all that close to us) and love that thing! But, I can’t get anything that consistent, pool water is very clear after shock but I just can’t seem to keep it that way. Any help is greatly appreciated. I feel like I have a decent understanding of how all this works, but clearly I don’t.
Here are the recent days readings and steps, my main questions are why isn’t FCL staying up and why can’t I seem to keep the CYA level up?? Any advice/info is greatly appreciated!!
10,000 gallon, in-ground, SWG, vinyl liner, pump runs 24/7, sand filter
June 18 - water still a bit cloudy, I’ve been shocking and a few backwashes up to this point.
Water 88 degrees
FC 0.02
Ph 7.5
TA 155
CH 232
CYA 33
Salt is at 3200 ppm
Added Ph Minus in an effort to get TA down I aerated with a bit of rain, kids splashing and return jets breaking the surface of the water.
June 19 - water a bit more clear
Temp 88
FC 0
Ph 7.3
TA 161
CH 327
CYA 32
Again added Ph minus and attempted to aerate water to bring TA down.
June 21 - still not 100% clear water but close
Temp 88
FC 0.03 (still, despite SWG on and seemingly working (I can see chlorine getting made in the tube) and turned to ‘boost’)
Ph 7.5
TA 151
CH 267
CYA 27
Shocked in evening with 2 lbs of 68% Cal Hypo, also added approx 2.5 lbs of CYA by putting in socks and putting socks in skimmer basket for slow release.
June 22 (about 16 hours after last nights shock)
Temp 89
FC ‘hi’ reading on my Color Q
ph 7.3
TA 137 (this reading is adjusted by subtracting 1/3 of CYA, all other TA readings straight from Color Q)
CH 278
CYA 44
By end of this day pool is again crystal clear (certainly 2 lbs of shock paying off in that regard)
June 23 - pool losing some of it’s clearness again, not cloudy - I’d say merky and again getting some blackish gunk lines around skimmer basket, especially inside.
Temp 89
FC ‘lo'- seriously! I went from ‘hi’ to ‘lo’ in 29 hours!?!?!
TC 0.39 (I don’t normally record that simply because the app I use to record doesn’t have a place for it)
Ph 7.3
TA 131
CH 279
CYA 57 - finally that’s looking closer, added another .75 lbs via a sock.
June 24 - still not clear at this point.
Temp 88
FC ‘lo’
TCL ‘lo’
Ph 7.3
TA 112
CH 281
CYA 49 - what??? Back down??
Added 1 lb of shock
June 25 water is okay but not sparkling
Temp 89
FC 0.06
TCL 0.36 (is this same as CC -combined chlorine?)
Ph 7.6
Ta 151
CH 308
CYA 45
I'm guessing at this point that I need to SLAM, it seems I probably have an algae problem as I simply can't maintain FC. Also is TCL and CC the same thing or do I add FC and TCL to get CC?
Thanks again in advance for any help!
Scott